It’s ideal for enjoying a summer evening with a glass of shiraz and cheese or a full-blown Sunday lunch. It’s also a great place for children to play out of the hot, summer sun.

More traditional gazebo styles (as pictured) can blend well with a cottage garden atmosphere. While the roof can be of simple bamboo, I would recommend it being weatherproof (Colorbond, western red shingles or a weatherproof masonite) for year-round use.

The design can include timbers to train climbing plants to provide tantalising fragrances such as Trachelospermum jasminoides or Chinese Star Jasmine. Other suggestions could include clematis from the large-flowered variety putting on a great show in summer. This could be combined with the winter-flowering clematis, Clematis nepaulensis or C. cirrhosa. Alternatively, combine the summer and winter varieties for year-round colour. I don’t recommend thorny climbing roses, with the exception of the magnificently fragrant Rosa “Zephirine Drouhin”, which is thornless.

To my knowledge, Murray Fleming, of Outdoor Structures in Queanbeyan, is the only gazebo builder in the district. Murray will build to your design or show you a multiplicity of designs, in addition to children’s cubby houses and play equipment.

Features worth considering are ensuring that the shed can be securely locked, include at least one window and lay an all-weather garden path linking the shed to the house.

Painting it to blend in with the house colours is a good idea or, to camouflage it, provide a screen of lattice with climbers or a flowering hedge rather than just an evergreen hedge. An example would be the surprisingly hardy Camellia sasanqua, of which I recommend two varieties, namely Camellia sasanqua “Hiryu” or C.s. “Plantation Pink”.

Alternatively, have upright metal or wooden posts about two metres apart with horizontal wires spaced 30cm apart for climbing plants.

Jottings…

• Plant the fragrant ground cover Gardenia radicans. A dwarf form of its big sister Gardenia Florida, with the same exquisite, fragrant, white flowers, growing to just 40cm high x 50cm wide. Ideal for pots or hanging gardens.
• Prune native plants after flowering, but no more off than a quarter at any one time.
• Remove any dead growth from azaleas and give a light trim.
• Dead leaves of bulbs can be cut to ground level six weeks after flowering is finished.
• The Horticultural Society Iris, Rhododendron and Azalea Show is an ideal show to see what can be grown in local gardens. It will be held at the Wesley Church Centre, National Circuit, Forrest from noon (after judging) to 5pm on Saturday, October 31, and 11.30am-3.45pm, on Sunday, November 1. A well-stocked plant stall and refreshments will be available.