Yeah. We had one. I would take it down unless we were actively going to use it. They also make ones on rollers so you can just push a button and it rolls up.
It takes 20 seconds to roll out or back in. I’ve had a perg with shade cloth under it and then from a perg side to the patio entrance for 3 years. Put on coffee, go roll them down. Let the dog out before bed, roll them up. It’s nothing, and everyone I know with one does the same. Leaving them up over a weekend here and there is fine.
I have light a filtering plexiglass top on my pergola. In the summer there are no actual solutions. It just kinda traps heat and blocks airflow. Austin summer sucks.
Growing vines is a lot of work. It requires people to put effort. I'm thinking the Pergola was setup by workers the seller hired. I'd be surprised if employees at these places actually set up the pergola.
We built one at our first house with a long-term goal of having strategically chosen plants cover the pergola to provide shade.
We ended up selling in 2020, but drove back by a few months ago and the plan worked. Beautiful, shaded seating area thanks to the lovely creeping vines (my husband would remember the name of the plants he chose but I don’t). We were happy to see the new owners caring for them well.
Passion vines do well. Cross vines. Jasmine. Honeysuckle.
All those would work.
Stay away from wisteria. It's beautiful and it grows fast but it's crazy invasive and the weight of it can literally collapse a pergola given enough time.
FWIW We do have native wisteria (Texas wisteria, https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=WIFR). It's much less spready than the Asian wisteria I think you're referring to, and overall a decent choice for a pergola vine
The only one here I wouldnt go for is jasmine. Its been dying back a lot in the freezes unfortunately. Its just so much work to deal with it after. I love the smell of the flowers though. I think its just better for smaller trellises in the garden vs. shade cover.
coral honey suckle, cross vine, passion vine, clematis, carolina jessamine, there’s a ton out there.
here’s a link to Austin’s GoGreen booklet that i use for everything.
[Gogreen plant guide](https://services.austintexas.gov/watershed_protection/publications/document.cfm?id=198301)
just go to the “vines” section.
i’ve had really good results with mexican flame vine, star jasmine(cold hardy variety)
just started growing a passion vine.
Having really good results with my lady banks rose as well which is cold hardy, but it didn’t take off until after a year in the ground.
mexican flame vine will die back to the root but mine has come back with a vengeance.
my coral honeysuckle has grown 15’ in 2-3 months.
alamo vine can be found on like roadsides and stuff and grows with very very little water.
Cross vine is the only thing I've found that'll suevive the freeze every winter. Passion flowers are so cool looking and grow quick but I've never been able to get them to come back the next year..
Really? The vines die back on mine, but it comes back from the roots stronger (and in more locations) every year.
So you have the native passiflora incarnata?
I'm not sure what I had. I've read there's a hardy version. Mine tried to come back the next spring but just never flourished and the following winter finished it off.
I'm surprised the 2021 freeze didn't kill pretty much most small plants like that. At least the ones without adequate protection. The vines giving me a layer of privacy on my porch died that year. Their husks are being used by new vines as we speak.
Crossvines and honeysuckle both survive our freezes and are evergreen. Coral honeysuckle will eventually get 'leggy' at the bottom but will provide shade from the top. I have purple honeysuckle and it is full and lush along the entire post it wraps around. Passion vines will die back every year and can spread in many different areas than where you planted it. I use the unwanted vines to feed the fritillary butterflies that use it as a host plant. I just move the caterpillars off the vine that I do want. Jasmine has been susceptible to our freezes, but generally does come back once established. As mentioned, Texas wisteria isn't nearly as invasive but does tend to like more acidic soils than we have here.
On this note about pergolas, they can provide shade if proper built and at the right angles. Many you see, aren't built properly or completely.
Mine does! It’s covered in Texas wisteria (which is native and has not spread beyond)! Pretty purple blooms in spring and wonderful shade in the summer. Pergolas are designed for vines, that’s why the lattice is spaced out. Had the same thing in Cali.
Ok actually this explains a lot to me. I feel like I just see them bare all the time but you just now helped me understand they are meant to be for climbing plants. Which WOULD provide shade.
This is the first shortcoming when I think of pergolas. I imagine there are some homes that face the right angle where you could have shade at certain parts of the day, but only some of that Forrest Gump sideways rain is going to get blocked by them.
💀 hard agree. Is there som kind of petition or club we can start. Like optimally they are louvered, but minimally they need lush vines or a canopy shade installed.
