Landscape Architecture

It's not as difficult as you might think!

Garden Landscape Architecture sounds quite fearsome but it is a very broad classification of landscaping that includes such subsets as landscape design, garden design and many other subcategories of landscaping.

Estate or garden Landscape Architecture is, by definition, the art, design, planning, preservation, management and rehabilitation of land as well as the design of human built constructs. If you can get some time to try landscape architecture, do so, it can be great fun.

Landscape designers are typically employed with landscape service and construction companies. Garden designers and landscape designers both design many types of plantings with flowers as well as green spaces. You've seen it in your town no doubt. The usual council type planting of the roundabouts and town centres. What about all those beautiful hanging baskets? The problem now however is that the health and safety are getting involved and dictating where they can be put which has nothing to do with the aesthetic aspects.

A large number of landscape engineers work in public offices in local and central government, with many others working with landscape architecture firms. These are the guys that take on the estate type of work such as the bridge shown here.

Landscape scientists are also involved somewhere in landscape architecture and have special skills in areas of study related to landscape architecture, such as soil science, botany or geomorphology. The projects of landscape scientists range from ecological assessment of large areas of land for management and landscape planning purposes to simpler site surveys.

Landscape scientists sometimes report on various impacts that development of land may have, or the importance of a certain botanical species of a particular area.

Landscape managers are typically the landscape professionals that have the largest knowledge bases about various plants and plant care, as well as longer term development of the land. Landscape managers work in such areas as estate management, forestry, horticulture, agriculture and nature conservation.

Landscape architecture planners concern themselves with landscape   planning toward the scenic, location and ecological portions or rural, urban and coastal land use. Their work is largely embodied within policy and strategy, written statements about master plans for new landscape developments, evaluations and assessments as well as preparation of countryside management programs and plans.

That's for the pros of course but there's nothing stopping you from studying a little and doing a minature jobby in your garden. When I first started as a young man after school I simply watched and asked questions. Then I was lucky enough to get a place in a college for horticulture at the  Inchbald School of Design, and a part time job with a landscape architect firm. I would go around my area offering to do design work for free if they would actually instigate my designs in their garden. The experience doing that got me high marks in the practical exams. Don't worry about feeeling daunted, have a go.

Editor
Peter Charalambos