No English Garden should be without at least one arch, dripping with fragrant blooms. Today you can find arches made out of plastic, metal, wicker or wood at a price to suit every pocket.
Some have mesh sides or trellis work to aid in the tying in of stems and others have planters attached to either side.
Using willow you can make yourself a living archway and there are many do-it-yourself kits available at garden centres.
Make sure you buy one that is a few inches taller than yourself so when the flowers hang down you can through it without bowing your head.
The most typical plants for covering arches are roses and the paler colours look lovely -
- try Shropshire Lad – has fragrant peachy pink flowers and few thorns
- St. Swithin – has soft pink blooms that fade to white
Mortimer Sackler – is almost thornless, with beautiful scented pale pink blooms
Madeleine Selzer – has lemon fading to off white blooms and has very few thorns.
All the above are very easy to grow and reach about 10ft.
Underplant roses with English Lavender( Hidcote is good), catmint, aquilegia, pinks, pale phlox, sedums or alchemila mollis for a very English Garden look.
Other climbers that do well over arches are Honeysuckles and jasminum officinale. Clematis can be tricky so go for any from the viticella group – they can be planted by themselves or thread through a rose to prolong the flowering season and create a pleasing effect of tangled blooms.
If you want to try annuals then Sweetpeas or climbing nasturtiums give the best results and are very easy to grow.
This interesting little book gives you practical info on building your own arches, the siting of them, which plants to use and step by step instructions and pictures.
Arches and Pergolas - a RHS practical guide
Enjoy your garden!
