How A Pergola Can Bring Shade and Beauty to Any Yard
While Minnesotans anxiously wait for summer, the intense heat can be too much for some. Instead of sitting in the sweltering sun, enjoy the outdoors with your gorgeous new pergola. These decorative additions are highly sought after for their durable, affordable, and distinguished properties. Pergola design is customizable to help you define your outdoor living space while seeking refuge from the sun. This landscape addition can even boost your home’s curb appeal.
If you’re thinking about revitalizing your outdoor space near the Twin Cities, MN, consider adding a decorative pergola to provide shade during the summer. Read on to explore how a pergola can bring shade and beauty to any yard.
What Are Pergolas?
Have you ever wondered how a pergola could offer your home both distinction and shade protection? Pergolas are landscaping structures that help you beat the heat during the summer months. They have four beams, cross rafters on top, and no walls to create an inviting outdoor space. These freestanding structures add a functional and beautiful focal point to any patio design. Since pergolas are customizable, you can choose what aspects are essential to you.
Some determining factors to consider before installing a pergola include:
Consider these questions and work with a landscaping specialist to help design your perfect backyard pergola. Whether you’re relaxing outside during the day or dining under the stars at night, a pergola offers shelter from the elements and a lot of style.
How to Personalize Your Pergola
Not only do pergolas make excellent stand-alone designs, but they also pair nicely with many other landscaping features. While pergolas are freestanding, you can also add some latticework for more privacy and shade control. From rustic to ornate to elaborate, choose the style that speaks to you. For example, consider the following ways to personalize your pergolas, such as:
As you can see, pergolas are one of the most versatile landscape features. If you’re looking to add some extra style, hang all-weather fabrics. The soft flowing canopy will make you feel like you’re in the Italian countryside while also adding to your open patio. You can even pair it with built-in decorative fire pits and stunning mood lighting fixtures .
Whatever style you’re looking for, our talented landscaping specialist can help you achieve it.
Benefits of Visually-Appealing Pergola Design
When it comes to picking the right outdoor landscaping design, the options can be overwhelming. While some homeowners choose to build a deck, this time-consuming project isn’t always suitable for every yard. Instead, adding a decorative pergola to your patio is a cost-effective way to extend your living space. If you’re considering a patio renovation, consult with our landscaping designers to help you find the right economical and beautiful design for your area.
Pergolas bring numerous benefits to your home, including:
Pergolas also cover more surface area than small decorative arbors to provide shade cover over beautifully designed patio spaces. Stay cool in your comfortably shaded, semi-protected area.
Define Your Outdoor Space With a Pergola
Don’t break the bank to add some shade to your yard; pergolas are an affordable and easy-to-install option for every space. You can either create freestanding pergolas or connect them to your home as windbreak support. Pergolas are also great for smaller spaces because the slates allow more light in without making you feel trapped or confined. Since pergolas are a decorative archway composed of vertical pillars that support rafters or cross beams, they can seamlessly fit into every outdoor space.
If you want even more protection from the elements, you can add different roofing options made from wood, metal, or fabric such as:
Stay Cool in Style
While many Minnesotan homes combine traditional porch and awning combinations, stand out with your beautiful and durable pergola. There are various style options which means that these decorative archways add visual interest to any backyard. You can even incorporate additional design features that fluctuate, such as adding hanging plants, latticework for ivy, or soft fabric for further personalization.
Fun tip: Plant climbing plants like wisteria and roses nearby to add a colorful backdrop.
Be the envy of your neighborhood with a gorgeous new pergola to add cooling shade in the summer. If you are considering upgrading your outdoor space, consider adding a customized pergola.
Seek Shelter From the Elements With Pergola Design
If you’re looking to spruce up your outdoor space, consider adding a pergola. Pergolas can bring shade and beauty to any patio and even extend your outdoor living space. By consulting with a landscape architect, you can choose your preferred pergola design to blend seamlessly into your outdoor space.
At KG Landscape, we’re proud to offer stylish, affordable, and long-lasting solutions for your property. We source only the highest quality wood to create a visually appealing architectural addition to your home. Our personalized pergolas can be either stand-alone or attached to your home, depending on your desires.
