1. They create unreasonable expectation.
2. They are totally static and nature is not.
3. Planting plans have people drooling for the ultimate moment of peak perfection for that lovely flower only to have to stare at the wrong foliage or dead die back for almost all the rest of the year.
4. Planting plans set on the page where exactly to place a plant. I always end up moving plants a little bit forward, little bit backwards.
5. They do not take into account how the plant wants to grow in that place. It might want to die, seed everywhere or send off stolons into the the horizon.
6. You need to work off existing plant lists or a goose-chase for plants will break out. This has the danger of a steely narrowing of your palette.
7. They make me obsess - and I really mean obsess - about the spread or girth of plants.
8. They are meant to look good enough to frame and I think that is a waste of the customers’ money.
9. Presenting them in a clear form for use on site planting is a huge challenge. Takes me back to non-smudge spider lines at college and then the paper melts in the rain anyway. (Yes I know it is time to live with a laminator).
10. The plan is out of date the minute you have sent the originals off to the printer.
So what would I do instead? I’ll tell you another time soon.
