Dear Editor,
Inhabitants of big cities in the throes of urban development are faced with the urgent need to reconcile with nature by replacing greenery in open spaces between edifices, thereby recomposing their landscape. Here is where landscaping distinguishes itself as an indispensable and fundamental factor that affects the food we eat, the air we breathe, and our quality of life.
Landscape gardening is not merely about variations in gardens and plants, or the organized or disorganized placement of ornamental, medicinal or edible plants. Much more than this, it is an artistic technique which brings visual pleasure and can transform a haphazard building construction site, or even a finished new building which fails to blend in with the landscape, into reconstituted natural scenery.
Landscaping requires knowledge of botany, ecology, climatic variations, architecture and agriculture, and the compatibility of form and colour. From this combination comes the basis for the ideal harmonious landscape for any area, utilizing variations of plant species compatible with the climate, the soil and local scenery. One would hardly want to place a kitchen garden or mini-farm near a school with a children’s playfield. Ornamental plants and bright colours would more easily blend with that landscape.
Landscaping is everything outdoors, whether in a residential, institutional or industrial environment. It includes any material that defines or delineates space ‒ earth, plants, wood, cement blocks, clay bricks, bitumen or concrete.
Green areas contribute to the equilibrium of the eco-system, and result in the improvement of the quality of air, control of atmospheric temperatures and maintenance of rainfall patterns. They provide pleasant visual repose, and decrease the urban din.
Landscapers, amateur or professional, must take every facility, asset and condition into consideration before embarking on any project. Too often, gardens are created to become true landscaping aberrations, transgressing common sense, and as a consequence, are doomed to disappear in a short time. The principal cause of this is the ignorant use of plant species whose characteristics of development disagree with climate, soil conditions and light availability, among other things. The result is a poorly developed landscape prone to the attack of pests, diseases and other ills.
Notice should be taken of painting the lower parts of tree trunks in Georgetown and the repeated clearing of parapets naked (grass roots should remain) that only provokes soil loss to nearby drains. In other instances, large sized plants inadequately allocated, stifle and eliminate smaller ones. The practice of landscaping by persons not au fait with the correct handling of greenery ends with defeat of the main purpose and wanton waste.
It is necessary to understand that landscaping is the means by which the human being could re-establish part of nature’s equilibrium.
The effect of nature’s imbalance is already being felt today in all parts of the civilized world through natural catastrophes and pollution on land sea and air. The uncontrolled felling of trees in some parts of the world, the clearing of shrubbery, and the removal of low growing grass for urban construction, has done no good for the well-being of planet earth.
It therefore becomes imperative for professional landscapers, these crafters of nature, to understand the real magnitude of their noble work which could very well save tomorrow’s generation.
Yours faithfully,
Fitz H Ogle
