When we are asked to produce plant catalogues, we always ask why.

Usually the answer is quality assurance in planting design. But, a catalogue can’t deliver that on its own. Here’s why.

Here’s how the design review usually works.

The client issues a plant list. The designer chooses plants from the list. The reviewer checks that the plants came from the list.

Sound familiar?

That’s not quality assurance.

It confirms the plants are on a list. It doesn’t confirm they suit the place they’re planted, or they’ll deliver what the design needs. The reasons behind each choice stay inside a black box. You have no easy option but to trust the designer. Sure, designers should align with your needs, but they don’t always.

This kind of review process needs horticultural expertise. And even then, both the design and the design review decisions can be subjective and variable.

I’ve reviewed planting designs on hundreds of projects. When reviewing my team’s work, the designer is there to answer questions. When we are hired to review other consultants’ work, that isn’t always possible.

There’s a better system where the designer need not be present, decisions are transparent, and the review can be done without a high level of horticultural expertise.

We call it rules-based planting design.

With this approach, the designer declares the site conditions and design intent. Both are submitted alongside the planting plan.

Now the design can be checked. Not just whether plants are on “the list”. But whether every species suits the conditions where it’s planted and was chosen to meet the desired outcomes.

For each species, you get a written finding: it meets them, or it doesn’t, and why.

It works because of what you require from the designer: three deliverables, in a set format. Site conditions. Performance outcomes. The planting plan. With all three, you can check not only which plants are used, but the why behind each decision.

We want the same thing you do: planting design that follows rules and can be checked as such, without holding up approvals. We follow this process on our own projects, and we help authorities put it in place for theirs.

Download the planting design submission standard.