Shady Ideas

The Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek implements an extensive arbor (or pergola) to incorporate shade into the garden design. Planted under the arbor is a succulent border, reminiscent of an English border garden, but with the water conserving plants of desert and Mediterranean climates. Besides providing shade for the plants, the structure seems to cool the air in close proximity, and capture any passing breeze.

The arbor provides shade for the succulant border.

The arbor is a simple wood frame, covered with shade cloth, which is available at garden supply and hardware stores, and on the web (for example, Coolaroo sells shade cloth by the yard: http://www.coolaroousa.com/).

The arbor is constructed of a wooden frame and shade cloth.

This is a wonderful, practical idea for gardens in hot, dry climates, and could easily be adapted on a smaller scale for the home garden. This is also a great example of adapting a garden style, in this case the English border garden, to the local climate or microclimate.