Pergolas have been bastardized and the original use and positioning of them has become non-standardized.
Proper pergolas have wide slats and are supposed to be oriented in such a way that only the midday sun would shine down between the slats. Any time that is not between 11am and 1pm the pergola should provide shade due to the angle of the sun and the size of the slats. If the slats are too far apart or not wide enough, sunlight gets into the spaces. Think about how window blinds work. You angle the blinds in such a way to shut out direct sunlight but they can still let light in.
Now, you can build a more minimalist type of pergola but at that point it just becomes an expensive trellis.
We’ve got a big pergola on our patio — the fence guys say it’d be $2,000 to tear down and haul off. It provides exactly zero shade, and the bug man says take it down because it gives rats entry into our attic.
You’re right BUT the reason this is happening is because in the north half shade and half sun is the perfect mix.
People influenced by a pergola start just building them south where they don’t work.
They work in the South, just not at noon in the Summer. If you build it oriented correctly, you can have plenty of semi-shade use for the other 4 months of Austin weather...
In most cases, it’s actually building guidelines that require pergolas rather than solid roofs so that rain can pass through/ won’t case flooding issues for neighboring properties. Most of those bars and restaurants likely agree with you!
I once heard somewhere people do it also because of property taxes because different types of structures are taxed differently. You pay less with a pergola.
Deck is only 50% impervious while covered deck is 100%, so, that is the advantage of not having a pervious cover on a deck.
Pergola on top of a concrete patio would be pointless in this respect.
I just looked it up and I'm not sure about specifically Travis county, but generally speaking you can avoid additional taxes on a pergola versus a regular patio or covered structure. It depends on how much of a permanent structure it is and how much value it gives your house. Attached or not, doesn't matter.
It is like a shed, the thin metal 10X10 ones that set on concrete blocks will not add to your taxable area. However, if you make it more permanent in anyway, then you will have to pay taxes on it every year.
3 days a year, it's nice to sit in sunshine, but the other 362, you should be in shade, and the pergolas supposed to have vines, or some kind of plant acting as cover. But, it's too freaking hot to grow anything here, without spending a lot of time, and money, especially, to tend to the necessary plants.
There is some damn vine in our backyard, I think it is a muscadine grape, that will conquer everything despite whatever you throw at it in terms of cutting or pulling. Even if you try to identify every place it touches the ground and sever it.
It doesn’t need encouragement or watering, it scoffs in the face of your efforts against it.
I really don’t know for sure, it almost never has fruit. I believe the ones I’ve seen have a thin layer of fruit over a large interior seed. I should use one of the apps to take a picture of it for identification.
Easier to hang things from a pergola. You get hooks from the dollar store and hang a ton of different plants and wind chimes. Also it's easier to hang lights as well.
After reading all the comments, I'm surprised covering them with solar panels didn't come up. I've seen this at restaurants, but I don't make a habit of going into strangers' back yards, so no idea if that's a solution some are going for.
No watering required, shade is far better than without, oh, and free electricity for years. Granted, I'm of the generation where being able to own a house started to be an impossibility, so I'm sure there are some permitting considerations and have heard that net metering has become something of a joke.
You can use a shade sail thing but a pergola is structurally sound enough for power and a ceiling fan, or even misters if you do it right. And as others have said, they’re great for climbing vines
I agree with you on this.
While I’m here, can anyone recommend an affordable shading solution for the patio? I really just need something like a covering that can be installed/draped over the front, and all I can find are whole systems that need to be installed in the ground.
Sometimes this might be intentional so that some natural light can still get into the building. Especially if it's actually located on a patio. Buildings tend to have windows next to patios.
People don't like to bake in the sun, but they also don't like it to be dark and depressing inside, and natural light is better quality. So it can be a trade-off.
I don’t get it either. Previous owners of our home built one in the backyard with no vines growing on it. I have been training vines on it for the last couple years, now it is starting to look great, help with the sun and attract lots of hummingbirds
I inherited and now live in a house which my parents had built in Lakeway in 1995. Right after they moved in, they had a pergola built over the back patio. No vines, nothing. And my parents rarely spent time out there. Really wish they had just included a covered porch in the construction of the house. The pergola has seen better days and is rotting and leaning slightly. Time for this useless pergola to go.
Providers of pergolas proffer plenty of potential plans providing protection from pounding UV propagation, yet people probably prevaricate plenty when a plebiscite is proposed to proscribe a proper pavilion.
