RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Theory and Practice Related to Native Plants
JF Landscape Journal
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 127
OP 141
DO 10.3368/lj.27.1.127
VO 27
IS 1
A1 Hooper, Virginia Harding
A1 Endter-Wada, Joanna
A1 Johnson, Craig W.
YR 2008
UL http://lj.uwpress.org/content/27/1/127.abstract
AB As a result of a trend favoring ecological perspectives in design, significant changes have occurred in the landscape architecture profession in recent decades through the move to integrate ecological perspectives. This paper explores the distance between theory and practice in the use of native plants by landscape professionals. Results from a survey administered in 2002 to the Utah Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects are presented and analyzed in the context of three issues: the tension between aesthetic and scientific foundations in landscape architecture; constraints and trade-offs that landscape architects encounter in their work; and the need to balance universal and local dimensions of professional knowledge. Data from this research reveal that although survey participants expressed a general commitment to using native plants, they encountered challenges and constraints related to native plant availability, lack of customer receptivity, limitations in their own knowledge, ability of native plants to satisfy diverse and complex project objectives, and market forces within the landscape design and nursery industries.