First off
I always feel I need to find the right photo
to aid an idea's representation.
But we can't have our mouths paralyzed
and be left without words
just because people prefer to look at pictures.

...

Most often
What I confront in the field
are not plants that need trimming
but shaping.
Sometimes trimming isn't enough.
We need to start specifying 
that shaping be done.

"Trimming" is part of maintenance.
"Shape" and "form" are elements
of design.
And if you look around
you'll see
that the way we seem to care for our plants here
In "The Buffalo Garden"
Is by trimming them, never shaping.

...

This idea is part of a larger conversation I want to have on "the spring clean up." I believe the clean up is composed of three separate elements - Cleaner and manicurist; Plant health and care giver (horticulturist); and designer/visual person - elements that are the basics of a, not having a name for it really, a person who tends to and cares for gardens and landscapes. Most of what we have come to think of as a "landscaper" now specializes in the first element - raking and edging. They are tasked with trimming but with a hand for neatness and cleaning not an eye to recognize repetition or line and form.

I love the imposition of a garden space
into the plane
of the landscape.

The grid of urban space is homogeneous.
We don't need to tend every square inch
We make the spaces we can use.