Sandy - I love all your arbors and the pergola! Thanks for sharing those additional photos. The first and second photos are VERY helpful! I really, really like it and the shade garden you get from it. Truly beautiful!!!
Wood rots so quickly here. I do use wood on some arbors and the mini-pergola in my backyard. We use cattle-panel for the trellis on most of them now. It will outlast the 4" x 4" posts! LOL! Very strong, too. I don't think anything could bring that strong wire fencing down. It's made to hold in cows, so it's got to be durable and strong. When the vines or plants cover it, you can't even see it. My dh and I have several made several arbors with that cattle panel. I have roses on one and Morning Glories on the other. And one is where I currently hang some of my epis from under the shade of the trees.
The pergola your dh made would work really well on my side yard and I could actually grow shade plants! I love the path you have going down the middle of it, too! You have a good eye for designing garden beds and hardscaping. Absolutely lovely. My kind of taste in a garden area. Thank you for sharing the photos! Gives me some more ideas!