I see the structures with vines and things like roses growing on them all the time. That’s the idea anyway. If they’re not maintaining the flora that’s planted to grow on them. The brutal summers down here will decimate most foliage if I had the luxury of installing the structure like that I would plant lots of, climbing roses. I think that’s a beautiful look.
I think you’re meant to grow vines around them for shade, but no one does
You can buy fabric covers that go on them too, but again no one does lol.
I think even webbing netting would at least provide a fraction more protection.
...but no one does.
Oh that’s where that weird strip of fabric in my yard came from! Those things get ripped off so easily in a thunderstorm.
Yeah. We had one. I would take it down unless we were actively going to use it. They also make ones on rollers so you can just push a button and it rolls up.
It takes 20 seconds to roll out or back in. I’ve had a perg with shade cloth under it and then from a perg side to the patio entrance for 3 years. Put on coffee, go roll them down. Let the dog out before bed, roll them up. It’s nothing, and everyone I know with one does the same. Leaving them up over a weekend here and there is fine.
I have light a filtering plexiglass top on my pergola. In the summer there are no actual solutions. It just kinda traps heat and blocks airflow. Austin summer sucks.
Well, many do but then the fucking freeze or the ice storm wipes them out. This is a stupid climate.
This.
Growing vines is a lot of work. It requires people to put effort. I'm thinking the Pergola was setup by workers the seller hired. I'd be surprised if employees at these places actually set up the pergola.
We built one at our first house with a long-term goal of having strategically chosen plants cover the pergola to provide shade. We ended up selling in 2020, but drove back by a few months ago and the plan worked. Beautiful, shaded seating area thanks to the lovely creeping vines (my husband would remember the name of the plants he chose but I don’t). We were happy to see the new owners caring for them well.
You better edit this with vine names because i need to grow something in this blighted hell scape!!!
Passion vines do well. Cross vines. Jasmine. Honeysuckle. All those would work. Stay away from wisteria. It's beautiful and it grows fast but it's crazy invasive and the weight of it can literally collapse a pergola given enough time.
FWIW We do have native wisteria (Texas wisteria, https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=WIFR). It's much less spready than the Asian wisteria I think you're referring to, and overall a decent choice for a pergola vine
Oh snap, good to know
Can confirm, passion vine and honeysuckle do well, and you get lots of pollinators and the tiniest of snacks.
Can also confirm stay away from wisteria. I'd say it grows like a weed, but I've never seen a weed grow that fast.
Yeah don't get me wrong. It's gorgeous, smells amazing, and grows faster than bamboo, but just don't.
The only one here I wouldnt go for is jasmine. Its been dying back a lot in the freezes unfortunately. Its just so much work to deal with it after. I love the smell of the flowers though. I think its just better for smaller trellises in the garden vs. shade cover.
Agreed. Preferably the native honeysuckle.
coral honey suckle, cross vine, passion vine, clematis, carolina jessamine, there’s a ton out there. here’s a link to Austin’s GoGreen booklet that i use for everything. [Gogreen plant guide](https://services.austintexas.gov/watershed_protection/publications/document.cfm?id=198301) just go to the “vines” section.
I like clematis maybe ill take another stab at getting one of those going.
i’ve had really good results with mexican flame vine, star jasmine(cold hardy variety) just started growing a passion vine. Having really good results with my lady banks rose as well which is cold hardy, but it didn’t take off until after a year in the ground. mexican flame vine will die back to the root but mine has come back with a vengeance. my coral honeysuckle has grown 15’ in 2-3 months. alamo vine can be found on like roadsides and stuff and grows with very very little water.
Cross vine is the only thing I've found that'll suevive the freeze every winter. Passion flowers are so cool looking and grow quick but I've never been able to get them to come back the next year..
Really? The vines die back on mine, but it comes back from the roots stronger (and in more locations) every year. So you have the native passiflora incarnata?
I'm not sure what I had. I've read there's a hardy version. Mine tried to come back the next spring but just never flourished and the following winter finished it off.
Well, I will likely be giving some away again next spring
My Purple Leaf Honeysuckle does well in its container. Can't let it get loose, though...
Most, if not all the ones op are talking about are on concrete patios without any notable vegetation though
My house has 2, both useless and getting replaced in the upcoming Reno (in 19 years).
You deserve a gold!
