In landscape architecture, the success of a project depends not only on a good design, but also on correct implementation and on being sustained over the long term through regular maintenance. Yet today, in many cities, serious breaks are visible between the links of this chain. The outcome is parks that deteriorate quickly, public spaces that lose their function, ecological mismatches, and a waste of resources.

As cities expand, the spaces where we can breathe become narrower; every doorway opening to nature becomes more valuable. For this reason, landscape architecture has become not merely an aesthetic touch, but a fundamental component that keeps urban life standing.

The fate of a landscape project is shaped from the very first line drawn. Yet, quite often:

• Decisions that are not grounded in scientific evidence,
• Repeated “typical” projects,
• Participation processes being skipped,
• Ecological impacts being pushed into the background

lead the design to be weak from the start. When the planning phase is surrendered to short-term political targets, the long-term sustainability of the project can disappear almost instantly.

Many projects that look flawless on paper become unrecognizable once they reach the construction site. The main reasons include:

• Off-plan changes made on site under the justification of “cost reduction,”
• The use of poor-quality, substandard materials,
• Specialized work being assigned to inexperienced crews,
• Incorrect plant selection, faulty planting techniques, and repetitive, copy-paste planting palettes.

Result: critical details that carry the essence of the design lose their character, and the project looks aged and “used” from day one.

Landscape does not end with implementation; in fact, the real story begins there. Yet in many projects, maintenance is assumed to be nothing more than “mowing and irrigation.” Maintenance teams often work without a system; there is no professional landscape architect oversight, and ecological rhythms are not taken into account.

When budget constraints enter the picture, things become even more complicated. Plants fall under stress, the space wears out quickly, and public perception settles on this point: “That park was poorly designed anyway.”

Yet the problem is not the design; it is that maintenance is not valued as much as design.

This invisible crisis affects urban life in many ways:

• Public spaces that go unused and lose their identity
• Declining biodiversity
• Increasing urban heat island effect
• Rising public cost due to “parks renewed every year”

When even a single link in the chain breaks, the value that landscape architecture adds to the city visibly decreases.

The solution lies in reconnecting these three phases:

• Planning: a data-driven, climate-adaptive, participatory approach
• Implementation: fidelity to the project, quality standards, expert teams
• Maintenance: a sustainable maintenance plan aligned with seasonal cycles and ecology

When this perspective is adopted, landscape architecture can be repositioned not as merely a “visible” job, but as a core component of urban life.

No matter how strong the intention at the planning stage may be, once the project reaches the implementation site, things often evolve in a different direction. Projects are reshaped under cost pressures, material quality is reduced, and critical details that carry the spirit of the design are lost in execution. One of the biggest problems is working with teams that are not specialists in the job. Low-quality plant material, incorrect planting methods, or unplanned groundworks can turn even the most careful design into an ordinary space. As a result, projects on site become fragmented and inadequate, far from the integrity they had in drawings.

This disconnect brings cities serious costs both economically and socially. Details lost between planning and implementation, combined with insufficient maintenance, shorten the lifespan of public spaces and produce expensive projects that require constant renewal. The bond users form with the place weakens, living environments become dysfunctional, and urban identity gradually fades. In the end, landscape architecture is perceived not at the center of urban life as it should be, but as a secondary “decoration” activity.

Yet the solution lies in a holistic perspective that reconnects every link in the chain. A planning approach nourished by scientific data, sensitive to climate, and participatory; an implementation process that is faithful to the project, high-quality, and transparent; and a management approach that is led by experts, sustainable, and prioritizes ecological maintenance can be the key to overcoming this invisible crisis. When landscape architecture gains this kind of wholeness, cities do not merely become more attractive; they gain a character that breathes, lives, and grows stronger over time.

Urban green spaces have a great role in improving the quality of urban ecological life. Therefore, whether in urban or rural environments, the importance of plant material is always great. In terms of functionality and aesthetics, it is necessary to consider aesthetic efficiency as well as functional effects in a design. Both functional and aesthetic effects complement each other.

So, how did the edible landscape originate?

