ABSTRACT
Plants grow in great quantity and diversity in all sorts of places without, often in spite of, our attentions, so it is quite reasonable to question the role of planting in environmental planning and landscape architecture. Planting design is an essential element in making and managing this kind of people-place. Planting design helps us to restore and maintain a sustainable relationship between people and their environment in a context of change. Planting design offers aesthetic delights as complex and intense as those found in galleries or exhibitions. The planting is part of an environment that fits the function. Planting design is much more than a cosmetic treatment to be applied to indifferent or insensitive architecture and engineering in order to 'soften' the harsh edges an awkward layout. Landscape designers mostly become involved when natural processes need some assistance or management. Both planting design and its subsequent care can be understood in the broadest sense as management of natural vegetation processes.
