The subject enabled students to develop an advanced planting design methodology. Plant characteristics are examined as a material for their uses and effects as an integral component of landscape architecture design. Site-specific design responses are formed by four key context factors: environment, ecology, social and culture. Strategic approaches are explored through a series of lectures, readings, practice-based case studies, and workshops. Design exercises are staged to develop a whole life-cycle approach to the planting design process, included: collection and exchange of information; development of a plant selection matrix; generation and testing of concepts; production of a detail design proposition; and, devising feedbacking mechanisms. The subject provided students with skills and appreciation for ongoing learning and working with plants as a lively, evolving material in landscape architecture design practice.