The origin of the edible landscape is not as recent as one might think. Traces of this technique can be seen in ancient Egyptian and Babylonian gardens. If we dig even deeper, it’s 10. It has been learned that ‘Benedictine Priests’ planted in the church gardens in the style of an orchard in the 19th century. these studies, which were carried out in the oldest times, are actually only experimental studies. If we take a closer look at the history, small vegetable gardens called ‘Potager’, that is, kitchen garden, have started to be established. Large vegetable gardens were started to be designed by carrying small-scale vegetable growing to larger sizes.

By the 1970s, the increasing prices of vegetables and fruits greatly increased the value of the gardens. Everyone has started to save money by growing their own fruits and vegetables, and they have also affected greenhouse gas emissions.

Landscape designer Robert Kourik in the 1980s identified the genre of horticulture that combines aesthetic design with edible crop production. Thus, the first use of the concept of ‘Edible Landscape’ began. In 1982, Rosalind Creasy introduced the term to the landscape world with her article titled ‘The Complete Book of Edible’.

Edible grasses were used instead of grass in the design of the edible landscape, lettuce-style vegetables instead of the limiters, and edible fruit-bearing trees or flowers were used in the interior design. Today, edible garden designs represent a more environmentally friendly approach.

Plants; In addition to their aesthetic effects in the green areas they create, they also help users interact with their living spaces with their functional features. Considering both functionally and aesthetically, it is necessary to consider the aesthetic effect in a design alongside the functional effect. Plants with nutritional value for humans; Field crops, vegetables, edible fruit trees and shrubs include the group of edible plants that are generally edible and consumed as food.

These plants; Due to the aesthetic contribution of landscape plants, it has started to take the place of ornamental plants in open green areas. Edible plants contain decorative features, as well as being food plants with the most distinctive features, making them productive plants that can be safely eaten by humans. Edible landscape includes plant species that have both aesthetic value and nutritious food value without the aim of providing economic gain.

These plants have recently been evaluated as a new value within the framework of the concept of functional plants. As a result of urbanization, the decrease in natural areas has affected human beings negatively in many ways. In order to eliminate these negativities, besides using natural resources, human beings needed the plants in the environment they lived in both rural and urban living areas.

The purpose and usability of edible landscape allow for its wide adoption by significant user bases and a great opportunity for the transition to more sustainable food systems and urban land uses.

There are sub-headings in this process, which starts with the observation of the physical conditions of the area; It is possible to name the size of the area, the type of soil, water resources, the direction of movement of the sun, its position relative to the directions, its relationship with other structures around it.

The golden rule in edible garden design is that each element serves multiple functions and each function must be supported by more than one element. Edible urban gardens are an important project for people to have access to clean food, for children to participate in plant growth processes and to experience that they are producers and self-sufficient societies rather than consumers.

The most important details of the plant species to be selected are that the seeds and seedlings have not been genetically modified, they have the ability to reproduce, the ones that are suitable for the season are preferred, chemical drugs that adapt to the conditions in the geography (such as plants that love hot for a hot and arid climate and need less water) There should be plants that can fight the problems that may occur without using them. Vertical gardens that increase the use of space, warehouses where we can harvest rainwater, herb gardens prepared according to different elevations and directions, seed germination corner for children, the compost section where you create your own soil for sustainability, and the realization of all these ideas with practice.

The most popular plants used in an edible landscape fall into five basic categories:

• Fruit bearing trees

• Berry bushes

• Herbs

• Edible flowers

• Leafy greens

You can design your own edible garden. Let’s talk a little about what is necessary for this and the elements that need attention.

Materials needed for an edible garden;

1- Stakes and rope should be used to show the design of the garden you will build.

2- You can use a mower and a Rototiller machine to level the ground.

3- Hand tools such as shovels, hand trowels and rakes.

4- You can use compost to feed the existing soil.

5- All necessary materials for the irrigation system

6- It will be appropriate for your garden to have fencing material to prevent the entry of wild animals and destruction.

7- You can create your own fertilizer for your garden by installing a compost system (prefabricated boxes, wooden slats, chicken wire enclosures, etc.).

