Santa Cruz Landscaping: Pergola in Felton, Ca. #3

Here is the near finished Pergola.

We had to build around the established Wisteria vines in some places.

We also added a Redwood fence and a 6x6 timber retaining wall.

Old Wisteria Vines

As we were building this Pergola, we were able to meet a lot of the neighbors on the street. This is a really friendly neighborhood and everyone seems to know each other. As people walked by with their families or their dogs, we found out that a large percentage of the  neighborhood comes by to see the Wisteria in bloom every year.  Some people say the come by to take pictures even. The people we talked to were very happy that we were taking extra precautions to save this neighborhood heirloom.

I have yet to see this old vine in bloom, but I am happy to be a part of a somewhat historical restoration and plant preservation. 

Working Around the Wisteria

We will come back in a week or two for some final touch ups. We still need to sand and stain the entire structure and tie up some vines that are loose.

Santa Cruz Landscaping: Pergola in Felton, Ca.

We started a new landscaping project today in Felton, which is just outside of Santa Cruz, in the mountains.

My client contacted me to replace his pergola/ carport. This project is unique because the pergola has a very old Wisteria vine growing around it. The pergola itself is probably 50 years old. So the removal and construction will require us to carefully brace the Wisteria vines until we can lay them down onto the new construction. 

As with all the older woodwork that we replace in the Santa Cruz mountains, I like to study the wood that was used to construct the feature. Sometimes it is a fence, a deck, retaining wall or arbor, I always find it interesting that some of the old Redwood lasts for so long.

Some of the wood we removed today was still strong, some of it was rotten to the core. 

We will be replacing the pergola in almost the same footprint as the old one. The fencing around the yard will also be replaced.

So far we are having fun! I will post some more progress pics later.