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One of the most important things we do as landscape architects is to be involved in the planting of trees. If all goes well the trees we plant today will be there well beyond our lifetimes providing a multitude of environmental benefits and making beautiful and memorable places.
If we have chosen the wrong species for the situation, or designed the planting method poorly, or the tree is raised or planted incorrectly, the tree will not reach its potential mature size or will die. A waste of everyone’s time and money and a depressing loss of a great opportunity. BS8545 was developed because this has been happening all too frequently, and the Trees and Design Action Group (TDAG) is doing great work in addressing the complex issues that need to be resolved in urban planting schemes.
As landscape architects, we have most influence over species selection and the design of planting methods and at terra firma we have recently been reviewing the way we specify tree planting. This has not been straightforward, despite the fact that BS8545 champions a starting point of the simplest approach, i.e dig a hole, put in the tree (right way up is good) and put the same soil back in. Any deviations from this should be in response to constraints particular to the site conditions and the intended design and there should be no standard planting details or soil specifications.
This is difficult in the early stages of projects or where we are only involved in the planning application. At this stage usually very little is known about site conditions and we can only give standard spec notes on drawings submitted for planning. Giving the most basic (constraint-free) planting method at this stage is dangerous in case some early costings are developed which don’t allow for the addition of more complex planting techniques or materials. So we have devised wording for planning drawings which gives the planning authority confidence, complies with best practise, and makes provision for possible elements which might have cost implications, all in the absence of detailed site condition information.
Over the years that I have been with terra firma we have evolved our tree planting specification a number of times and are currently leading a tree planting trial with Kieron Beattie Landscaping Ltd and soil scientist Tim O’Hare. More details of the trial will be published later this year.
We welcome any opportunity of improving the way we practise landscape architecture and making sure we do the best we can in providing good growing conditions for trees could well be one of the most important.
In the words of Joni Mitchell’s 1970 Big Yellow Taxi about trees being lost to build parking lots, ‘don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone’. I don’t think we will get to the point where the only trees left are in a tree museum and they are charging us ‘a dollar and a half just to see ‘em’. Let’s hope not.
