Making an Entrance ... Through the Garden Gate

Bobbie Schwartz, FAPLD

One definition of making an entrance is appearing in or entering into a place in a very dramatic, ostentatious, or conspicuous manner. I don’t particularly believe that entering a garden needs to be dramatic but there should be something that invites you in and, perhaps, tells a story.

How better to do that than with a garden gate? The variety of gates is infinite but I’d like to share some different ones with you.

Many gates, like fences, are white or black but why not a color that indicates the color scheme in the garden you are going to enter? For instance, at Rotary Botanical Gardens a few years ago, I saw a purple gate that echoed the colors of the gardens on either side. Mark Dwyer, formerly the Director of Horticulture, used to paint gates and obelisks different colors each year, depending on this color scheme for the year.

This purple gate blends well with the pink and purple flowers on either side.

Colorful gates do not necessarily mean that the owner is an avid gardener. A large property in California had blue gates that beckoned one to enter. Later on, during the tour, we saw that he had a blue front door as well a blue gate to one of his garden rooms. Much to my surprise, two red gates at an estate in eastern Ohio, do not enclose a red garden. Instead, they enclose a blue garden although there are red flowers outside one of the gates. Further along, however, more red gates lead to a Cupid Garden.

This is the perfect gate for a lovers’ garden.

Sometimes, gates tell us about the people who live within. For instance, at the home of a Newport, KY resident, the gate is a representation of a harpsichord.

As I passed by this gate, I was hoping to hear music but evidently no one was home.

In California, I passed by a wrought iron gate that holds an artful display of gardening tools, There was no question in my mind that a gardener lived in the house although I never saw the garden.

The fact that this gate displays so many types of shovels and spades indicates that this homeowner is a very knowledgeable gardener.

Some gardens are reminders of happy travels. One garden I visited in California was a paean to the Orient where the homeowners had traveled extensively. All of the plants and the hardscaping had an Asian theme.

This simple gate repeats the construction design of the fence. If you were to walk up a driveway and see a gate painted with flowers, you would immediately suspect that you were walking into a gardener’s garden. I saw such a gate in Buffalo on their Garden Walk. The approach to the gate was colorful but quite a surprise waited on the other side of the gate. The garden was a riot of red, orange, yellow, and white, all displayed against a side fence that was painted barn red. Upon leaving the garden, only then did I notice that the inner side of the gate was also painted barn red.

This flower-filled gate is hiding a colorful, flower-filled garden.

Why don’t we ever think of painting a gate different colors on the inside and outside?

This Italianate gate and pillars allow a glimpse of an ornate fountain.

If you designing gates for a large estate, you could use old industrial gates on rollers that can probably be found in salvage yards. Depending on the client’s taste, they could be colorfully powder coated.

These salvaged metal gates were installed at the entrance to an artist’s compound in Texas. These days, many people are concerned about the environment. Therefore, they want to find ways to recycle materials. Trees are dying due to both disease and insects. The Cleveland Botanical Garden Children’s Garden has used dead tree trunks and branches to create an arching entrance to the garden with a small deadwood gate that features a carrot, indicating that food is being grown within.

Instead of chipping and composting deadwood, large pieces have been used to create an entrance to The Cleveland Botanical Garden Children’s Garden.

Whether a gate be simple or ornate, make it something special so that entering the garden is the beginning of a journey or a story. B

Bobbie may be contacted at bobbie@bgthumb.com. Photos courtesy of Bobbie Schwartz.