Subject: Re: LA and horticulture--what's the relationship?

From: [email-masked] (Slezak L. P. (Paul))
Date: 1 Dec 1994 20:05:41 GMT

I would tend to agree that one should know horticulture well.

My wife and I were poor amateur LA people.  Basically
we would go out, buy plants, put them in and watch them die.
We tried landscape timbers, raised beds, ....

Finally, after pouring money into a backyard that was worthless
we decided to try the experts.  The people we used came up
with a very nice "architecture plan" putting curves in a square backyard
which made a lot of difference.  However, they also recommended plants
that would grow in our backyard which has areas of bad and good drainage.
They also recommended hardy drought tolerant plants that are fairly maintenance
free (we have one child with one on the way - we didn't want to spend
forever taking care of a large yard).  In addition, the plants flower
at different times of year so we have color year round and the
colors complement each other.  

Can you tell I am a very satisfied
customer?  For us, the curved beds and curved patio/walk are nice,
but the plants make the difference.

On the other hand I can see the point of the Universities.  Two
semesters of horticulture ought to be able to -teach you to look-
for plants which will thrive in an area, which ones flower, soil types/problems,
bug/pest problems, etc.  I doubt very much that they would teach you
what plants to use in all areas.  There are so many climate 
variations/soil variations/elevation variations 
in the US (World) that they couldn't cover them all.

I think that once one lands in an area to do LA, that they should immerse
themselves ASAP in the horticulture appropriate for that area making sure
to learn what the horticulture courses taught them to learn.

Just my opinion.

---

Paul

******************************************************************************
Paul Slezak 			[email-masked]
Union Pacific Resources         (817)-877-6061
P.O. Box 7 M.S. 3503	 	FAX: (817)-877-6598
Fort Worth, TX 76101

---

From: [email-masked] (CowboyRik)
Date: 9 Dec 1994 13:50:48 -0500

> I am interested in studying landscape architecture as a second career.
> I'm investigating programs of study and would appreciate hearing
> about your opinions of programs you are/have been in.

Did you know that landscape architecture is the only profession that even
our own mother's don't know what we do for a living?

Did you hear about the landscape architect who won a million dollar
lottery and decided to continue practicing until the money ran out?

B. Ferrand (I forgot the correct spelling) addressed a class of graduating
landscape architects decades ago.  Her advise, "I hope you all have
another occupation to pay the bills?"  Things haven't changed much.

Twenty years promoting and practicing landscape architecture, guess what,
I'm back in school to learn a skill that can earn a good income.

---

From: [email-masked] (Hedlund)
Date: Thu, 08 Dec 1994 21:15:28 -0700

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked]
(Rob LeBlanc) wrote:

>> Also, I am very interested in understanding better the relationship
>> between horticulture and landscape architecture.  The LA programs
>> I've looked at (U. WA, Penn State, WVU) don't seem to require more
>> than a couple of hort courses.  Yet I cannot imagine designing without
>> having a strong plant material vocabulary.

Actually, I think the key word here is _require_.  I doubt that you would
be penalized in any way for taking more courses & pursuing the
plant/horticulture thread more vigorously.  That said, I would like to
encourage you to study plants from many different regions, because you may
not end up practicing in the same region you are being educated.  I, for
example, went to school at Cornell U. in Upstate NY, but subsequently have
moved to Denver, CO.....the plant materials I learned about in the chilly,
wet region of NY have very little in common with the prarie/alpine plants
around here.

>In essance, it is the combination of 'art' and 'science' that makes
>landscape architecture unique. Plants play an important role, but they are
>not the end all and be all of the profession. I would guess that 'knowledge
>of plant material' comprises about 5% of what landscape architect do on a
>daily basis (of course this is a gross generalization). I would expect this
>number to be reflected in any university program's curriculum.

I just want to agree with this.. I work at a residential design/build
firm, and even in that environment, with clients scrutinizing every aspect
of the planting plan, hardscape tends to be the dominant day-to-day
business.
-- 
 - Dalva                       [email-masked]     
---------------------------------------------------------------------          
Perfection is impossible;  Excellence is attainable.