Having an arbor is a beautiful way to enhance any garden.  Since arbors come in all types of styles, wood types, finishes, and designs, all you need to do is choose the one you like for your specific area.  The nice thing about an arbor is that it creates a fantasy garden, many being designed with benches, offering a place for you to relax and enjoy the beauty and fragrance of your plants and flowers.

The key to placing an arbor in your garden is using the right type of plants and flowers.  After all, you want choices that will climb and create a canopy of vegetation while not adding too much weight to the top of the arbor.  With the right options, you will soon have shade and a magical feature of your garden that is beautiful and functional.

A nice option is to plant climbing varieties on either side of the arbor and then just outside those plants, other species that will fill in the gaps around the base.  For instance, honeysuckle would be an ideal climbing plant for your garden arbor in that it grows easily, has a dense foliage, perfect for creating the umbrella effects on top, and its fragrance is heavenly.

Other excellent climbing species include clematis, which comes in more than 200 species as well as hybrids.  Clematis grows well and the blooms are magnificent and typically large.  The morning glory plant is also an outstanding climber.  Known as a carefree and vigorous plant, it produces lovely trumpet-shaped flowers.

Now along with “good climbers” are also climbing plants that you might want to avoid.  For example, Wisteria is beautiful but will literally overrun a garden in no time.  In fact, the thick vines can grow to as high as 65 feet, each attaching to whatever it can with a vice-like grip.

Remember that regardless of the type of plant you choose for your garden arbor, some of these “climbers” are not really climbing plants at all and some that are, need a little assistance to get going.  Take the bougainvillea for example, it will usually send out long, arching stems that are unable to cling to themselves.  Therefore, if you choose this type of plant, just be sure you help it get started around the arbor by physically placing some of the stems in and around the supports.

Other excellent choices would include the following:

• Roses
  
• Passion Flower
  
• Grape Ivy
  
• Hydrangeas
  
• Boston Ivy
  
• Don Juan
  
• Virginia Creeper
  

Once the climbers have been established, you can then add other flowers around the base that will grow much lower to the ground.  For instance, you could use spring-flowering bulbs, which would include daffodils, hyacinths, and of course, tulips.  Just remember that as the climbing plant begins to fill out and create shade, the other flowers and plants will need to be shade tolerant.

Some excellent choices would include annuals such as impatiens, baby-blue eyes, and even flowering tobacco.  Although you would use perennials, as your primary choice, the annuals are a nice choice in that they can be switched out year after year, creating new and exciting looks for your arbor.  Other options of flowers and plants to grow at the base of the arbor include the following:

• Carpet Bugle – This plant is nice in that it grows low to the ground and produces a bronze colored foliage with dark blue flower spikes
  
• Phlox – This too is a ground covering that comes in a huge variety of color and species.  This would look beautiful around the base of the arbor and is easy to maintain.
  
• Jacob’s Ladder – This plant is medium sized and would complement the other plants and flowers.  This plant has thick clusters of blue flowers that grow to about two-feet tall, and can be reseeded easily.
  
• Day Lily – You can never go wrong with Day Lilies.  They come in all types of species and are very hardy.  Day Lilies also flourish in dry and damp environments and produce easily.