Articles Page
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
Juliet asked of Romeo, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose/ By any other word would smell so sweet (Romeo and Juliet 2.2, lines 43,44)." That question is one that post-structuralists, linguists, semiologists, and sociologists have been trying to understand for years. It also applies to plants. The understanding of what is in a name derives from what an object is and conversely, what it isn't. This is a basic Saussurean semiotic characteristic of language. The naming of something solidifies it into that which it now becomes, perhaps exclusive of other things it may be. Juliet couldn't marry Romeo because she was a Capulet and Romeo was a Montague. What power does the name hold! Moreover, the naming of botanic plants goes even further, for their names are not only what we believe they are, but they describe themselves in their names. Amelanchier canadensis, indicates this plant originates in the Canadian Shield area. "Alba" is white and "alternifolia" indicates alternate leafed foliage.
The process from design to installation maybe a long one. A whole movement of activity takes place from the very onset. The customer calls, there are meetings, designs are created, selling takes place, a deal is reached, a time agreed upon, and work begins. The stage before installation is where the problem, or rather, the action, of substitution comes in. The customer meeting and design stage may take place much earlier than the installation stage, sometimes planned and othertimes not. At some point, the materials list is either faxed over to a supplier, a truck sent to the local nursery, or your product manager assesses the inventory of your nursery stock. You find, to your absolute horror, that Euonymous alata 'Compacta' is out of stock and can't be found anywhere!
Plant material may not be available for a variety of reasons. Many plants have a short, single digging season that extinguishes nursery stock, so when the job is finally sold, the 10/12' multi stem Cornus florida or Trilium grandiflora can only be seen in a magazine, perhaps the same one your client showed you the plant in originally. In the same way, the time of year when the job finally starts may alter your feeling of certain plant items because through your experience of nursery stock, your particular micro zone, winter hardiness factors, etc., you may opt not to plant a Quercus palustris or Tsuga canadensis in late September. Whatever the case, nursery stock must be gathered, and the play must go on.