Landscape Architects know Plants

A Landscape Architect must know their plants. Although we work with many different materials including glass, metal, concrete, furniture, lighting, asphalt, brick, stone, and wood (carpentry), knowledge of plant material is one of the things that distinguishes landscape architects from other design fields.

You don't have to know as much as a conservation biologist, ecologist, forester, or horticulturalist, but you must be able to speak their languages. Landscape Architects often play a key role in project co-ordination since and we are one of the few professions who can so effectively translate ideas and issues between civil engineers, planners, architects, ecologists, and the public.

So, considering that there are approximately 350,000 different species of plants, and many varieties, cultivars, and hybrids of each species, how do you begin to learn to identify plants?

When I studied botany as an undergraduate, I took a full-year course in Plant ID. We learned 30 new plants each week, ultimately covering over 700 plants, including the correct spellings of their genus, species, and common names. When you need to learn that many plants in such a short time, you have to have a system.

Luckily, there is already one, thanks to Carolus Linnaeus. The vast Kingdom Plantae is organized along evolutionary lines, and therefore also along similarities in form and function of plant anatomy (generally).

A good place to start is to learn the basic characteristics of the groups of plants: ferns and mosses, gynmosperms (conifers), angiosperms (flowering plants).

Then, learn the main plant families. Often if you can identify which group (family or order) a plant belongs to you can go a long way to identifying it. Leaf shape can be deceptive as it often varies depending on growing conditions. A much more tell-tale sign is the anatomy of the flower, branching patterns of the leaves and stems, and the fruit type produced.

So, learn the difference between maples and oaks, between ashes and walnuts, between dogwoods and roses. For example, maples always have leaves that come in pairs, even if the leaf doesn't look like a maple. Sycamore trees have alternate leaves, even though their leaves look like maples. The rose family always has flowers with 5 petals, except for cultivated tea roses (which are quite frankenstein, botanically speaking). It can be very frustrating when you start out, but the more you learn the easier it gets.

Want to write for a landscape blog?

The original purpose of this blog was to raise public awareness of the profession of landscape architecture. There is a need to raise public awareness of what it is that landscape architects do, and how important our work is in the world. It's difficult to write for an audience of people who don't know what landscape architecture is, and explain to them why they should care. How would they ever find this blog in the first place?

So I began writing about what I know, and the areas of our profession that interest me the most. I now have a solid place in google's rankings and there are over 2000 people per month reading more than 3000 page-views of this blog. This is by no means stellar, but is certainly a large group of people that pass through here on a regular basis. The time is right to expand this blog into something more substantial, and to grow the community of readers, visitors, and contributors. In so doing, we can spread the word even farther about what landscape architecture is and how it touches (and improves) all of our lives.

So I'm looking for passionate individuals who are interested in contributing articles on a somewhat regular basis. There are several subject areas that I would like to cultivate:

Tools of the trade:

software: tips, help, and instruction in autocad, sketchup, photoshop, indesign, etc.

field work: survey equipment, soil sampling, site observation tips

Technology and Materials:

construction techniques, new materials, new products

Plants and Ecology:

plant identification

stormwater management

ecological approaches

green design

Academics and Research:

latest research in landscape architecture

spotlight on thesis work

related science and environmental news

Jobs and Business:

discussion about starting and running a practice

professional advice

business development

portfolio, job search, and interviewing skills and tips

Professional Development:

LARE, LEED, and other certifications and exams

Public Awareness:

events, news, ideas

basics of what landscape architects do

At this point, I think a good approach would be to assemble a team of writers who could contribute 1 or 2 short, concise, and interesting articles a month each. This would allow us to build a great online magazine that offers something new from one of the above subject areas every other day or so.

Does this sound like something you'd be interested in? If so, contact me, dan at LArchRes dot com. Give me an idea of what areas you are most inspired or experienced in, even if it's not included in the list above. I'm surely overlooking at least one important part of our diverse and multifaceted profession. You don't have to be a professional writer, but you might be once we're finished here!

Blogging Break

I'm going to take a blogging break for a few weeks while I adjust to my newfound role in parenthood. Our little bundle of joy is a real lively handfull. In the mean time, feel free to browse around, search for a job or a plant, comment on some existing posts, and even suggest topics for future posts in the comments here.

Thanks for visiting! Bookmark or subscribe to tune in when I pick up again soon!