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@Goustan and Andrew Garulay:
I lived in the P.I. for two years, so I know the jungle (climbed  a perfect cone volcano! really cool.) The book you seek is Design with Nature, and limiting planting design to visual impact only is absolutely ridiculous.
So far we have strayed from thinking about the landscape, from the advanced thinking of the…[Read more]

I suggest you go walk in the jungle (I’d be happy to oblige), then I suggest you spend some time in a rural village there (I know the right place), to have an idea of what you’re saying, before pushing this ‘debate’ further. 
Just note that opening a ‘window’ on western design is actually opening for them a window to the world. They will take it f…[Read more]

//I just self-censored a pamphlet which has nothing to do with the topic. Let it just be said that the average Lao has never had a chance to go to the West, even less study in harvard//
Now, I will certainly not underestimate their capacity for Art, which is clearly demonstrated to anyone who visits the exhibition spaces in Luang-Prabang.
I also…[Read more]

Planting design theory has nothing to do with culture or ecology. It is understanding the various visual effects of any planting composition whether it is created by nature or white guys in grey suits. It is about breaking it down for analysis so that you or I can understand what we are looking at. It also empowers us re-create something we have s…[Read more]

pps, why underestimate Laotians interest in the state of the art?
http://www.asla.org/2012studentawards/124.html
 

Your sense of humor should be helpful, but it seems to me that since it is in Laos, with serious environmental problems, this is an opportunity to jump OUT of the western landscape design box. I recommend Design with Nature, of course – why can’t each planting be a little ecological restoration? Are not  their own  forests  good patterns to st…[Read more]

Those skills are more valuable than you probably realize. I would suggest not spending much time teaching others your techniques. Our profession is headed in a weird direction where everyone strives to become a project manager and craft takes a back seat. Hold on to and develop your own techniques and market them professionally. We are in the…[Read more]

Haha, I can see and understand where your ‘cranky contrarians’ come from ! 🙂
I would probably take a similar stance myself if I was dealing with people with a common cultural background and to whom we had in common any form of ‘landscaping references’, which you refer to as “the same old same old, everything irrigated,  respond to sun and shade b…[Read more]

Definitely the planting design handbook which is theory based:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0754677168?pc_redir=1398341177&robot_redir=1

Thanks Eric, I remember Andrew recommended it to me already, and I shortlisted it for further reading.

I second that! It is the best book that I have seen to break it all the way down and then build it all the way back up.

Goustan, Almost 25 years ago, we studied from this book, Planting Design: A Manual of Theory and Practice , which seems to still be used and latest edition shows to be around 2004. Not at all a tropical planting resource, but does provide the guidance you describe. 

Brenden,
The test transition was  beyond frustrating and there are tons of people with your exact same gripe, including me. I was pretty outspoken directly to CLARB about my issues with the way they handled the test transition. I could bore you for hours with the details of my bad history with CLARB, lol.
When the test transitioned from the old…[Read more]

What if I was not notified of the testing change by email or otherwise?
The first I heard of it was when somebody else in my office mentioned it to me, and was already to late. To assume that everybody was notified and that if the amount of time was long enough to make the transition is just dumb. As a student coming out of college taking this…[Read more]

Hi Jason, I got to disagree here. No matter if bare-rooted, container grown, or root-balled, no matter if just the calliper of a pencil or a mature Methusalem, as long as the tree is exposed to the wind this movement caused to the root system will disturbe the new growth of the adventive roots and with that harm the plant. The root system and t…[Read more]

I back-up Andrew : saw the drawing specs on ISA website (they provide PDF and CAD if I remember well) +  matches the field practice when I was doing planting.

Most trees don’t need staking at all if planted properly. Most of the time it isn’t done right anyway, and just ends up hurting the tree.

IMHO, I do not think these are a good solution for the simple fact that, if installed as detailed on the manufacturers website, only the soil is stabilized and not the root structure of the tree.  Therefore, when the wind blows, it causes the tree to rock back and forth, pulling on all of the roots attached to the tree, which means the smallest r…[Read more]