80,000 plants, landscape architects, etc.

[tulip]

Among landscape architects that I've met &/or whose work I've studied, depth & breadth of plant knowledge varies greatly.

Yep. It's important to work with people who have complementary skills. Larger firms like the one I used to work for had a variety of LAs on each team, some were plant specialists, some had expertise in stormwater, some were well-versed in site engineering, and some were visionary designers. Most of us fell somewhere in the middle.

I once had a project in Mali and had to do alot of basic research on very unfamiliar plants.

And yes, I do dream in conceptual spaces, colors and plants. I can't imagine doing anything else. One of my bigger projects since leaving the corporate support system is going to be planted this fall (construction of the building is almost complete). So far, it looks like the budget is holding and that the landscape will actually be planted at least mostly as designed. I'm quite curious to see how it will turn out.

[mimitabby]

we humans have a real healthy piece of brain for naming stuff. I find that i remember the names of an incredible number of plants... because I'm interested in it. I hired Arthur Lee Jacobsen to give me a consultation on my yard a few weeks ago, and it was fun to see him at work trying to figure out my weeds and my planted stuff. He's a walking encyclopedia!