Inside the Designer's Mind: Selecting Plants

A visitor to our Houzz.com page asked about one of our early, and still favorite, garden designs in Palo Alto: a deceptively simple procession of Cupressus 'Tiny Tower' behind white spring annuals along a brick and bluestone walk. She wrote,

“I like [the] look of Italian thin trees…  I have smaller house, would that look odd for privacy? Bamboo [is the] other option in my mind."

And it occurred to me that landscape designers have a very methodical way of determining the best plant for a given spot, which we take for granted but may not be understood by everyone. I answered,

"Well, 'odd' is in the eye of the beholder — for the classical style of this home, in my opinion bamboo would have looked odd. But your tastes and opinions may be different, and that's OK too!” 

In any landscape design, there may be many different options to choose from to create privacy screening. Bamboo and Italian Cypress are equally valid choices, as is Pittosporum tenuifolium or Prunus x ‘Bright N Tight’ or Laurus x ‘Saratoga’, some of our other favorites. So how do we narrow down all those choices?

Landscape architects are trained to consider the specific conditions of the site before considering looks: exposure (sun/shade), soil (damp/dry, fertile/lean), space (narrow/wide), and surroundings (in this case, the brick wall blanketed in creeping fig vine) to name a few. Then within the set of plants that will thrive in those conditions, we consider the functional attributes of the plants themselves: evergreen/deciduous, clumping/spreading, toxic/nontoxic, short/tall, fast/slow growth, high/low water needs, and so on.

Finally, within that subset of plants that have appropriate features, we choose the plants that fit the aesthetic look you prefer: the Italian Cypress used here work well with a formal, classic style, while bamboo species (and there are many!) may convey a more tropical or Asian feeling. Even the same plant could be used different ways: Pittosporum can be clipped tightly to create a formal hedge, or left loose for a natural, shrubby look.

Of course the ultimate look is important — the landscape designer will have an artistic vision, which we hope the owner agrees with. But while the aesthetics are subjective, the site conditions and plant attributes are non-negotiable. Figure those out first, and you may find that your plant choice has been made for you.