[Wayne Wilcox]

Very thoughtful.
1. I’d have to deconstruct my observations to reply carefully. Suffice it to say that several posts triggered the thought.

2. Agreed.

3. I did something similar but with a twist. I got burned several times by spec’ing plants out of Dirr and similar books, only to discover that they’re not commercially available. Contractors couldn’t find ’em. So I visited the Virginia Nursery & Landscape Association website, downloaded the database of plants that growers were growing, and then spent too much time sorting them by different criteria. Now I can spec plants that I KNOW are easily commercially available by referring to my cheat sheet.

4. Agreed.

5. I hope you’re right about getting clients who want your particular approach. I’m aiming for a natives niche, but I’m not sure that this market will support that.

[Wayne Wilcox]

Very interesting line of discussion. Here’s a rhapsody of thoughts after reading thru the posts …

1. I perceive a presupposition that landscape architecture is primarily about using plants to make a pretty place. Or to make a place pretty. LA is more complex than that, with multiple purposes, issues and criteria. We all know that, I hope, but sometimes it bears repeating.

2. Likewise, the issue of edibles in landscapes is more complicated than the like/dislike, good/bad, bias/open angles. For instance, different approaches are appropriate to different landscapes. Plantings that fit at a suburban office complex might not fit so well at a country estate. Plus, if people discover that some of the plantings at their local Burger King are edible, what’s to stop them from trying other plantings? Gee, that yew looks yummy. Hey, look, there’s some hemlock! Uh, oh.

Further, one important element of LA is that we are creating habitat, whether we’re paying attention to that or not. A lawn is a habitat, just like a forest. What biota does it support? How does our new habitat fit into its ecosystem context? Without implying that we should be anthropocentric, plants that are edible for humans can contribute in wonderful ways.

3. Even the best LAs have limited plant palletes. We can only know so much, and in the hustle of getting a project done, sometimes we must run with the palletes we know best. Adopting a principle that plantings can be edible might encourage us to explore new palletes, but in the work-a-day world, with my reputation and budget both on the line, sometimes I just gotta go with what I know will work.

4. Too many LA plans that I’ve seen (and some that I’ve drawn) focused on a limited set of issues: pick plants that survive; pick pretty plants; arrange them to look good; minimize maintenance. We can lose sight of the big picture sometimes.

5. Like Andrew G, I wrestle with who drives the values of a project. On the one hand, clients hire me because I know and understand things that they don’t. On the otehr hand, it’s their project, and they live with it after I finish with it.

Well, I’d thought that these disparate thoughts would weave into something coherent, but that doesn’t seem to have happened.

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