Landscape and Gardens Buffalo, NY: On "Design," Plant Collections, and Explorations of Family Asteraceae.

Echinacea pallida

The Asteraceae family. Often I get caught up for short bits of time in wikipedia chasing around all the connections and links between ideas. Last week at a conference I watched a speaker on landscape design point out how they really liked to use "Echinacea tennesseensis" (Tennessee Coneflower). The assumption the listener is to make is that the Tennessee Coneflower is better to use and more exciting than just plain old Purple Coneflower. 
In my exploration I learned that Echinacea has ten species and is one of 1,911 genus in the family Asteraceae. Other related genus include Calendula, Chrysanthemum, Dahlias, Zinnia, Heleniums, and Yarrow.  The entire taxonomical family is composed of a total of 32,913 plant species. Beyond ornamental flowers, many lettuces we eat are in the family, as is chicory, artichokes, and Chamomile.
But, while I am on the margins of the plant geek world and like to experiment with different cut flowers in my house, as a landscape designer representing property owners, when should these minute difference in species come into play? 

Echinacea tennesseensis

Echinacea angustifolia

To a gardener, part of the enjoyed experience is learning new species, varieties, watching the market for new cultivars, and finding rare exotic plants that develop and present one's sophistication as a gardener. But I find it to be an infrequent occurrence that someone comes to me looking to make them into a plant collector. Most often people that hire a landscape designer or architect are looking for spaces to play in, backyards to enjoy and relax in, and also to maximize the value of their property and investments. Almost without exception people open their list of wants with "Low Maintenance" (and year round interest). People that are gardeners garden. But a very small percentage of property owners are looking to be gardeners. 

Echinacea purpurea 'Magnus'

Landscape Design isn't about making plant collections. Design is about the organization of material and space to evoke poetically a sensibility with its participant. How good can a poem be if the reader doesn't know the words? In most instances, one Echinacea species or another doesn't change the landscape's sense. It is outside the dialogue one has with their client. And so, when I hear a speaker on landscape design - and nearly all of them speak this way - talk about less common niche plant species (commodities) they use as if to demonstrate some higher level of skill and authority, well...

I start asking questions to myself about what it is exactly that they are organizing - clients backyards or themselves? Part of designing for a client is being able to get a handle on what their wants are, to communicate. Everybody loves Purple Coneflower.