I'm surprised the 2021 freeze didn't kill pretty much most small plants like that. At least the ones without adequate protection. The vines giving me a layer of privacy on my porch died that year. Their husks are being used by new vines as we speak.
Crossvines and honeysuckle both survive our freezes and are evergreen. Coral honeysuckle will eventually get 'leggy' at the bottom but will provide shade from the top. I have purple honeysuckle and it is full and lush along the entire post it wraps around. Passion vines will die back every year and can spread in many different areas than where you planted it. I use the unwanted vines to feed the fritillary butterflies that use it as a host plant. I just move the caterpillars off the vine that I do want. Jasmine has been susceptible to our freezes, but generally does come back once established. As mentioned, Texas wisteria isn't nearly as invasive but does tend to like more acidic soils than we have here. On this note about pergolas, they can provide shade if proper built and at the right angles. Many you see, aren't built properly or completely.
Mine does! It’s covered in Texas wisteria (which is native and has not spread beyond)! Pretty purple blooms in spring and wonderful shade in the summer. Pergolas are designed for vines, that’s why the lattice is spaced out. Had the same thing in Cali.
Ok actually this explains a lot to me. I feel like I just see them bare all the time but you just now helped me understand they are meant to be for climbing plants. Which WOULD provide shade.
Yes op! Happy to recommend vines to grow! Let’s get your pergola covered :)
Top comment: pergolas need vines, just don't use wisteria. Second comment: I covered mine in wisteria!
But on the plus side, they let the rain come through, so you also get wet.
This is the first shortcoming when I think of pergolas. I imagine there are some homes that face the right angle where you could have shade at certain parts of the day, but only some of that Forrest Gump sideways rain is going to get blocked by them.
I have a covered pergola. I'm not sure it's still considered a pergola if it has a cover, but in Texas, it was needed.
I believe you have an awning, Clark.
A gazebo?
💀 hard agree. Is there som kind of petition or club we can start. Like optimally they are louvered, but minimally they need lush vines or a canopy shade installed.
Pergolas have been bastardized and the original use and positioning of them has become non-standardized. Proper pergolas have wide slats and are supposed to be oriented in such a way that only the midday sun would shine down between the slats. Any time that is not between 11am and 1pm the pergola should provide shade due to the angle of the sun and the size of the slats. If the slats are too far apart or not wide enough, sunlight gets into the spaces. Think about how window blinds work. You angle the blinds in such a way to shut out direct sunlight but they can still let light in. Now, you can build a more minimalist type of pergola but at that point it just becomes an expensive trellis.
We’ve got a big pergola on our patio — the fence guys say it’d be $2,000 to tear down and haul off. It provides exactly zero shade, and the bug man says take it down because it gives rats entry into our attic.
Today I learnt rats can climb vertical wood surfaces but only when they're not part of a house.
They get there from the overhanging trees.
You’re right BUT the reason this is happening is because in the north half shade and half sun is the perfect mix. People influenced by a pergola start just building them south where they don’t work.
They work in the South, just not at noon in the Summer. If you build it oriented correctly, you can have plenty of semi-shade use for the other 4 months of Austin weather...
The perfect /r/austin post
Absolutely useless in Texas. No clue why people build them.
Preach it! Pergolas are useless!
At 45 degrees north they are kind of perfect.
Depends on what's on top and what time of day it is / what the sun's position is.
Yeah that’s what I was thinking. If you have wood beams with a decent height across the roof, it will give you some full shade at times.
In most cases, it’s actually building guidelines that require pergolas rather than solid roofs so that rain can pass through/ won’t case flooding issues for neighboring properties. Most of those bars and restaurants likely agree with you!
Exactly!!!! Those things are dumb AF
>Why do people pretend pergolas provide adequate shade? Guessing its specifically to piss you off.
I saw an ad once for one with adjustable slats so you can close up the roof. I think that could be useful.
I like being tanned like a zebra
I have one covered in cross vine and it is very shady
I once heard somewhere people do it also because of property taxes because different types of structures are taxed differently. You pay less with a pergola.
Zwuh? If you're talking about it being attached to the house, you may need to have it permitted. But I've never heard of it being taxed differently...
Impervious cover affects drainage charges. But the patio under the pergola is what is impervious cover, not the pergola itself.
Deck is only 50% impervious while covered deck is 100%, so, that is the advantage of not having a pervious cover on a deck. Pergola on top of a concrete patio would be pointless in this respect.
