To add an inviting element to your backyard, consider building an arbor, an outdoor accessory that's a popular feature in today's well dressed gardens. Place an arbor at the entrance to a yard and its simple elegance welcomes visitors, or use one as the centerpiece of a landscape plan and plant it with climbers.

Years ago, there were limited choices in arbors - expensive custom-built designs or mass-produced in less-than-perfect wood - and both were high maintenance. They often rotted from the extremes of weather, and required either paint or stain to protect them. Today you'll find a dazzling array of vinyl garden products, including arbors, which are easy-to-assemble and provide years of maintenance-free outdoor living.

A landscape contractor will charge $630 to build a white vinyl arbor that measures approximately 60-inches wide by 86-inches high, and is installed with post anchors in the soil. You can buy an arbor kit for about $425 and build it yourself and save 33 percent. Along with a frame, arched top and side panels, a kit typically includes end caps, anchors and adhesive to fasten it together. You'll find a range of vinyl garden arbor kits sold online at www.gardenarborstore.com, and locally at lawn and garden and home centers.