Other Definitions
pergola (dict)
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PergolaA pergola, borrowed for English from Italian, mentioned in an Italian context in 1645 and used in an English context in 1675, is a garden feature forming a shaded walk or passageway of pillars that support cross beams and a sturdy open lattice, upon which woody vines are trained. The origin is pergula, Late Latin for a projecting eave. Pergolas may link pavilions, may extend from a building's door to an open garden feature such as an isolated terrace or pool, or may be entirely free-standing structures shading a length of walk. An arbor is similar to a pergola, except that it is not a passageway for movement but a shaded sitting place, whose shape and dimensions may vary. Underfoot, both pergolas and arbors are made of free-draining rolled gravel or grit, to dry quickly after rain, or, more ambitiously, even paved (illustration, right) Pergolas are more permanent architectural features than the green tunnels of late medieval and early Renaissance gardens, which were often formed of springy "withies"— easily replaced shoots of willow or hazel— bound together at the heads to form a series of arches, then loosely woven with long slats, on which climbers were grown, to make a passage that was both cool and shaded and moderately dry in a shower. At Villa Petraia (illustration, left) inner and outer curving segments of such green walks, the forerunners of pergolas, give structure to the pattern, which can be viewed from the long terrace above it, and provide rare privacy in a teeming household, offering leafy glimpses into an orderly paradise, a formally-planted enclosed orchard that consciously recalled the Garden of Eden before Adam's Fall. The clearly artificial nature of the pergola made it fall from favor in the naturalistic gardening styles of the 18th and 19th century, but handsome pergolas on brick and stone pillars with powerful cross-beams were a feature of the gardens designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll and epitomize their trademark of firm structure luxuriantly planted.
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