Why did you choose these plants?
Think of a planting choice you made on a real project — one specific plant, one specific spot.
- What did the client actually ask for?
- What about the site made that plant the right choice — or the wrong one ruled out?
- Did you explain your reasoning to the client, or just deliver the plant list?
Before you think about your own choice, predict:
1. What is most often missing when a designer explains a plant choice?
What a plant schedule actually has to answer
Four questions, four kinds of column
| Question | Column type | Example |
|---|---|---|
| What is it, exactly? | Name | Latin_Name, Common_Name |
| How big does it get? | Size | Spread, Height, Mature_Height |
| How far apart do they go? | Placement | Spacing |
| What does it need to survive? | Requirement | Water_Range, Light_Range |
Every one of those four questions is really a client question in disguise. "How big does it get" is "will this block my view in five years." "What does it need" is "will this survive if I forget to water it." Reading a schedule fluently means hearing the client question behind each column, not just the column name.
Check what you just read.
1. Which client question does the "Spacing" column answer?
2. What does the card say fluent schedule-reading actually means?
Want, constraint, choice
The justification chain
| Link | Example |
|---|---|
| Client want | "I want privacy from the neighbours." |
| Site constraint | The fence line gets full sun and needs a screen at least 8 feet tall. |
| Plant choice | Podocarpus — evergreen, reaches 8–10 feet, tolerates full sun. |
Put these three links back in the order the justification chain actually runs.
What do you already know?
Match each term to what it means. Click the term, then its meaning.
Choose the best answer.
1. A client says "I want privacy from the neighbours." What is this in the justification chain?
2. Which column on a schedule most directly answers "will this survive if I forget to water it"?
3. Why does reading a schedule well mean hearing the client question behind each column?
Justify a real choice
Your Day One marker for this unit.
Task card
One planting choice from your own work, explained from scratch
State the client want, the site constraint, and the plant choice — in that order, out loud.
- All three links have to be explicit, not implied.
- Name the actual plant, not a category ("an evergreen shrub" is not enough).
- Keep it. Lesson 8 comes back to it.
Match each real example to the link in the chain it represents.
All three links?
- Did you state the want, the constraint, and the choice — or did one get skipped?
- Did you name the actual plant, or a category?
- Would a client have understood why, not just what?
One more check before you move on.
1. If a client would not have understood "why," what is most likely missing?
Before the next lesson
Homework. Bring a plant schedule from your own work, or a list of five plants you have specified before, from memory.
One check before you go.
1. What should you bring to Lesson 2?