ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the two essentials of plant assemblages: the nature of the vertical layering typical of natural plant communities, and how this can provide a model for design. It helps to create planting that is both visually successful and rich in wildlife habitat, and which can be sustained without the excessive demands on maintenance resources. The chapter demonstrates how the spatial characteristics of natural plant communities can provide distinctive, local idioms for design. It highlights the two principles that can be applied to the design of planted assemblages of all kinds. The first is the groundcover principle that complete cover of the ground area at one or more levels is a sign of a well-developed plant community growing under favourable conditions. The second is the complexity principle that plant communities in favourable environmental conditions tend to become more complex as they develop over time.
