As a landscape garden design firm based in New York City and working in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Catskill Mountains and Northern New Jersey, we advocate to our clients the use of locally indigenous plant material. One of our most cherished and valued texts is American Plants for American Gardens written in 1929, republished in 1996. Through the use of “plant communities” we are able to create spaces that have a sense of place, feel natural within the built community and have a positive impact on the ecosystem. Our designs and installations contribute to our clients health and quality of life while at the same time stewarding environmental sustainability and offering lower maintenance.
Ecology and aesthetics in the garden
It has become common knowledge that benefit of planting native plants are supporting wildlife, conserving water, reducing maintenance, improving soil health, enhancing biodiversity. American Plants for American Gardens was one of the first popular books to promote the use of plant ecology and native plants in gardening and landscaping. Written by Edith Roberts and Elsa Rehmann, with an introduction by Darrel Morrison. Emphasizing the strong links between ecology and aesthetics, nature and design, the book demonstrates the basic, practical application of ecological principles to the selection of plant groups or "associations" that are inherently suited to a particular climate, soil, topography, and lighting.
Plant communities in a landscape design
The plant community settings featured include the open field / hillside / wood and grove / streamside / ravine / pond / bog| and seaside. Plant lists and accompanying texts provide valuable information for the design and management of a wide range of project types which certainly include residential properties.
Our favorite passage is found within the chapter of an Open field community.…
“Wherever there are gray birches, Nature is in one of her lightest moods. These gray-white trees of slender form gather together in fairy-like groves. Their slim grace is accentuated by the way they often spring up in fours and fives from a single root. When young they are gray-brown but later on they are phan-tom-white with black twigs and black notches. The effect is full of that mystery that etchings and delicate pencil drawings have. The gossamer quality is ever present; in the spring when their filmy foliage is light-filled, in summer when their green is soft, in autumn when it is all sun-lit yellow, and even in the winter when the trees take on again their keynote colors from the snow and dark earth.”
This text is among a handful of influential early books advocating the protection and use of native plants—a major area of interest among serious gardeners, landscape architects, nursery managers, and students of ecology, botany, and landscape design.
