High Quality Pergolas in Harpenden
Vines can be grown on Pergolas
Pergolas, arbours, trellises, and latticework have all been used to support vines and other climbing plants over the years. A trellis is a typically a framework that is designed to support vines and climbing rose bushes. The trellis will often be made of wood, metal, or vinyl and fixed to the wall where the climbing plants is to grow.
Trellis and lattice are very similar, but the latter is more specifically associated with a crisscross pattern. Latticework is often attached to the sides of an arbour or pergola to give vines or other climbing plants something to climb up.
Vines and plants such as Wisteria and Honeysuckle can form a canopy over a pergola, offering a great way of achieving some cooler shade during the summer months.
Dappled shade or complete cover
To achieve complete shade or protection from rain, a solid cover can be placed over the pergola. Occasionally, corrugated plastic or the plastic roofing often found in conservatories can be used as a covering and this allows sunlight to penetrate the pergola cover. Some people opt for a more natural cover with the vine or climbing plant. This affords the user a pleasant dappled shade, but no rain protection.
Keep your pergolas climbing plants trimmed
Vines or climbing roses that are left to grow wild will eventually put a great deal of strain on the pergola structure, weakening it.
Also, if climbing plants and vines are permitted to become too thick on the pergola, they can encourage premature rotting of the wooden pergola, as little light will penetrate, allowing the wood to dry out between periods of increased moisture.
Simply trimming back the vines will not only prevent accelerated rooting and weight strain on the pergola, it will also be beneficial to the plant itself. A plant that is left and never pruned or trimmed back can become spindly and weak. Regular trimming will promote good foliage and root growth in most plants, just check to ensure you are trimming back the pergola plants at the correct time of year.
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Harpenden and a racing milestone
Just beyond the southern edge of Harpenden lies Nomansland Common. Most local residents call it simply No Man’s Land. It was here that part of the Second Battle of St Albans was fought during the Wars of the Roses. Nomansland Common also saw the first annually contested steeplechase in England, in 1830 when it was organised by Thomas Coleman, and the last fight of nineteenth century bare-knuckle fighter, Simon Byrne.
Ghostly goings on in Harpenden
Over the years, many visitors to Nomansland Common have reported seeing a highwayman riding a horse. The rider often just disappears into thin air and for a long time was believed to be the ghost of Dick Turpin. However, if the supernatural explanation is to be believed, it was not a man, but a women who used to ride and rob the unsuspecting on the common. The highwaywoman Lady Katherine Ferrers, better known as the “Wicked Lady”, was known to ply her nefarious trade in these parts, until she died from a gunshot wound, supposedly following a botched hold up on the common.
Straw weaving in Harpenden
A prolific but now redundant industry of Harpenden was straw-weaving, a trade mainly carried out by women during the nineteenth century. A good straw weaver could make as much as a field labourer. The straw plaits were taken to the specialist markets in St Albans or Luton and bought by dealers to be converted into straw items such as boaters and other hats or bonnets, which were popular at that time.
Harpenden enters the age of steam
1860 saw the arrival of the railway system in Harpenden and the subsequent sale of farms for residential development after 1880 irreversibly changed the look and feel of Harpenden. The initial Dunstable Branch of the Great Northern Railway passed through the nearby Batford area with a station that was later to be named Harpenden East railway station, then the main line of Midland Railway was built in 1868 with a station near the main village which still exists today. The former line is now closed and now operates as a cycle track. The Harpenden and Hemel Hempstead Railway, known locally as the Nicky Line was opened in 1877.