An Artful Roman Arbor

Happy Vernal Equinox!  The first day of spring is officially upon us.  The Stone Soup Crew has been busy this spring, in fact, it is our busiest spring on record.  All of this fine warm weather provides lots of opportunities for garden improvements.

Recently, we were approached by a client who had already imagined and designed his garden space, and brought us this illustration to execute.  

As it turns out, the client had several family heirloom stained glass panels in his possession, and he had a very specific vision of how the stained glass would fit into his existing landscape. The windows had originally been a part of his  dad and stepmom's outdoor cabana.  The cabana was built by his dad, and the stained glass windows were made by his stepmom.  They were both in their 90's when they passed away in 2013, and the people who bought their house offered our client and his brother the stained glass panels.  It was a wonderful gesture, as the new home owners were redesigning the home and wanted to ensure the windows were safely returned.  It also provided our client and his brother a chance to decorate their own spaces while keeping those beautiful family memories alive.  

Here are the glass panels in the cabana built by our client's father. 

The client has a very specific Roman style for his garden space, and he wanted to build the arbors as a way to safely display the stained glass, while staying true to his design aesthetic.  It was a wonderful project to be able to walk into and complete. Here is the original garden space, as well as the start of the arbor installation. 

The lovely finished arbor, complete with a grape kiwi on one end, boxwoods in the containers, winter jasmine on the other end, and columnar cypresses to lend height and drama to the column effect of the arbor.  These plants will help provide privacy along the fence line with his neighbors, and attract some fluttering friends to the garden.