8- Mulch material to cover and feed the soil 1-2 cm. ( bark straw, sawdust)

9- You should have ready vegetables, seeds for herbs, and saplings for fruit trees that you decide to grow in your garden.

Let me tell you a little about some of the elements that you should pay attention to when setting up your garden;

• I recommend you to have a soil test to find out what kind of changes your existing soil may need in the area where the design will be applied, or whether there are traces of grass chemicals if grass has been applied before.
• Make a plan for the garden design and make sure to mark the areas to be designed. This will reduce your margin of error.
• Weeds in the area must be completely cleared.
• I suggest you add plenty of compost, vermicompost, manure, mushroom soil and, if needed, a soil addition on the exposed soil that you do not plant.
• You can install compost bins and a rainwater harvesting system in your garden.

Landscape architecture is a man-made feature that resonates with the built structure to create an ecosystem and harmony among the various elements; It is an attempt to aesthetics it and to create a balance of human intervention in nature. Over the years, experts in this field have come up with their own definitions and theories, but the general idea has always been to constantly improve the growing, living conditions of people, because a person is a pupil who can never develop without seeking nature.

When did Landscape Architecture appear as a symbolic concept of our close contact with nature?

The word and concept of landscape is a concept that originally passed from the Netherlands to Italy. It has become ingrained in our minds with the long evolution of the laws of perspective. They tied the work at the very beginning with the invention of perspective. Perspective, which is considered “legitimate”, connects the representative order and the means of creating representation to a purpose, making the concept of landscape appear in the painting. In painting or intersia (wood inlay) it is primarily seen with the sullen architecture of “ideal cities”. The landscape, which was only in painting, went beyond the deception and took place in the real city silhouette. Landscape history is ancient, but there is not much detailed information about periods before the 16th and 17th centuries. We can say that it is superficially old-fashioned.

Historians date the birth of landscape architecture to about 1415. Three people in history may seem to be the producers of the term landscape architecture, but the first person to use the term is Jean-Marie Morel. In a book he wrote, he mentioned the term and even gave shape and direction.In a book he wrote, he mentioned the term and even gave shape and direction. Later, Scottish architect Gilbert Laing Meason introduced the term landscape architecture in a book he wrote and brought it to its current position.

John Claudius Loudon lauded the newly heard term in Gardener’s Magazine, quoting the term “Landscape Architecture” from Meason’s book. Loudon’s American fan, Andrew Jackson Downing, took the term and use it as an equivalent to Rural Architecture. Downing’s admirer, Frederick Law Olmsted, gave the term a different meaning when he took it. Olmsted changed the emphasis and used landscape architecture to describe a particular type of landscape established between buildings. Central Park was the first major example of Olmsted’s art. Then Olmsted planned a series of wonderful parks in Boston. His work has been appreciated in Europe.

In 1903, two men used the term in connection with a competition for the design of Pittencrieff Park in Dunfermline: Patrick Geddes and Thomas Mawson. They later became founding members of the British Institute of Urban Planning, and in 1929, Mawson became the first president of the Institute of Landscape Architects, now the Landscape Institute.

Like former garden designers, landscape architects deal with outdoor design using Vegetation, Landform, Water, Parquet and Structures. Andre Le Notre was doing the job, although the landscape architecture was not used as a term. He was an architect who was fond of gardening, coming from a family of gardeners. XIV. He became a garden architect whose name was heard when King Louis declared him the royal gardener. His first project is the garden of Vaux Le Vicomte castle in France. The garden of Versailles Palace, which was seen as a golden project and still arouses admiration even today, has spread throughout the country and in different countries after this project. He has 87 projects and is one of the most important designers of the Baroque period.

Frederick Low Olmsted is the landscape architect who first used the title, but not the person who coined the term. We consider Frederick Law Olmsted in the father of landscape architecture for his professional work in New York’s Central Park in the mid-19th century. Although the term is new, it is not the first time we have seen it as we have a perspective through the ancient civilizations of Egypt, China, and India.

Theoretically, Olmsted was right: Landscape architects create the elements that define space, but the overall goal is to design space.

