What’s landscape eye?
Many years ago, when I apprenticed at a prominent Lower Mainland sweatshop, the landscape corporation put on in-house landscape eye seminars. It was so important, the owner taught the class himself. So, what is landscape eye? It refers to your ability to read the landscape and assess its condition.
Is everything healthy and thriving? Are weeds under control? Are there any blemishes we could quickly eliminate?
Your landscape eye develops over time. Like any other skill, it takes time to develop it. You know you’re close when you start noticing the blemishes first.
Hidden garden
That’s what happened to me last week. I came around the corner into a hidden garden and the very first thing I noticed was a blemish. Not the Hostas and perennials, just the one blemish.
Try it out for yourself. Look at the picture below and see what you notice first.
Well, what do you notice first? Is it the Hosta or the garden ornaments? Or, if you’re like me, you notice the wall lettuce (Lactuca muralis) sticking out of the cedar hedge first. That’s what a well-developed landscape eye can do for you.
I got up close and took out the wall lettuce, making sure I removed the entire plant. Then I moved on, knowing I would sleep well at night.
Another example
Walking by this bed, I quickly noticed a few weeds hiding in the grass and pulled them out. Sadly, you can see that the weeds have already produced flowers and seeds; that’s what you don’t want.
You can practice your landscape eye at work, at home and on walks through your neighborhood. Maybe it’s a hidden weed, maybe it’s a missing deep edge. Or it could be a broken tree branch or prickly shrub sticking into your driveway.
The trick is to identify and quickly remove the blemishes from your landscape. This will give you a sharper, cleaner look.
