Abstract

BRIGGS, G. 1984. Plants for the urban environment. Am. Nurseryman 159(9): 127-128, 132-136.

Plants have a way of making a liar out of even the best-intentioned teacher! Since coming to the Midwest, I have become even more of a realist in making plant recommendations. Nowhere is there fear more prevalent than when I make plant recommendations for the urban environment. First, the variables of climate are innumerable. Buildings create wind tunnels, they shade plants to the north, they magnify the impact of heat and glare to the south, and they create many related effects to the east and west. Add to this the variety of height and spacing characteristics of urban buildings and the wide range of color contrasts, and you arrive at an incredibly complex set of climatic variables. How then does one go about recommending plantings in the harsh settings under such totally unpredictable conditions and over regions of the country with enormous differences of temperature, rainfall, and wind? Realistically, it cannot be done. But I shall point to a few principles and plants in the continued pursuit of the difficult task of establishing urban plantings.

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