Importance of Place

Southern Living, May 2004 by Jones, Sara Askew

One professor's innovative approach to teaching inspires others to look beyond the obvious.

Cheeky, cheeky, cheeky." A yellowthroat warbler sings from the thick canopy on our first stop at Cumberland Island, Georgia. Twisting, sinuous live oaks surround us as sunlight filters down through the leafy ceiling. Bright green saw palms reach out as if in welcome. Splashes of ash gray Spanish moss add more texture to this mysterious space.

Here in this outdoor classroom, the day's lesson begins for a landscape architecture course on native plant communities of the Southeast. All eyes focus on Darrel Morrison, professor emeritus from The University of Georgia. He first asks us to take a moment to experience the place with all our senses. We stand listening, watching, and absorbing the wonders of a maritime forest.

From the Ground Up

Spread out over a three-week period in May, Darrel's course focuses on the native plant communities of the Piedmont, Coastal Plains, and Southern Appalachians. He takes a small class across Georgia and into North Carolina for firsthand encounters. At Cumberland Island, Darrel leads the group into a maritime forest, a salt marsh, and a beach community.

For the class curriculum, he follows a creative multilevel method of field study to help students understand these settings. Participants map plants in selected areas and take quantitative samplings, but, most importantly, they draw, paint, and write about what they see. "Sketching and watercolor interpretations help you understand the plant community from a whole different perspective," Darrel says. "It's just a blend of art and science, which is, I think, what landscape architecture should be."

Go Native

As a designer, Darrel found his niche with native plants when he discovered American Plants for American Gardens, which was published in 1929. In it a landscape architect and an ecologist focused on different plant communities of New England.

"It was so powerful and so logical," he remembers. "I learned that when we're designing, we can work from an existing set of plants that grow together in a particular environment."

Darrel shares his enthusiasm in and out of the classroom. One of his design commissions includes the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin. Practicing what he preaches, he camped out overnight at the project site to get a feel for the place.

When teaching, Darrel promotes the importance of place and how it affects the overall design. "Much of designed landscape," he says, "has become generic through the use of the same plants over and over with no real connection to a particular place." Therefore, he encourages his students to use native plants whenever possible.

He hesitates, then adds, "It's not native plants for the sake of native plants. It's because when grown in the right environment with their associates, they are the most beautiful."

SARA ASKEW JONES