Historically, the gardens were designed for private living rather than public pleasure. The ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans developed their own characteristic garden designs. Hadrian’s Villa, near Tivoli, Italy, features a large pleasure garden that had a great influence on later designs.

During the Renaissance, formal gardens developed, where the outdoor landscape was considered an extension of a building. The 16th-century Villa d’Este in Tivoli is a notable example.

Even in the time of nomadic man various landscape theories were associated with their patterns of movement, choice of shelter, and equilibrium relations with nature.

As we moved towards more civilized periods all over the world, the landscape became more associated with gardens than civic elements, and the idea of large beautiful gardens with aesthetic appeal became popular. But it also came to be used more and more only for the elite and noble members of society. While many kings and nobles of Europe enjoyed these privileges, they used them not only as a personal hobby but also to show power and status in society; they designed and implemented gardens inspired by each other, especially in English, French, Spanish and Italian gardens.

One of the most famous and oldest Gardens in Europe is the Abdurrahman-I mosque in Cordoba, Spain, with a cathedral in the front and a beautiful rectangular orange grove in the back.

Both garden design and landscape architecture are concerned with the use of five compositional elements of outdoor composition and garden landscape design according to Vitruvian goals:

1. Flora
2. Landform
3. Road surface
4. Sidewalk
5. Buildings

The main difference between garden design and landscape architecture is that one relates to the private space and the other to the public space.

Landscape architects work on roads, reservoirs, river reclamation, quarries, forests, housing development, industrial estates, urbanization and many other types of projects, as well as limited garden design work.

Landscape Architecture and Plant Use

When using plant material in the study of landscape architecture, along with the principles of design, the dendrological characteristics of plants should also be taken into account. Plants used and designs made without taking into account dendrological features can lead to incorrect results. Because plants are dynamic beings, they react differently according to the seasons and the ecology they are in. Each plant has a different visual effect and aesthetic value depending on the size, shape, color, texture characteristics. The functional properties of plants also differ according to their dendrological characteristics. Without having detailed information about the plants, the choices made only by looking at their pictures in the catalogs will not give the right results.

Grouping of Plant Material

Plants used in landscape design are divided into three groups: annual, biannual, perennial according to their lifespan and habitus characteristics.

Annual Plants

Plants that complete their vegetative and generative development within a year, end their life after creating seeds, and can produce them with seeds in subsequent years are called annual plants. For example, petunia, steamboat smoke, marigold, fireflower, zinnia

Biennial Plants

Plants that complete their vegetative development, that is, leaf and shoot development in the first year, show generative development in the second year, end their life at the end of the second year, and are produced by seed in the following years are called biannual plants. For example, foxglove, snapdragon, foxglove, hosnuyusuf

Perennial Plants

Perennials, even if the above-ground part dries up at the end of the vegetation period, form new shoots with root or underground organs at the beginning of the next vegetation period. Examples include some herbaceous plants such as chrysanthemums, carnations, and woody plants such as trees, treetops, and shrubs.

What is dendrology?

The branch of science that studies the size, form, color, texture, characteristics of woody plants and their cultivation techniques is called Dendrology. Dendrological features of plants have a very different psychological effect on the appearance of space. For example, the psychological effect that white poplar, which has pyramidal development, has on humans is different from the panicle willow, the branches of which hang down. Scattered, soft-topped trees create a feeling of peace and comfort in a person, while trees with dark green leaves that develop in the form of columns and pyramids, especially create fear, respect and discipline in a person. Yesilmaz. But when they are used too much, they have monotony, annoying effects. Trees with a panicle form, which are kept in solitary form or in small numbers in green areas, give a person a feeling of peace, closure to the inner world and sadness. Yesilmaz the colors of plants also have a psychological effect on humans. For example, brightly colored leafy plants give happiness and joy to people, while dull and dull-colored green trees create inner distress.

Dendrological properties of plant material

When using plant material, it is of great importance to know its ecological properties, as well as its properties such as size, shape, color effect and texture. It is a very important element that the plants that will be used when designing will develop in accordance with the geography of design and application. Because if the plant does not show the desired development, the effect of the design decreases. For this reason, we should know the dendrological properties and ecological properties of plants well.

