This story was originally published in Dwell’s April 2009 issue.

The profession of landscape architecture is very much rooted in the European tradition of garden design, and it didn’t germinate as a distinct profession in the United States until the 19th century. In conjunction with the field of urban planning, designers like Frederick Law Olmsted set out to shape the municipal American landscape alongside garden designers such as Beatrix Jones Farrand (the niece of the great American novelist  Edith Wharton) and Warren H. Manning. These designers, among others, had a hand in designing many of the great estate gardens throughout the country. Farrand was the only woman among the 11 founding members of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). In 1899, the group set out to “establish landscape architecture as a recognized profession in North America, develop educational studies in landscape  architecture, [and] provide a voice  of authority in the ‘New Profession.’”

As the landscape architect Thomas Dolliver Church explains in his book Gardens Are for People: “The Columbian Exposition in 1893 ushered in the greatest wave of ‘copyism’ since England discovered Palladio.… While this resulted in some fine reproductions of old-world gardens, it proved the hollowness of imitation without reason.” Church, who created some of the most iconic California-style domestic landscapes of the 20th century, stated that what was needed was for “modern” to be “revived as  an honest word”—that designers must “realize that modernism is not a goal but a broad highway.” This, of course, is true for any medium, but perhaps particularly so for one that deals so directly with our surrounding environment and our public spaces.

Today’s landscape architect or designer must work within a number of social and climatic parameters. The disappearance of natural and rural space—not to mention environmental imperatives stemming from climate change—are shaping the field dramatically and encouraging practitioners to do more than simply create aesthetically pleasing landscapes. Most contemporary practices do a combination of public and private design as well as large-scale restoration and redevelopment projects. No matter the scale, the process always involves organizing and shaping a landscape for a desired effect and function. Incorporating elements of spatial division through fencing, planar manipulation, built-in seating, water features, and hardscaping allows landscape architects and designers to create more fluid spaces. Today, most trained practitioners are well versed in sustainable applications and are able to create environmentally sensitive landscapes through xeriscaping (drought-tolerant planting), native planting, smart irrigation, and the incorporation of green roofs.

Though domestic landscapes may not possess the grandeur of some large-scale corporate and municipal commissions, they serve as a succinct encapsulation of how a landscape architect works. A successfully designed landscape will not only be more useful, it will also be more beautiful.

Landscape architecture 101

According to the ASLA, 70 percent of practicing landscape architects design in the residential sector.
Hiring a landscape architect to help redesign your outdoor space can increase your resale value by 15 to 20 percent.
According to the California Energy Commission, planting the right types of trees on your property can reduce your summer cooling costs by 20 to 40 percent.
Studies over a 30-year period in communities, neighborhoods, housing projects, and prisons show that when landscaping projects are promoted and prioritized there is a definite increase in self-esteem and a decrease in vandalism.
The crown on a large tree can intercept (through evaporation) upwards of 1,500 gallons of water a year and keep it from flowing into storm drainage.
One acre of trees has the ability to remove 13 tons of particles and gases per year.
The EPA estimates that nearly a third of all residential water is used for landscape design and beautification.

Big landscape architecture words to know

Arcade: A tree-lined walkway whose boughs join together to form a series of arches.
Base plan: A document delineating the site boundaries and major site features of a landscape design.
Bastion: The projecting section of the ha-ha (see: Ha-ha, seriously).
Boards and battens: In fences, the board consists of the planks that make up the surface cover of the fence. The batten is the framework onto which the boards are nailed. Traditionally, the battens are hidden on the “backside” of the fence; however, they can be exploited to create pattern and dynamism in the landscape.
Cabinet: A hedged enclosure at the end of a path or walkway.
Dell: A small, often wooded valley, otherwise known as a vale.
Edges: Where open spaces converge with enclosing elements.
Espalier: A hedge of fruit trees trained on a framework of lines and stakes.
Exedra: An open or colonnaded recess, often semicircular and furnished with free-standing or built-in seating.
Foci: Visually distinct forms or places in the landscape that possess cultural, social, practical, and orientating functions.
Glade: An open, grassy area surrounded by a forest.
Ha-ha: A sunken fence or a ditch with a built-in retaining wall that creates a barrier for sheep, cattle, and deer while allowing an unbroken view of the landscape.
Hardscape: Elements such as paving stones, gravel, walkways, roads, retaining walls, fountains, and other mechanical features that are built into a landscape design.
Patte d’oie: A series of three radiating avenues in a garden design, named after a goose’s foot.
Peristyle: A temple or other structure enclosed in a colonnade.
Planes: The ground, wall, and sky planes are the dimensions by which a landscape architect defines and manipulates space with the elements of landform, vegetation, structure, and water.
Planks and risers: In steps, the planks are the surface onto which one steps; the risers are the boards that stand perpendicular to the planks and offer support.
Quincunx: An arrangement of five objects (like trees or statues) with one at each corner of a rectangle and one at the center.
Raised beds/curbs: Curbs define distinct zones in a landscape design. They can be raised to form planting beds and, if wide enough, can be used for built-in seating.
Softscape: The natural elements with which landscape architects work, such as plant materials and the soil itself.
Swale: A low, usually wetter section of a tract of land.
Tonsure: Shaping of evergreens by clipping.
Vernacular landscape: The visual language and space native to a place, usually created by the common people-not designers.

More from this package:

4 Landscape Design Projects That Execute Traditional Practices—Well

Don’t Try These Landscape Design Approaches at Home

Why You Should Supplant Your Lawn