This past weekend we finally managed to construct a feature I have talked about before here on this blog. The “Arc de Gourd” was created! However, it is no longer the “Arc de Gourd” as it has become (drum roll)… The “Arc de Bougainvillea!”

This is our tribute to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Can you not spot the similarity of its design? Close one eye and squint with the other… real hard. Ha! The original plan was to grow squash and other trellising vegetables on it, but we are late in the season and while we may get vines from such plantings they probably will not bare fruit so we opted for color instead.

Bougainvillea is not cold hardy in our climate so it is an annual here unless I can dig it up, pot it and winter it in the cottage. It may survive, but it may not so I am not certain it is worth a try. I will revisit the thought once autumn is upon us.

I added holiday lights to the structure. It lights up nicely at night. Eventually the lights will be covered by the Bougainvillea and will glow and light up the fuchsia flowers. I also added four solar-powered lights to the four corners of posts. This casts enough light to see the path if I needed to go into the greenhouse at night for some reason without turning on the lights.

The structure adds a bit of interest to the entrance of the utility area of the garden. The greenhouse is beyond the arch as is the holding bed, composting and eventual potting shed that will be located behind the greenhouse.

I also purchased a new market umbrella in red for the table which brings in a nice accent color and we finally managed to expand the cypress mulch path in front of the cottage making its way almost to the side of the house. This makes a huge difference in the appearance to what I am trying to achieve. Hopefully next weekend I’ll get to plant the grape vines and possibly the addition of another bed in the front of the house.

Until then…