THE PERGOLA

Ladies' Mirror, Volume I, Issue 4, 2 October 1922, Page 34

THE PERGOLA

by W. H. GUMMER, f.n.zta.

T'VHE soft, clear, balmy days of July and early August bring thoughts of spring and summer, of garden plans for both; of the quick, rich growths of the former and the fuller toned delights of the latter. In this connection come memories of the pergola whose musical sounding name conjures up visions of Spain, Italy and the East; visions by day of heavily scented air, masses of foliage and colour of flowers spattering through their spaces drops of golden sunlight on an otherwise shady walk; visions by night of the mysteriousness of half lights, or the enchantment of a moonbeam-spangled way, turning material things into a world of delightful and refreshing unreality. From the earliest days of civilisation the pergola seems to have been utilised and appreciated in its many forms as a support for climbing plants. What else were the “hanging gardens of Babylon” and the rosecovered “alleys” of mediaeval times? What else mean the myriad pergolas of to-day in Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, India, where the tradition of a few thousand years ago is as today? The pergola touches the highest note of garden design, and it has for ages been loved on the one hand for all it gives of beauty and restfulness, and on the other for what it suggests of fancy and romance. As in olden days, the pergola is not the prerogative of the wealthy only, all classes may possess and enjoy it; the climbing plant does not grow any the healthier for costly columns and elaborately wrought beams, the tendrils of the grape cling no less tightly on a rustic framework made of homegrown timbers with bark intact, or on any other easily, conceived but strong spacing of members that lend themselves readily to the loving embrace of Nature’s “nomadic offspring.” ' This —its ease of construction together with its great adaptability—insures for all time a place for the pergola as one of the chief elements in garden design. It may be employed in large scale on extensive country grounds, in the fifty feet suburban section, or on roof or terrace of the city flat, producing its playful light and shade, its pleasing exaggeration of vista, its unconscious link between the structure of the dwelling and the freedom of natural foliage. A pergola, perchance, may be erected for its own intrinsic beauty, but this connection between garden and dwelling is its primary function. Its very form compels this; the very rhythm of its ordered parts and its “line” makes it a true offspring of the architecture of the house, while the conquering climber allies it unmistakably to the garden. In gardens large or small the possibilities of the pergola are infinite.

As a one-bay or panel formation it may mark the crossing of paths; in two or three bays it may fulfil the purposes of a loggia attached to the house, or at the end of a lawn, reflecting its beauties in the quiet waters of a pond. Its chief charm consisting in its continuity, it may unfold its length as a boundary feature; it may screen and shelter a way from the house or one part of the garden to another, its “sheltered recesses giving privacy in positions which would

otherwise lie too open or form too flat a picture”; it may very pleasantly, as at the edge of a terrace, divide two varying levels of ground; in gentle steps it may climb easy contours; or it may lean against the house wall, giving coolness during the summer heat, and, sparse of leaves, ready access for light in winter. The structure of the pergola suggests the formal, the plant which enshrouds it the informal, so that it is equally happy with either, or with

the composite type of garden design. Notwithstanding its great adaptability, its element of structure dictates that it should pick up the salient points in the design of the house and the garden, and that it should have a definite point of departure and determination. Thus, if it can be placed parallel to, or at right angles to, one of the main walls of the house, it will be found that a sympathetic relationship has been established between house and garden, and a sense of repose obtained which is of the greatest possible value in subduing even the most extravagant and restless garden shapes. 'T'HE quality of a pergola is obtained by the simple and orderly repetition of its parts. As has been pointed out, these parts may be constructed very economically and lightly, but a sense of fitness in things suggests that such light constructions should be those furthest from the house, and that all such work near the house should be heavier, more carefully studied, and more architectural. The construction of a pergola is surely par excellence, the chief of the owner-gardener’s delights. It yields for thought and labour such a large return. There is, firstly, the selection of materials. Those for the horizontal members to support the climber are always of wood, but the standards or vertical supports may be cither of wood, brick or stone. With wood construction there is the choice between sawn timbers and the socalled “rustic” method, using timbers with bark intact. In both, timbers should be selected of tried strength and durability under all weather conditions, but in the latter, particular care should be taken to obtain timbers with a large percentage of heart. It is natural to select as straight timbers as possible for the uprights, and for the sake of strength and appearance to place horizontal members so that any natural camber makes a curve upwards, rather than a “sag” downwards. Ti-tree in this country is an admirable timber to use unsawn for pergola work. Select the various parts as a shipbuilder would the framework for his boat, letting knots and braces be natural parts of the

tree performing their function in as easy and, natural a manner as possible. Where the span of the pergola requires it, or where for appearance they are desired, brick and stone piers may be used for the vertical supports. It is inadvisable to build the former with the superior brick and fine

joint often required in house construction, for in pergola work the somewhat irregular common brick, if of good colour and wide joints, raked out slightly, serves the purpose equally well, and looks better. Courses of tile’s interposed at irregular heights in such brick piers give added interest.

CTONE piers in their various forms give even more scope for the imagination, but their cost increases from the happy looking rubble work with joints well raked out, to the carefully wrought classic forms that are the accompaniment of a similar costliness in the house itself. Costliness is not an essential in good per-

gola design, a well-constructed, rythmic sequence of parts is what is necessary, and in all, harmony in situation and status with the dwelling house. A successful domestic pergola never looks “staged,” its parts arc always the servant of the wistaria, rose or other plant that it carries.