Size is an important feature when choosing plants in design. Because the size of the plant directly affects the scale of the design.

In terms of size, we can collect plants in 7 heads.

• Large Trees are the group of plants with the largest scale. Their height is 15 meters and more.

• Small Trees (Treetops) are distinguished from large trees by the fact that they have a shorter trunk. they are plants that can be dec 4-8 meters tall.

• Large Shrubs are plants that grow no more than 3-5 meters tall. The difference between them and small trees is that the bushes are dec that can branch without giving the trunk length.
  

• Medium Shrubs; They are plants that can be dec between 1.5-2 meters. It has functions such as providing privacy, visual control, wind control.

• Small Shrubs are plants that reach a height of 1-1.5 meters or less. Small shrubs are shrubs that provide a transition between medium and decumbent shrubs.

• Stunted Shrubs are plants that can be dec 30-100 cm apart, are at the level of a sitting person. They are plants that can be used for outdoor construction with small shrubs that do not interfere with vision.

• Ground coverers are the smallest group of plants in terms of size. It is a group that can usually be 30 cm tall, very close to the soil surface, almost conjoined development.

• Topiary Art: It is the art of giving the desired shape to the plant with the pruning technique when it comes to changing the natural form of a plant and making the desired form in the composition.

Classification of forms in plants

Form; Another important element in plant design is form. In general, the form of a plant arises under the influence of hereditary influences and ecological conditions. The basic form of a plant depends on its natural growth. The difference in plant species reveals different forms in different ecologies. there are 8 plant forms.

1. Oval-shaped ; Robinia Pseudoacacia

2. Columnar shaped; Taxus Baccata (Common Badger)

3. Large – spreading form ; Malus Floribunda (Ornamental Apple)

4. Round – Globular form ; Fagus Sylvatica (European Beech)

5. Picturesque-Landscape-shaped ; Bonsai Plants Sequoia Sempervirens (Coast Redwood)

6. Drooping form ; Salix Babylonica (Panicle Willow)

7. Creeping – spreading form ; Juniperus Sabina Tamarixifolia (Culture Juniper)

8. Picturesque-Landscape-shaped ; Bonsai Plants

Trees can be given as an example.

The Element of Color in the Selection of Plants

It is one of the design elements that affects people the most. It is the color that best indicates whether the plants are suitable for the place where they grow. The color effect varies depending on the ecological conditions. Depending on the color used, a warm or cold effect also appears in the design. Even if the effects dec different between people, the psychological effects of color on people are generally the same.

In the landscape, almost everything is expressed in color. in the use of color, the flowers, leaves, stems, colors of plant material, plants that create a color effect with their leaves in autumn (dendrological properties) should be well known.

The Element of Texture in Plant Selection

In plant design, texture is the totality of the size and arrangement of branches, shoots or leaves, the length of the petiole, as well as their characteristics that vary depending on the season, such as coarseness, thinness, hardness, softness, weight, lightness, thickness, thinness.

The texture allows the designer to add interestingness and variety to the herbal composition.

Plants can be examined in 3 groups according to their texture characteristics, Thin, medium and coarse;

Coarse Texture, these plants give the feeling that they are approaching the sensor due to their properties. For example, it can be Platanus Orientalis (Eastern Sycamore), Aesculus Hippocastanum (Horse Chestnut).

Medium tissue plants, on the other hand, are more transparent and less powerful in terms of silhouette than coarse-textured plants. For example, it can be Melia Azedarach (Rosary Tree).

Fine-textured plants have completely opposite properties of coarse-textured plants. They are soft and gentle in appearance. For example, it may be Parkinsonia Aculeata (Pheasant Acacia).

I wish you all a pleasant reading in this article where I mentioned the importance and features of using plants for the profession of landscape architecture. Undoubtedly, our focus and task is nature and our ability to protect and maintain it. In doing so, I wanted to touch on the topic so that we would be aware and know the reasons. I hope it adds something to everyone.