[Ami Saunders]

Adam,

 

I agree about the comment regarding native plants.  In that direction, my one thought was that if you compare shorter-lived native perennial plantings to longer-lived non-native “ornamentals” then, yes, you will have to replace plants that have shorter life expectancies sooner.  What if you compared longer-lived native shrubs with the longer-lived hardwood shrubs you mentioned?  That would be a fairer comparison horticulturally and a better start to establishing a counter in the debate.

 

As for maintenance, in theory, it would be nice if there were an ample supply of a highly skilled landscape maintenance workforce.  However, you only need to find one maintenance company to handle the project, no matter how many others there may be available who are capable of handling native plant maintenance.  In my area, there are several large maintenance companies specializing in commercial and institutional maintenance, who invest in employee training, and are adept with managing changing trends and technologies, and taking care of newer landscapes with newer codes and, yes, native plants.  Since these are larger companies, they are much easier to find, and you might be surprised that in talking with them they have wonderful people with various degrees in the industry, and with expertise that complements and (maybe even) rivals that of a landscape architect’s.  But I would leave it up to you to explore.  (Hint:  companies that come to mind are Kachina, ValleyCrest, etc. etc.) 

 

Also I would recommend Bob Perry’s (FASLA), recent book as a resource.  This book is based upon (only a few) decades of research, hopefully enough to satisfy your boss’ skepticism, and is chock full of native and low-water use plants.  This book is worth it’s weight in gold, in my opinion, for plant design. 

 

I love all plants, and feel that as designers we can be open to many different planting possibilities based upon the site, its users, and its caretakers.  

 

 

 

[Ami Saunders]

All plants are native to somewhere.

Ignorance is bliss.  To hold onto this perspective you describe that is held by your boss, he/she really has to live, eat, work and shop with his/her eyes completely shut to all new landscape construction these days, especially in California.   Not to mention ignoring increasingly stringent new construction code requirements. 

Try taking your boss to lunch with the office crew somewhere at a little restaurant with a cute outdoor patio in a new shopping center with bioswales, curbcuts in planting areas, perhaps some permeable asphalt or concrete, and tons of new water-saving/native plantings, and see if he/she can sit there with his/her eyes shut and still refuse to listen to him/herself pontificate about the past. 

Old school is a dying breed, as evidenced from observation of recent construction.

Ironically, the projects that have been leading the charge for the “green” perspective are those precise projects your boss claims to not be sustainable — which guarantees that he will (ironically) be overlooked by clients who are seeking solutions for the longest-term horizons of ownership, those projects that first went green such as civic centers, police and fire stations, libraries, hospitals and anyone else with (once again) the longest horizons of ownership.  This evidence flies in the face of the “old-school” perspective.  This type of perspective holding onto high-water, bomb-proof plants, overhead spray and nearly 100% untreated stormwater runoff, I have seen is most pervasive in the shorter-term, quick-profit, under-funded, or less informed owner, resulting in poor quality, cheap commercial projects such as strip malls, etc.  However even the newer malls these days have complete onsite stormwater design including bioswales with drought-tolerant plants such as juncus, that love wet feet once in a while and do a great job of treating and infiltrating the water the civil engineers send to them from the parking surfaces.   

I find that if I look around, there are more and more plants that require less water and more and more natives appearing all around me.  It could be your area; if it is not near a major metropolis there may not be as many plants that are newer to the horticultural trade.  I find that if I look around there are drought-tolerant and native plants to be found in every type of recent project these days. These “dirty” projects are harder and harder to permit nowadays, as municipalities are letting fewer projects “slide”, and require stormwater codes and water budget requirements to be fulfilled. 

Try looking for projects nearer a major metropolis.  Find out who the maintenance company is on the job and ask them about their experience.  You will start to see that there is strong evidence that supports the fact that “times are indeed a-changin’.” 

Good luck. 

[Author]

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