What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet

London Arbor

Sure our products would be just as attractive, durable and stylish with any name, but the best things have a story behind them; and our product names are no exception. Our oldest line of products were named after cities in New England: Springfield, New Haven, Waterbury, Manchester, Fairfield, Sturbridge. Some of those products are still around and some have evolved into newer, updated versions of their old selves. When our line of smaller arbors was launched, it took a decidedly more cosmopolitan turn: Vienna, Monaco, Florence, London.

When our Pergolas were introduced with names like Venetian, Bellagio and Riviera, the relaxing, resort-like inspiration is clear, but there have been other names that seem like anomalies, but have meaning behind them, indeed, are tributes of sorts.

The Livingston Arbor is in honor of a vacation to Scotland, The Kensington Planter Box with Trellis a nod to Kensington Gardens; The Versailles Raised Garden Bed to the Garden of Versailles.

Versailles Raised Garden Bed

And in our new products for this year, there is another tribute: Our new modern, aesthetic composite raised planter has been named in a nod to a group of modern aesthetes – The Bloomsbury Group.

We're also working on adding a product that our customers have been clamoring for  -  a potting bench! Which will be called the Burbank Potting bench, after Luther Burbank, a botanist and horticulturalist who developed more than 800 varieties of plants!

Products in the wild: NYC

A savvy spotter sent us this snap of a whole slew of our Windsor long planter boxes hanging out on the patio at the Battery Gardens Restaurant in the financial district (Battery Park) in NYC. Battery Gardens Restaurant features great view of the Statue of Liberty and Governors island and all of the boats in the harbor and we can imagine the view is just as nice from this angle in the spring and summer when all of these Windsor long planters are full of flowers in full bloom!

Photo Contest

We've just wrapped up our 2012 Photo Contest. We had many wonderful, creative and charming entries and among them were these three which placed

First

Second

And Third

Congratulations to all of the winners! and Thank You to all of the entrants!

Look up... waaaay up.

We love when our customers send us photos and notes about how they've beautified their yards with our products. Sometimes the results are too creative not to share.

Looking at this house in Winnipeg, can you guess where their new pergola is going to be installed?

Here's a hint:

To make the area useable, and to ensure the roof membrane wasn't damaged, the homeowners added recycled rubber pavers. They erected the Mirage Pergola to create a completely new area in previously unusable space, giving them an outdoor room for entertaining, or relaxing.

And it looks gorgeous!

Arbors in the wild: Vacation Edition

Because we manufacture such a distinctive looking product (it’s all that New England architectural style!) It’s easy to pick out one of our products in the wild- something our staff seems to appreciate – even when they’re on vacation.

We’re proud of our products and whether it’s Hartsdale, New York or Halifax, Nova Scotia we’re always glad to see them where they belong - helping our customers beautify their yards!

We see you!

Know your stuff: Plant edition

Our team here at New England Arbors, has some quite diverse talents, interest and knowledge; and as helpful as it is to know who played the Penguin in the 60’s Batman series, some staff knowledge is more all-around beneficial.  We’re lucky to have a  horticulture expert right here in our office and We've asked him to give some tips for which plants are best suited to each size of arbor:

These plants are well suited to arbors with a smaller post size (1.5 x 1.5 – 2 x 3.5)

• Fig-wort/Creeping Snapdragon
• Clematis
• Ivy
• Morning Glory
• Climbing Roses

These plants are better suited to arbors with a larger post size (4 x 4 – 5 x 5)

• Trumpet Vine
• Honeysuckle
• Bougainvillea
• Passion flower
• Grapes
• Japanese Hydrangea

You'd think with all of this on-site expertise our offices would be full of lush greenery, which is true to a degree, but most of the plants in our offices are faux. We do have a few that have been brought in for rescuing

Sideshow Bob has thrived.

This one might need a telethon.

We've got something new...

You may have noticed we’ve revamped our site. We wanted a modern, simple (and more attractive!) way to communicate with our customers and this new site provides us with a few new ways that we hope you’ll find innovative and convenient.

On every page there is a little chat bubble in the lower right hand corner.  I often hesitated to use these in my own online shopping and research, but I can now assure you from experience that when you click to chat you’ll reach (just like when you call us) a real live person in our office, not a call center or data center.

You can also leave your feedback on our testimonials page, or read what other customers have had to say about their experience with New England Arbors.

Lastly, but especially not least, is a feature we’ve been planning for a few years – (Almost) realtime uploading and voting in our photo contest. Every year we give away three cash prizes for the best photos of customer installations featuring our products. It’s always been a big (but low-tech) deal for us, with hundreds of photos spread out in our offices and guests brought in to vote… We’ve always wanted a way to show off all of the great entries we receive and this year we finally have one! Visitors to our site can now upload their own images and also vote on everyone’s entries. (You can vote on each photo once, with 5 being the best) The top 50% will be uploaded to our facebook page for a vote-off to begin in November.

You can upload your photos, have a look at everyone's great installation ideas and beautiful yards -  and cast your vote all right here