How to flower a pergola?

As protective as it is decorative, a pergola is a charming asset to a garden. It protects you from the sun's rays while creating a convivial space. Installing and decorating a pergola adds enormous value to a property. For this reason, you can choose to flower your pergola as if it were a covered garden. You can also add climbing plants that will decorate and embellish your pergola over the years.

Plants in extra-large pots to flower a pergola

Extra-large pots and flower boxes are very trendy! If you have a green thumb, the acquisition of large plants or shrubs that can be grown in large flower boxes is a clever and original idea. Clever, because during periods of frost or cold, you will have no problem to protect them. It is enough to cover them with a protective sheet.

It is also possible to set the flower boxes on rollers to be able to move them when necessary! Extra-large flower pots are available in all sizes. The ideal size is one that is adapted to the size of your plant or small tree. Certain pots can measure 1 to 1.5 m in height. There are dwarf shrubs, conifers, persistent-leaf species, and exotic plants like palms and bird-of-paradise plants. You'll be spoilt for choice in terms of plants and the shape of pots.

Succulents and cacti are also well adapted for a pergola! If you wish to provide your garden with a fragrance, a flower box of lavender will bring a touch of Provence to your pergola. Likewise, Abelia or Mexican orange blossom will decorate your pergola with beautiful colours and provide a delightful fragrance.

As for colours, we particularly like the Pieris Forest Flame, which possesses persistent green foliage and flamboyant red branches. The sacred bamboo is a persistent shrub whose leaves turn red and then green, which highlights its clusters of small, non-edible, bright red fruit in summer.

Green your pergola with climbing plants

Pergolas were originally covered with flowers

They started as a lean-to against the house to grow plants. They provided shade and shelter thanks to the greenery that climbed over them. Later, in Italy, they were covered with persistent plants like roses or vines and the lean-tos became truly decorative. We are all familiar with the lush footpaths of Renaissance gardens enhanced with flowered pergolas. Today, the pergola has become an extension to the home that is intended to be functional and stylish. We often come across aluminium pergolas enhanced with numerous options. Bioclimatic pergolas appeared at the end of the 20th century. The adjustable louvres of bioclimatic pergolas enable the regulation of ventilation, light and heat according to your needs.

Which climbing plants should you choose for your pergola?

It's difficult to find your way among all the climbing plants that are available! To help you, we have selected a few plants that will marvellously decorate your pergola.

Wisteria

This very scented, purple flower will fill the air with its fragrance. A climbing plant with robust branches, it must grow on a solid pergola because it is quite heavy.

Jasmine

Very fragrant, its scent can be a little heady for very sensitive persons. Jasmine grows quickly and produces magnificent little yellow flowers.

Sweet pea

Sweet pea is a fast-growing climber with a gentle and delicate fragrance. This plant does not require any special attention and produces small flowers with a variety of colours.

Climbing rose

This plant is quite easy to trail. If you choose a climbing rose, it will flower several times during the season.

Clematis

It is an ideal vine for a pergola. It produces an abundance of small yellow and purple flowers. Clematis can be combined with other climbers, like a Virginia creeper.

The Virginia creeper

Virginia creeper climbs easily and can produce pretty berries. There are several different species that are all hardy and resist temperatures down to -20 °C.

Trumpet vine

Our final choice is the trumpet vine. Its delicate orange-red trumpet-shaped flower decorate the pergola in the middle of the summer.