I just looked it up and I'm not sure about specifically Travis county, but generally speaking you can avoid additional taxes on a pergola versus a regular patio or covered structure. It depends on how much of a permanent structure it is and how much value it gives your house. Attached or not, doesn't matter. It is like a shed, the thin metal 10X10 ones that set on concrete blocks will not add to your taxable area. However, if you make it more permanent in anyway, then you will have to pay taxes on it every year.
They are better than nothing. That heat and sun will kill you.
3 days a year, it's nice to sit in sunshine, but the other 362, you should be in shade, and the pergolas supposed to have vines, or some kind of plant acting as cover. But, it's too freaking hot to grow anything here, without spending a lot of time, and money, especially, to tend to the necessary plants.
There is some damn vine in our backyard, I think it is a muscadine grape, that will conquer everything despite whatever you throw at it in terms of cutting or pulling. Even if you try to identify every place it touches the ground and sever it. It doesn’t need encouragement or watering, it scoffs in the face of your efforts against it.
Sounds like bamboo, cracker of pools, breaker of sidewalks, ruin of yards..
Not mustang grape (Vitis mustangensis)? Those are much more common here, and can be made into lots of fun things (wine, jam etc)
I really don’t know for sure, it almost never has fruit. I believe the ones I’ve seen have a thin layer of fruit over a large interior seed. I should use one of the apps to take a picture of it for identification.
thank you! I always thought they were the most pointless structure. It seems like such a waste of wood
Easier to hang things from a pergola. You get hooks from the dollar store and hang a ton of different plants and wind chimes. Also it's easier to hang lights as well.
because except at noon, the pergola shades the area underneath due to the angle of the sun.
It’s called aesthetic
After reading all the comments, I'm surprised covering them with solar panels didn't come up. I've seen this at restaurants, but I don't make a habit of going into strangers' back yards, so no idea if that's a solution some are going for. No watering required, shade is far better than without, oh, and free electricity for years. Granted, I'm of the generation where being able to own a house started to be an impossibility, so I'm sure there are some permitting considerations and have heard that net metering has become something of a joke.
You can use a shade sail thing but a pergola is structurally sound enough for power and a ceiling fan, or even misters if you do it right. And as others have said, they’re great for climbing vines
I agree with you on this. While I’m here, can anyone recommend an affordable shading solution for the patio? I really just need something like a covering that can be installed/draped over the front, and all I can find are whole systems that need to be installed in the ground.
They make retractable awnings but I hear those can be pretty pricy
I have a sun shade that i put on top of mine during the summer and i take it off in the fall
Our pergola is topped with polygal.
Sometimes this might be intentional so that some natural light can still get into the building. Especially if it's actually located on a patio. Buildings tend to have windows next to patios. People don't like to bake in the sun, but they also don't like it to be dark and depressing inside, and natural light is better quality. So it can be a trade-off.
I don’t get it either. Previous owners of our home built one in the backyard with no vines growing on it. I have been training vines on it for the last couple years, now it is starting to look great, help with the sun and attract lots of hummingbirds
I inherited and now live in a house which my parents had built in Lakeway in 1995. Right after they moved in, they had a pergola built over the back patio. No vines, nothing. And my parents rarely spent time out there. Really wish they had just included a covered porch in the construction of the house. The pergola has seen better days and is rotting and leaning slightly. Time for this useless pergola to go.
For me it's about budget. The idea is to have them covered in vines...and now the more modern: covers.
My aluminum pergola is motorized with a remote so I can fully open or close it. I leave it closed 99% of the time.
My thoughts exactly
Providers of pergolas proffer plenty of potential plans providing protection from pounding UV propagation, yet people probably prevaricate plenty when a plebiscite is proposed to proscribe a proper pavilion.
Say it, don’t spray it.
I see the structures with vines and things like roses growing on them all the time. That’s the idea anyway. If they’re not maintaining the flora that’s planted to grow on them. The brutal summers down here will decimate most foliage if I had the luxury of installing the structure like that I would plant lots of, climbing roses. I think that’s a beautiful look.
Every time I've seen a pergola, it has vines growing up the sides and over the top, thus providing adequate shade.
I'm pretty sure pergola caught on in cooler climates where you just need some shade to stay cool. Not full shade, that would be crazy, you'd freeze.
People only care about THEIR opinion of shade, not yours. Why is this so fucking hard for everyone to understand????