Interpreting Landscape Plans*

Designs cannot come to life unless they are correctly interpreted.

Communication & Cooperation

Owner, designer, installer, and subcontractors

Basic Features of A Good Landscape Design

  1. Few designs include all of the necessary information
  2. Symbols and styles are as varied as the designers
  3. Some designations have become fairly standard

The following are concepts that are critical to landscape plan interpretation or canhelp to avoid costly errors

Orientation Features

  1. Perspective
  2. Aerial or 'bird's-eye' view
  3. Frontal, sectioned, cut-out or side views optional
  4. Compass orientation
  5. Plant selection
  6. Wind direction
  7. Lighting angles (sun/shade)
  8. Street address
  9. Location verification
  10. Bench mark
  11. Location for survey purposes
  12. Elevation for drainage and grade changes
  13. Adjacent roads, buildings and property lines

Scale

  1. Without a scale the design is useless!!!
  2. Elucidates the relationship between design and site dimensions
  3. Can be indicated symbolically or in equation form
  4. Typically I = 10 ft., or 1” = 4 ft.

Structures & Traffic Facilitators

  1. Existing structures, walks, drives to be retained
  2. Structures walks or drives to be installed
  3. Indicated by outline with or without fill patterns
  4. Concrete = solid or swirled fill
  5. Gravel or aggregate = dots or small ovals
  6. Bricks = small rectangular blocks, indicate whether or not actual numbers are depicted
  7. Stepping stones = irregular enclosed areas corresponding to relative dimensions of stones
  8. Existing structures or features to be removed

Location Of Utility Lines

  1. Major safety concern!
  2. Elevation above or below ground
  3. Impacts grade changes, irrigation lines and outdoor lighting
  4. Call the local utilities for verification!!! (611 on cell phone)

Contour Lines

  1. Connect points of equal elevation
  2. Same interval (vertical change in elevation) throughout the design
  3. Never fork
  4. Only meet at vertical cliffs
  5. Close together = steep slope
  6. Widely spaced = gentle slope
  7. Not drawn through landscape features
  8. Existing topography = Broken lines
  9. Proposed changes = Solid lines

Fences and Walls

  1. Stone = single or double rows of irregularly rounded blocks
  2. Brick = single or double rows of rectangular blocks
  3. Metal & Wood = thickened solid or dashed lines interrupted at intervals by open or closed circles to indicate posts
  4. Gates = angled lines in the direction of swing

Decks and Patios

  1. Brick, Stone, and Concrete usually depicted as enclosed outlines with similar patterns as with walks and drives
  2. Wood = Enclosed outlines with vertical, horizontal, or slanted lines mimicking the decking pattern
  3. Should include blow-up insets of specific construction features
  4. Similar information should be included for raised beds and retaining walls

Amenity Items

Variable by designer

Most commonly illustrated as an outline of the feature from aerial view

Water Features

  1. Irregular labeled outlines
  2. Sometimes a wave-like fill pattern, but this is also used to designate groundcovers
  3. Streams or water courses are often depicted as parallel snake-like lines, with or without fill
  4. Depth information is sometimes included

Plant Materials

Specimen Plants

  1. Broad-leaved evergreens = Circles with scalloped edges or rounded lobes
  2. Needled evergreens = circles with sharp needle-like or toothed edges
  3. Deciduous shrubs = circular symbols with loose irregular outlines
  4. Deciduous trees = large circles or circles with half hemispherical indentations
  5. Sometimes branching structure is indicated as radiating lines from the center of the circle
  6. An 'X' is usually placed a the center of the circle to indicate the location of the crown or trunk of the plant
  7. Where plant canopies overlap, the taller plant is drawn with solid lines, the shorter plant with broken lines
  8. Massed or in Planting Beds
  9. Grouped symbols as with specimens but enclosed in outlines conforming to the dimensions of the beds
  10. Indicated as a scaled outlined area with X's for the locations of plant crowns
  11. Number of X's should correspond to the number of plants to be used or this discrepancy must be noted in the design key
  12. If crown locations are not indicated symbolically spacing and location specifications within the beds must be included in the design key
  13. Ground covers = often indicated as shading or wavy lines within the outlined area
  14. Vines = often indicated as sausage-like outlines with X's for crown locations at the base of supporting structures
  15. Remember contour lines are not continued over beds

Design Key

  1. Key to all symbols used in the design
  2. Critical to accurate design interpretation!!!
  3. If symbols for bricks, blocks, etc. in the design do not represent actual required materials this must be specified
  4. Plant materials list
  5. Hard-goods materials list
  6. Optional, but highly desirable
  7. Detailed information
  8. Materials specifications
  9. Dimensions
  10. Installation procedures

Plant Materials List

  1. Common names
  2. Scientific names
  3. Size specifications
  4. Number of each species and size class
  5. Over-looked information to include:
  6. Shipping and handling instructions
  7. Installation procedures
  8. Post-planting maintenance recommendations
  9. Price information is usually not included directly on the design

Note: This document is a modified version of a class handout prepared by:

Dr. Michael A. Arnold

Dept. of Horticultural Sciences

Texas A&M University

College Station, TX 77843-2133

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