With years of experience creating customized landscaping designs for customers throughout the Twin Cities, we have the tools and techniques to do the same for you.
Our premier landscaping design team is available 24/7 to answer client’s questions, and help spruce up your landscaping project.
Get started today by filling out the online application to get your free quote estimate based on the services you want.
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When Pergolas Don’t Last, There’s Always a Reason After nearly two decades of building outdoor spaces across Medina, I’ve seen what happens when pergolas aren’t designed for Minnesota’s conditions. You can spot them a mile away—posts that lean, beams that twist, and concrete pads that have heaved out of level after just a couple of winters. It’s not because homeowners cut corners intentionally. It’s usually because whoever built it didn’t account for what our climate really does to structures that aren’t anchored right. Medina’s heavy clay soil doesn’t drain well. It holds moisture, freezes solid, and then expands like a hydraulic press pushing on everything above it. When pergolas are set on surface-level post bases, that pressure has nowhere to go but up—and the whole thing moves. Even small shifts can cause joints to separate, wood to crack, and hardware to loosen. That’s how a $15,000 structure starts looking tired after a few years instead of standing straight for decades. The truth is, pergolas here aren’t just about shade or looks. They’re about structure, drainage, and how every piece ties into the patio beneath it. A pergola that stands tall through Minnesota winters is built on the same principles as a good foundation—it’s only as strong as what’s underneath it. If you live in Medina and want to enjoy your backyard without worrying about your investment warping or sagging, start with design that respects the environment it’s built in. That means thinking beyond lumber and stain colors. It means understanding soil movement, water management, and the importance of integrating your pergola with the patio below it.
Solutions for Properties in Minnetonka You can always tell a Minnetonka yard that’s fighting its slope. Water doesn’t lie, it finds the weak spots every time. I’ve walked plenty of properties where a backyard starts beautiful in June, but by September, the patio is heaving, the grass near the pool looks like a marsh, and the homeowner is wondering how it got so bad so fast. The truth is, when you’re dealing with rolling terrain and heavy clay soils like we have around Minnetonka, you can’t just move dirt and hope gravity behaves. You need a plan that manages water from the surface all the way down through the subsoil. This is what I’ll walk you through here. You’ll see what actually causes drainage issues on sloped properties, how poor planning leads to cracked patios and shifting pool decks, and the smart drainage systems that can stop those problems for good. Whether you live near Lake Minnetonka or up in the higher ridges closer to Deephaven or Woodland, understanding how your yard sheds water is the difference between a property that lasts and one that’s constantly under repair. The Real Challenge of Sloped Minnetonka Yards Minnetonka is known for its hills, lakefront properties, and mature trees, but all that beauty comes with a set of challenges below the surface. Most of the soil here is dense clay. It holds water like a sponge and drains slowly, which means after every heavy rain, that water looks for a way downhill. If it doesn’t have a proper outlet, it ends up collecting right where you don’t want it, like along your patio, at the base of a retaining wall, or near your pool deck. I see this every season: homeowners trying to solve slope problems with a quick regrade, a layer of rock, or a simple surface drain. Those things might help for a while, but they don’t address what’s really happening underground. Clay soil doesn’t just get wet—it becomes saturated, expanding and contracting with every freeze-thaw cycle. When that happens under a patio or wall, it doesn’t matter how well-built the surface looks. The ground will move, and that movement cracks stone, shifts pavers, and slowly tears apart everything on top. The other challenge with sloped lots is how water interacts with gravity. It accelerates downhill, gaining momentum as it goes. When it hits a flat area like a patio, the water loses speed but not volume, pooling instead of flowing. That’s why I tell clients that “flat spots” on a sloped property are both an opportunity and a responsibility. They’re the best spaces to create usable outdoor areas, but they have to be engineered to handle water movement. I’ve worked on plenty of Minnetonka yards where the backyard has a beautiful view but terrible grading. You can have a perfect slope on paper, but if it directs water toward your house or creates a bowl effect between structures, you’ll end up with soggy soil and standing puddles that never dry. The goal is to move water off and away while keeping the surface level enough for comfort and usability. It’s a fine balance, but when it’s done right, it completely transforms how a property functions.