Gardening Adventures
Thinking About a Pergola? Fall Is the Time
Thinking About a Pergola? Fall Is the TimeIf you’ve been dreaming of adding a pergola, fall is honestly the best season to do it. The days are cooler, the bugs are fewer, and outdoor time finally feels like a reward again.Right now, the CedarCraft Bali Pergola — our signature 8x8 cedar design — is on fall special for just $599. It’s the perfect way to refresh your backyard before winter, and once it’s up, you’ll wonder how you ever did outdoor season without it.If you already own a Bali, this is your moment to give it a glow-up. After months of triple digits and mirage heat rising off the patio, we’ve finally hit that magic stretch where evenings are crisp, the air smells like cedar, and you can actually enjoy sitting outside again. Step 1: Build Warmth You Can Feel Think of your pergola as a blank canvas for comfort. Start with layers that last through chilly mornings and evening breezes. Add weather-resistant throws, thick outdoor cushions, and a small rug to anchor your space. For longevity, look for UV-rated fabrics — the fall sun can still fade cheap textiles in weeks.A few well-chosen textures — soft knits, woven accents, and the natural warmth of cedar — can make your Bali Pergola feel more like an outdoor living and dining room than a simple patio cover. This is the kind of space where conversations stretch out, and dinner turns into dessert without anyone checking the time. Step 2: Make the Light Work for YouGood lighting transforms your pergola from functional to inviting. The secret is layering light at different levels to create warmth and depth.Run Edison-style LED string lights (like Brightech Ambience Pro) across the Bali Pergola’s crossbeams to highlight the wood grain. Add solar lanterns or clip-on sconces along the posts for soft side lighting, and use rechargeable LED candles or a small outdoor table lamp for close-up glow.Use clear zip ties or small cup hooks to attach the lights neatly — they stay secure without marking the cedar. The result is soft, layered illumination that makes your backyard feel like a destination, not just an afterthought. Step 3: Bring the Heat — Then Bring the Meal Cooler weather doesn’t mean retreating indoors. Fire up the grill, then bring your meal beneath the pergola’s canvas canopy to dine in comfort. Add a short propane heater or a small freestanding fire pit a few feet away for just enough warmth to extend your evenings.Set a simple table — cedar or neutral wood, a cloth napkin or two, and maybe a thermos of something warm or a bottle of Bordeaux. The Bali’s canvas top keeps stray leaves from landing on your dinner, while its cedar frame adds a subtle, woodsy scent that feels distinctly fall. Step 4: Keep the Color GoingYour summer herbs may be fading, but fall planters bring new personality. Combine ornamental kale, violas, and dwarf grasses in your CedarCraft Elevated Planters for color and texture that lasts. The natural cedar finish pairs beautifully with rich autumn tones and resists rot even in damp weather.Add a few pumpkins, pinecones, or dried branches around your pergola posts for a quick seasonal refresh. For more inspiration on plant pairings and container styles, explore this excellent 27 Plants for Gorgeous Fall Containers — it’s packed with ideas to keep your garden lively through the colder months. Step 5: Turn It into a HabitThe best pergola setups don’t just look beautiful — they draw you in. Make it part of your daily rhythm: morning coffee while the fog lifts, dinner outside before the time change, or a quiet evening with a blanket and a good playlist.Keep a basket of throws nearby, a few sturdy mugs ready to fill, and let your Bali Pergola become the reason you spend more time outdoors this season. With its cedar scent, canvas shade, and clean, open design, it’s the easiest way to make your backyard feel like home — even when the weather cools. Final Thought: Comfort Isn’t SeasonalWe wait all year for this. The air turns cooler, the light gets softer, and suddenly your backyard feels like the best room in the house.Whether you’re giving your pergola a fall upgrade or finally adding one to your space, the CedarCraft Bali Pergola turns any yard into a four-season retreat — a place to breathe, gather, and make the most of this perfect stretch of weather.So grab your blanket, set the table, and stay a while. After that summer? You’ve earned this. About Mischelle, the Backyard Hopeful Mischelle is a writer, former chef, and the proud survivor of many, many houseplant casualties. While most greenery in her care has met a leafy end, she’s found redemption in CedarCraft’s self-watering planters — where her herbs actually thrive. She loves warm weather, outdoor BBQs, and believes you don’t need to be an expert gardener to create something beautiful — just the right tools, a little sun, and a whole lot of hope.
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From Planter to Plank
This holiday, ribeye may be off the menu ($19.99/lb—ouch), but that doesn’t mean the grill will be empty. My CedarCraft self-watering planter is still overflowing with basil, so I turned it into creamy cashew pesto and stuffed it inside a pork tenderloin. Grilled on a True Fire Cedar Grill Plank, it’s smoky, herby, and budget-friendly—a backyard feast that even made my neighbors jealous.
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Sustainable and Beautiful Cedar
There are a variety of reasons that people start a garden, but one of the big motivators is the sustainability that comes from growing your own vegetables. It’s both healthier for you and for our environmental impact. CedarCraft launched in 2014 with a mission to provide sustainably-crafted elevated garden planters for limited spaces and for gardeners who struggle to find an attractive, easy-to-assemble planter. Our elevated planters also help gardeners who struggle with bending down and offer an easy solution to protect herbs, flowers and vegetables from unwanted animals. Sustainability is important to us at CedarCraft. When the founder of Gorman Brothers Lumber, Ross Gorman, observed the large amount of cedar that was being lost in the lumber mill process, he took action to rescue that material and put it to good use. Trim end pieces that were being scrapped for mulch and waste are now collected and graded, edge glued and the planed into the smooth panels used to make our planters. CedarCraft is proud to declare that no trees are specifically harvested to produce our products. All material used is Sustainable Forest Initiative (SFI/PEFC) Certified and are made using 100 percent sustainably grown and untreated Western Red Cedar. New techniques used in the forest have many advantages over older ones. Instead of ‘falling' trees that may damage other ones around them, Gorman Brothers Lumber uses a harvester that holds the tree while it is cut and then carefully lays it down. Their work in the forest has improved in many areas and one of the most important is the use of new machines that evenly spread their weight so they have less impact than that of the human foot! This, coupled with a better scientific basis for sustainable forestry, has greatly improved the health of our forests. Our CedarCraft planters can grow natural, healthy food in an earth-friendly manner wherever you wish, including outdoor patios, gardens or backyards!
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