Head: Landscaping business grows
Subhead: Gardens in Russia are no longer a located strictly in the country. Currently
in Moscow, the landscaping business is in a market upswing.
Pullout: ‘As is to be expected, an attractive market also means tough competition.
There are already large landscaping companies on the market that have their own
production bases.’
Landscaping
By Ivan Vorontsov
Many people dream today of becoming landscape architects. The profession is
fashionable, prestigious and interesting, and the main thing is that there is always a
stable and solvent demand for landscape services.
Already a decade ago, it was easy to predict that a boom in landscaping would follow
on the heels of the boom for cottages. This demand for landscaping will continue too,
because new houses will keep springing up, and this means new gardens to create.
Moreover, there is an increasing interest in making cities greener. In Moscow, for
example, full-time landscape architects appeared on the municipal staff, and a
program to make the city greener and plant more flowers was approved. Then there
are the grandiose plans for the 300th anniversary celebrations in St. Petersburg that
also require landscaping services.
As is to be expected, an attractive market also means tough competition. There are
already large landscaping companies on the market that have their own production
bases. There are also hundreds of small but professional firms as well as landscaping
brigades that get together only during the summer to handle just one or two orders per
season.
This all makes it difficult for newcomers to find a place on the market. Once the
orders come, life is not always easy either. Customers won’t haggle with large
companies, but they will bargain as hard as they can with smaller companies, often
quite sincerely not understanding why landscape services should cost them such a tidy
sum. It’s up to the landscape specialists to explain convincingly why the costs can be
so high.
Landscape design has its own traditions, and is also subject to trends. The market
forces designers to react to the tendencies. The trend for Japanese gardens over recent
years, for example, has obliged most landscape firms to become specialists in this
area. In practice, however, these “specialists” often turn out to have only just finished
their studies and to have gained their knowledge of Japanese gardens from illustrated
books.
Yelena Golosova, chief landscape architect at the Russian Academy of Sciences’
botanical garden, is responsible for looking after the only Japanese garden in Moscow
that was actually created by Japanese designers. She recalled what a shock she had in
Tokyo when she saw a “Russian garden” consisting of a neatly sawn log fringed by
rows of ferns and yellow flowers. Apparently the garden’s creators had been inspired
by Russian artist Shishkin’s paintings. Golosova suggested that the “Japanese”
creations by Russian landscape architects would probably give the Japanese an even
bigger shock. It took Golosova 15 years of study before she could say that she knew
more about Japanese gardens than anyone else in Russia.
What the client wants is law, but professional landscape architects try to talk their
clients out of mistaken decisions and win them over to their idea of what should be
done with the land in question. Landscape architects come up with their ideas after
carefully studying the land, and the character and lifestyle of the owner. Once they’ve
been won over, clients usually take an active part in the creative process. If landscape
architects fail to convince their clients to abandon an unrealistic idea, they prefer to
turn down the job rather than discredit the profession.
By raising their own standards high, landscape architects raise the standards for the
clients too. At the moment, Russian gardens tend to be traditional and full –
sometimes too full – of flowers, whereas people abroad now favor minimalist gardens
reflecting the psychology of life in the 21st century.
Latvian landscape architect Inese Grundule prefers to work in the minimalist style,
which corresponds to her restrained, accurate, energetic inner character. “I don’t allow
too many plants, but I always include something original and unique in the design,”
she said. She is inspired by modern technology in her work, and her creations can be
seen not just in cities, but also at country town homes, some of which are in the
Moscow Oblast.
So just what do landscape architects have to know and be able to do? It’s not enough
to choose a style, think up an image, plan the garden and the compositions of plants
and think up original details. The landscape architect also has to know how to put this
on paper, as well as take care of lighting, drainage, building benches or pavilions,
sports areas and ponds. And then there are more prosaic tasks such as drawing up
estimates, discussing all the financial details with the client, organizing and
supervising the team who will actually carry out the work.
Working with the plants is very important. The landscape architect has to be able to
choose the right plants, select good quality plants and seeds and also ensure that they
are able to grow on the land. Golosova, for example, confessed that she often talks to
her plants and even gets some answers from them.
Where can a would-be landscape architect get training in Moscow? The landscape
architecture faculty of the Moscow Architecture Institute produces good specialists.
The Moscow State Forestry University’s landscape architecture is younger, but draws
on the university’s wealth of experience at training garden specialists. The Timiryazev
Academy is also planning to train landscape architects.
But so far, none of the Russian universities manage to combine architecture and
gardening in one profession, and yet this is what landscape architecture is all about.
Some institutes have good courses on botany but are less strong on architecture, while
at other institutes it’s the other way round. Graduates either end up having to fill in
the gaps in their education through further training courses, or by learning on the job.
Many graduates try to do internships with recognized professionals, even for free, as a
way of learning the secrets of the profession.
Since landscape architects are a profession in demand today, there will inevitably be
changes in the way they are trained. The many new landscape architecture courses
springing up are a sign of this. Most of these courses do not offer training at a
sufficiently professional standard, teaching no more than needed for someone to tend
their own garden or come away with an idea of whether or not this is really what they
want to do. But not everyone is willing to pay hundreds of dollars to spend up to a
year deciding if this is for them or not.
Some people even say that landscape architecture cannot be taught, and that it is a
talent you just have to be born with. It is true that some of the best landscape
architects are self-taught. Englishman Alan Sargent, for example, who is a member of
the jury at the Chelsea landscaping show and the winner of many awards, never
studied landscape architecture. Indeed, he only got into the job because there wasn’t
any other work available in his native village in Sussex. It took him some 20 years to
go from being the boy who did the gardening to becoming a recognized master of his
craft. The job has not made him particularly wealthy, but he does now head a
successful landscape design firm and his work has brought him a lot of recognition
and enjoyment.