Purpose
The arch is interesting not only for the impression it makes on the observer. It has a very practical purpose, acting as a support for climbing plants and a stand for pots of flowers.
- The arch is a bright visual accent, towering above the surrounding area.
- This is a kind of door between the zones of the site, divided into a garden, a vegetable garden, a recreational lawn and a utility block.
- A good support for stylized lighting fixtures.
- Can serve as a frame for a children's swing or fix one side of a hammock.
Selection of plants and decorations
- The choice of colors should, first of all, be determined by the planting location and climatic conditions. The most popular climbing flowers are rose, grape, sweet pea, clematis and others.
- Be careful when choosing a climbing rose. Not all varieties grow upward; most increase their volume in width, and barely reach one and a half meters in height. At the same time, the rose looks best on metal and wooden supports. And plastic ones make these exquisite flowers easier.
- Climbing varieties of roses include: Excelsa, Dorothy Dennison, American Pillar, White Flat, Rosa Bleu Magenta Malvern Hills and others.
- Kobea and beans, grapes, hedera and other green vines can grow to a height of more than 2 meters. They create a nice antique effect on stone and brick columns.
- An interesting landscaping technique is to use plants in hanging pots or containers. Relevant when you need to decorate a structure in anticipation of the growth of the main crop. In addition, you can create interesting compositions with hanging flowers, for example, amaranth, and weaving flowers.
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In addition, the arch can be decorated with figured street lamps or stretch a garland along its perimeter. In addition to the decorative effect, it will also be functional: at night it will illuminate the yard of the dacha.
Material
A garden arch with your own hands can be created from a wide variety of materials that are in harmony with the general concept of arranging a garden or summer cottage.
Stylistically, the arch must correspond to the design of the house, the decor of the courtyard, flower beds, and gazebos.
Tree
If creating a metal arch requires the purchase of material and welding equipment, then with a wooden model everything is much simpler. Selecting a few bars and planks for the structure will not be difficult, and the manufacturing process itself will also be simple.
The only difficulty may be the top element, which forms an arched semicircle. Making it yourself is difficult; in this case, you will have to order or purchase a ready-made one. Therefore, most often the dome of wooden arches is in the form of a crossbar forming the letter P, a triangle or a polygon.
Wood products can also be composed of several arches, creating complex structures in the form of tunnels or gazebos with benches. But the tree is short-lived. It does not like moisture and sudden temperature changes.
To increase the service life of the material, it is necessary to treat it with special protective substances and regularly varnish or paint it.
Metal
Garden arches made of metal are reliable and durable. Can be welded from metal rods and profiles. The trend for forged arches, associated with wealth and prestige, is still alive today.
The disadvantage of metal structures has always been considered to be their tendency to corrosion. If you do not take care of the metal arch, within a few years it will turn red from rust, so the owner will have to deal with cleaning the rusted areas and painting more than once after the next winter.
Made of plastic
Not the most environmentally friendly option - made from plastic corrugated pipes. But it is definitely one of the cheapest, and in the photo it is almost impossible to distinguish it from metal.
Materials
To make such a structure you will need the following materials.
- Two pipes - to create longitudinal beams. Their length will correspond to the width of the structure, that is, it should not be less than 120 mm.
- Products made from PVC, polyethylene, and polypropylene are suitable. The last two types are easy to bend, so you can make a frame with an arc rather than a straight one.
- The shorter lengths will be used to create the support and cross beams.
- To connect the tubes to each other, adapters selected according to the diameter of the pipes are used.
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Work order
- Long pipes are cut into several short ones to ensure connection with the cross beams and make the structure more stable.
- The pipes can be attached to each other either using glue or by heating.
- Since this is a very light structure, special attention is paid to the support and foundation. And then even a strong gust of wind will not be able to blow it away or overturn it.
- To strengthen the system, reinforcing pins are attached to the plastic support beams on the mounting foam. Allow to dry.
- These pins are deepened approximately 50 - 100 cm into the ground.
- The earth around is covered and compacted tightly.
The process of manufacturing such a structure from plastic can be studied in the video:
Material combinations
Combinations of metal, wood and stone make it possible to give the design a special expressiveness.
Nothing limits the imagination of the owner of a plot of land, who can create arches from concrete and wood, natural stone and forged metal, brick and plastic.
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Massive arches with a concrete foundation are not afraid of even hurricane winds.
Herbal Ingredients
An arch for plants in the garden looks great with unpretentious representatives of such species as:
- honeysuckle;
- morning glory;
- kobeya.
They have pleasant, subtle odors, and the arch in the garden will be decorated with bright blooms. The denser the vegetation and more flowers, the more beautiful your arch looks. Although there are many options that are quite attractive from an aesthetic point of view, when the bushes frame only the upper arch and sides of the structure.
An arch with annual species of shrubs can “bloom” quickly. Such as beans or nasturtiums, “mad” cucumbers or kobei. Perennial species will allow you to spend several delightful seasons in “pleasant company.”
Configuration
Structurally, the arches differ only in the design of the vault:
- arc;
- gable “house”;
- U-shaped design;
- semicircle;
- console.
Integration into ready-made landscape design
When arranging an arch among established landscape locations, it is necessary to balance their sizes.
If it is necessary to emphasize the beauty of an alpine slide or fountain, it is necessary to achieve the so-called “frame effect” by choosing the size in such a way that the specified effect is maintained even when observed from a great distance.
Come up with your own design by studying the collection of photos of a garden arch.
Step-by-step instruction
First you need to bend the reinforcement bars d=10 mm so as to get an ideal arched opening. To do this, use a simple rebar pin template. Stick 0.25 m long pins into the ground so as to obtain the calculated contour of the arch.
The first stages of arch construction
The outline must be drawn directly on the ground. To make a perfect circle, drive a rod into the ground and tie a rope to it. Take the free end in your hand and draw a semicircle with chalk or paint. Then drive the pins into the ground starting from the highest point of the semicircle. Now you have a template that is easy to use. All that remains is to bend the reinforcement bars, giving them a semicircular shape. It will be difficult to do this yourself, so ask a friend or neighbor to help you. Directed efforts are needed on both sides to create an ideally shaped arched opening.
Be especially careful when performing this step. The reinforcement rod may come off, causing injury to you or your assistant.
For this arch model, metal rings will serve as connections between the reinforcement sections. They are made from thin reinforcement Ø 6 mm. To do this, you need to cut 9 pieces of reinforcing bars 94 cm long. Using a pipe bender, you need to form rings from them.
Stages of making an arch
If you do not have this tool or simply do not want to complicate the work, the design can be simplified: instead of rings, use straight rods. Such an arch will look simpler, but will not be inferior in functionality to the original version.
The finished main sections need to be installed in the ground. To do this, the ends of the reinforcement should be deepened inward by 40–50 cm. Measure 40 cm from the end of the reinforcement that you will be deepening into the ground and wrap this place with electrical tape. Do this for all 4 ends. This way, you will know when to stop.
Photo of a garden arch
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