Plow & HearthMetal Tree of Life Arched Garden Arbor w/Gate | Laser-Cut Design | Plant Support | Landscape Focal Point | Steel | 53" W x 22¾"D x 84" H

We just installed a brick garden path to the basement suite and I wanted a way to politely indicate that this is a private entrance. The tree of life arch with gates is quite lovely and went together easily once I realized that even though arch sections were tied together in pairs, they were NOT matching pairs. Suggestion: lay the arch pieces out before starting to bolt together, making sure that the front face (extra bar) is aligned and that the leaves point up from each side to the center. Once that’s done, the rest is easy and goes a little easier if you use a ratchet wrench. I laid the cardboard box out on the driveway and took my time. Neighbors helped set it upright and eased it into place but it will still need to have the legs set into concrete to hold it square as it does torque a bit which makes the gates difficult to align/close. I plan to weave solar fairy lights into the canopy as the finishing touch to this absolutely lovely addition to my home.

This isn't a "heavy duty" gate and arch, but it is sufficient for non-security applications. It's very attractive and easy to assemble. However, don't tighten the bolts attaching the top to the sides until you have it set in place. Loose bolts will allow you to make adjustments to square the gate. Also, it's a good idea to attach protective feet on the 4 bottom posts to minimize rusting. I used rebar caps and caulked the gaps. If you're in a wet climate, it's also a good idea to caulk the bolts and seams.Overall, I'm very pleased with this product and recommend it for a variety of applications.

I assembled this arch and gate within half an hour. One of the receptor bolts wasn’t drilled correctly and the gate won’t hang right, but I have a temporary solution for now. Other than that I recommend this gate.

The great strength of this product is its beautiful tree of life design. Its supporting structure is also adequately sturdy.However, its non-supporting structure is much less sturdy. For example, when I was installing the arbor, I carelessly touched a leaf and it broke off. Other leaves bent on the slightest touch. As long as one is careful when installing the arbor and doesn’t have young children who might play with it, this should be a manageable problem, although it certainly would have been preferable if the leaves were better attached to the frame. On the other hand, some vines are tenacious, such as the ivy where I live, and I could imagine inadvertently pulling off some of the leaves while trimming or replacing vines.Another demerit is the poor manual. With common sense and some struggle, one can figure out how to put the various pieces together. But there may be some common sense trial and error needed where the manual is hopelessly useless, notably in the exact placement of the gates. The tolerances for the gate are too exact not to place the footings of the gate in a concrete foundation or something similar. The manual (and the product description) should have included this information. In my judgment, the tolerances without the gate are fine, so this can simply be inserted in the ground. If you don't plan on installing this with a secure footing, I recommend buying the version without the gate, which is a shame because the gate looks very nice.My biggest gripe with this product was the customer service to repair an utterly petty defect (you'll see from the reviews here that others had similar defects). The product comes with 27 screws. It turns out that one of them, one of the largest four, was defective. I had installed all 26 other screws when I began to focus on a screw, one of the four that attach to the two gates, that wouldn’t work. I spent at least a half hour trying to screw it in every which way, and then my wife did the same for a similar amount of time. At first, we thought the problem might be the screw fitting on the gate. But we ultimately determined that the problem was merely with the screw. The screw, as it turns out, had a relatively unusual color (black) and length (pretty long). I suppose I could have spent an hour or more at a store like Home Depot to get an exact replacement. But I figured I’d contact the manufacturer to ask them to send me a replacement screw, which could probably fit in an #10 envelope. Big mistake! Amazon told customers to contact Plow & Hearth about problems with missing or defective parts and provided Plow & Hearth’s customer support website to do so. However, when I filled out the form and notified Plow & Hearth of the defective part and that I had purchased it from Amazon, Plow & Hearth told me that all customer service requests had to be made through Amazon. When I replied that I didn’t know how to do that and requested precise and accurate instructions how to do so, Plow & Hearth couldn’t provide such instructions despite my multiple requests for it to do so. Ultimately, Plow & Hearth said I should either return the entire item or go to a hardware store to find a replacement screw. My sense—and I could be wrong—is that this product is made in China and Plow & Hearth doesn’t actually have replacement parts. But it didn’t want to acknowledge this, so it sent me on a goose chase.

The looks are quite deceiving. It’s rather flimsy and I do not believe it will actually hold up one year. The “ cut outs “ are really nice from afar, but they can be bent with just your fingers…actually I think it’s made very cheaply and I would not recommend purchasing this.

Picture is worth a thousand words

We installed this gated arbor at our pathway entrance. It was simple to assemble. We used rebars and clamps to anchor it to our slightly sloped pathway. We sprayed another coat of paint after assembly for extra rust proofing. The screw which attaches the latch keep coming loose when operating the latch. We need to modify it by putting an extra nut on the latch attachment.

I love this. Easy to assemble. Great product. Looking forward to my roses covering.