The arch is a decorative ornament of the garden, giving it a romantic character. Mostly garden arches are used to decorate paths. You can install the arch in some part of the garden, or divide it into recreation areas, for receiving guests and farming. The options for arches and their placement in the garden will be discussed in the article.
Garden arch
Most often, arches for the garden are made of wood, metal or colored bricks. They are designed to have an attractive appearance not only in the summer, but also at any time of the year. In addition, decorative garden arches must have a certain strength and withstand any gusts of wind. The simplest arch can be made by bending the metal wire in the upper part and fixing it between the supports. It is more difficult to make such structures from wood, plastic, stone or brick. Many creative people like to create a look of “Through the Looking Glass” effect on their garden plots - making stone arches in the form of portals.
Recently, forged and metal garden arches, which can serve more than one generation of owners, are especially popular. Their only drawback is metal corrosion. Therefore, in order for the arch to have a respectable appearance, the anti-corrosion coating should be regularly renewed and painted. In their form, the arches for the garden are different - their choice is dictated by the surrounding style. They can be semicircular, straight, pointed and gothic. The height of such a structure in the garden is from two and a half to three meters. It is assumed that the tallest person should pass under it without touching his head.
Using arches
There are many ways to decorate and emphasize the individuality of your site. One of the popular options in the gardens is an arched door made of thick tree branches. An example of such a door is in the photo below. This design gives the garden area an aura of elegance and romance.
A garden arch for climbing plants is often used to create an original tunnel above the garden paths, and can also serve as an entrance to a recreation area or a kind of corner with garden furniture inside. In addition, arches are good if you need to visually hide some of the shortcomings of buildings in the garden. To decorate the arches, garden designers advise using curly roses, creepers, clematis and arched grapes.
Materials for arches
Since the cost of manufacturing, building or acquiring a garden arch in a specialized store is almost sky-high, quite often home craftsmen make them with their own hands. Assembling an arch is not as difficult as it seems at first glance. The main thing is that it organically fits into the style of the garden plot.
Metal garden arches are the most reliable in operation. Made of wood, the arches are in perfect harmony with the landscape styles of Provence and rustic. But they are vulnerable to pests and do not tolerate temperature extremes. Therefore, the tree needs to be selected hard varieties, and treated with antiseptic agents. Arches made of brick, stones and concrete look wonderful. But this is not the ultimate dream of home designers, their fantasies know no bounds in the ability to combine various materials.
Creating a metal arch
If you decide to create a garden arch with your own hands, the first thing you need to start with is to choose its shape and size, providing for a height convenient for passage. Do not forget to add length to the rods, which will be deepened into the ground. If the arch is made by home craftsmen who own welding, from reinforcement and metal corners, the amount of material will depend on the shape of the structure.
The racks for the arch will be the corners to which the crossbars from the reinforcement are welded. An arch made of metal is installed in a prepared place. Its base is necessarily concreted. Before painting, the metal arch must be degreased and covered with an anti-corrosion agent. Due to its versatility, metal arches are suitable for all styles.
Variant of garden arch made of wood
For the manufacture of wooden arches, pine lumber is used, treated by impregnation for resistance to decay. The work will require bars, boards and cylindrical blanks. Wooden arches can be divided into several popular types: traditional, oriental, rustic, decoration.
To create a traditional design, you need bars of pine or larch with a minimum cross section of 10x10 cm. Work should begin with the installation of supports. To do this, dig a well, the bottom of which is filled with a layer of broken stones or bricks (drainage). The lower part of the wooden poles should be impregnated with resin or bitumen. This will protect her from rot.
Then the well is filled with concrete mortar. You need to work with the level to check the verticality of the installation of supports. At the base of the support, it is necessary to create a conical shape of concrete to prevent the accumulation of rainwater. The design sets in 7-10 days. After that, you can proceed to the next stage - assembly.
According to the design of the arch , all fixing work is carried out to collect the details of the side and top. Fasteners are necessarily treated with special glue so that no water penetrates into them later.
Arches made of living natural material
A rather interesting and attractive option is to create arches from the branches of trees and tall bushes that grow in the garden. The main condition for the device of this design is the presence of solid supports and spars (the main elements of the frame), consisting of metal rods. This design has a long life. It remains to choose suitable plants. If it is a shrub, then its branches should be strong, healthy and flexible.
The arch created from willow lashes looks beautiful. This design is perfect for organizing a recreation area, inside which have a table, chairs, chairs. To create an arch, you will need to prepare willow branches and plant them at the base of the supports. Willow is growing rapidly, so this design will delight household members for the next season. Yes, and as the trees grow, it will be possible to remove the supports. Willow branches at the base are quite durable.
Plastic arches
Plastic architecture is also used to create arches for the garden. Plastic refers to cheap materials, so it does not need to be processed, painted, varnished.
The minus in the manufacture of the arch of plastic is that it is not always the product can remain in place throughout the year. Many manufacturers produce low-quality plastic, which has freezing temperatures. Thus, the design of the arch for the winter period must be dismantled and folded for storage in a barn or garage.
All the arch designs listed in the article, depending on their location, can change the design of the garden plot, acting as an independent design element, as well as an addition to the plant composition.