[lit-ideas] Re: regeneration (pssst...Irene)


On Oct 25, 2008, at 10:46 AM, Julie Krueger wrote:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/10/24/ waf2008.energy.waste.recycling/index.html 

The photos are must-sees....this is beautiful!
And the instructions remind me of my architect friend's attitude to "growies." Photo five explains that there's going to be a "green ditch." Whether this is environmentally green or plant green, I'm not sure. Then comes a "type 2" bush and "scrub forming slope" and a "grassed ditch." The architect's attitude to plants is most evident in the camera's point of view--from far enough away, all plants become color and form. Why bother to say this? Because from a plant growing perspective, they've only solved the hardscape problem. To me the real issue, before it can be beautiful, is what might be the planting connection between the surrounding arid landscape and vaguely green things? Why should grass be here? How will the plants they choose be sustained in their microclimates? And to what end? The architect figures out the angle of repose, sites and designs the buildings, and adds green. This is, in my view, getting all the glory for solving a part of the problem, exactly the sort of thing that "garden designers" do in my neighborhood--wipe the slate clean, add form, run away before too many of the identically-sized nursery plants, put in like lollipops, die. 

David Ritchie,
feeling neither himself nor any other self currently in
Portland, Oregon

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