Look good, do good. Function by design.

When I was studying landscape design I had an ongoing battle with my tutor around form versus function.

Previously I'd been taught that, where possible, a plant should achieve more than one thing in a garden. So, for example, rather than planting an ornamental crab apple with a six-week flowering period, plant a Granny Smith with a four-week one. With both plants you get a show of blossom but with the Granny Smith you get a crop also.

Food from the garden, food for thought?

My tutor would have argued that the six-week show of the crab apple far outweighs the benefit of a food crop for most clients. So be it but as a garden designer I feel a responsibility to give my client’s gardens greater bang for their buck, planting things that look good as well as do good.

Bee-attracting plants are an obvious example, or plants that attract other beneficial species, food crops, medicinal herbs. There’s plenty you can do.

I’m not being militaristic or didactic about this. Clearly it’s fine to plant something in a residential garden just because it looks good. I guess that ultimately all plants have an ecological function. Just take this Blog post as a prompt. When choosing a plant for your garden ask yourself, is there an option that will deliver more than one function for my garden? Can I get greater bang for my buck?

PS The image is from the Arid Garden in the Royal Botanic gardens Melbourne, Australia.