arborists and LA's

[treeman82]

I was just wondering about what is a typical (working) relationship between Arborists and Landscape Architects? Do we, as arborists work under them? Do we work separately? Or is there fighting or what? I know landscape architects aren't that good at picking out plant materials.... If you don't plant, what is your relationship with them? Do you work for the customer and then let the customer work with the LA?

 

[TREETX]

I work with many LA's.

First, LA's are generally more hardscape oriented than horticulture/plant/tree oriented. they are more concerned with drainage characteristics, etc. Some know zero when it comes to the plants going into the hardscape they design or the effects their hardscape will have on the existing trees.

Don't fight it, work with them and help them solve tree problems as they relate to hardscape and soil issues and you will get all of the pruning and removal business on those properties.

People who have tons o cashola usually don't call a tree guy or go to the yellow pages, they call their LA. LA's have got me onto many of my high end properties.

 

[ramanujan]

i second the opinion that many LA's don't have a real good idea of what is good to plant. have seen too many trees that would grow very large planted in ridiculous locations.

makes for nice work tho, removing twenty 15' trees from a housing complex because they're all too big.

 

[JPK125]

Words from an LA...

All right, as an LA, I take offense to the comments made that LA's do not know much about plant material. That is one of the biggest factors in the profession of LA!!!!! I agree, sometimes poor choices are made by LA's, just like everyone else. However, to paint us all with the same brush is not th way to go. It would be like me sayng that all arborists are hackers, based on what I've seen done to trees near power lines. However, being educated on the subject, I know that a good arborist is skilled and worth their weight in gold. Every profession will have those bad people who bring down the good people with them just because they are making poor choices. Now, as for the original question, I am currently working on a project where we are attempting to save several old, large, healthy trees. We are doing this by paying close attention to the site impacts due to grading and other construction activities. I have personally consulted the arborist on the job several times because of their knowledge of the nuances of some tree species. I consider the arborist to be more knowledgable about how a tree might react to sudden changes in its surrounding. To answer the question, both LA's and arborists should work together, consider each other peers ans equals, and never assume that one or the other knows more than the other person.

 

[treeclimber165]

Welcome JPK

Glad you found us! I'm sure many of us will be able to learn a lot from your opinions and perspective, helping to round out all our resources here.

 

[FBerkel]

Likewise, welcome, JPK.

I think it may depend on what school the LA. attends. Maybe in areas like Maryland, which has fantastic old trees everywhere, they do a good job of educating them about tree needs. In areas where most trees are still young-middle aged, they don't seem to pay as much attention. Here in Colorado, for instance, the state schools require exactly 0 hours of horticulture for the degree, (or so I've been told; someone please correct me if I'm wrong.)

And you're right, one shouldn't generalize, but...my experience has been that most of them, locally, emphasize the aesthetics of their plan over the health of existing plants. They design grade changes, irrigation lines across major roots, roto-tilling over shallow rooted trees, metal edging through roots, etc. etc. One of my best clients has lost two monumental maple trees due to poor design by one of the area's most renowned LAs.

If I'm designing changes to an existing landscape, the first order of business is preserving the desirable trees, integrating them
into a design that doesn't kill them.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Many things can be atributed to homeowner mistakes. But I see so man things like river birch on mounds in drive circles, eastern white pine in compacted high pH soil...

Why cant they do perk tests befor installing $8k trees that need well drained soil?

So many lindens right next to buildings, look cute now, but what about 20 years from now?

I have meat a few good LA's from a arbo perspective, Jim Walzack in Mequon WI is one...

 

[trees4life]

I have dealt with a number of LA's. Most disagreements I have had were about 2 issues

1) many need to remove every living plant/tree on the property & start with a clean slate. My argument is why remove a perfectly good tree. Response: It doesn't fit with my design.

2) Some have no vision, and plant only 4 species: Norway maple, linden, honeylocust, ash. We really need diversity.

I have been hoping for years that the colleges/universities would update their course material to teach people to develop landscape plans to suit the existing site, and to take future growth into consideration. Maybe this is now happening.

That said, I did have the pleasure of dealing with a man earlier this year who had developed a fabulous plan, one of the best I have ever seen. The species are diverse, mostly native, and suited to the site, and left room for the trees to mature. Decorative shrubs and grasses were installed to complement the trees.

I'd be interested in hearing if the two issues I refer to are discussed amongst the LA's these days.

 

[Jay Banks]

Some LA's do understand trees but, still it is design driven as to the outcome. What I'm saying is they know a limited few trees that they use over and over. It becomes their signiture design.

The problem is (as stated before)the site conditions and installation. LA's tend to force the trees to the site. Limited rooting space, overhead lines, etc. And the contractor's work just compound the issue for tree survival.

There is a need for national specifications on trees as well. Some of the stuff coming out of these nuseries is terribly. Sorry I'm off on another tangent.

 

[stacepaetzel]

Uh oh

As a Landscape Architect & Certified Arborist, I really hope the two can work together! Otherwise, I'll have quite the conflict! HaHa!
I do agree that too many LA's don't know their plant material, but let's not generalize!

 

[NickfromWI]

The tree guys can sometimes relate to the LA that the needs of the trees trump other needs. Generally speaking, the trees are there for decades and decades, where most other plants change with the seasons, though there are some that can be more long-lasting.

Get this idea to the LA and it will be better for the trees and better for the clients!

love
nick

ps- no one said LA's don't know about trees. What was said is that SOME LA's don't know about them. Just like some tree guys don't know crap about them.

 

[Nickrosis]

I'm a year away from finishing a Bachelor's in Urban Forestry, and I'm looking forward to working for a Master's in Landscape Architecture. Bringing these too often polar views into one brain. I'm gonna feel like Stace soon.

Nickrosis