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VISUAL QUALITY The great majority. of plants used in landscaping today are selected and placed with the intent of providing us with aesthetic experiences. More directly, this is an attempt to improve the appearance of a homesite; school, or place of business. Plants have their own unique qualities, most of which are related to their growth forms and cycles. However, most of the time in traditional forms of landscaping, they are treated as individuals and have to be maintained as such in a static state by shearing and/or mowing. People working with naturalized landscapes use alternative aesthetic values to select plants. The plants are first selected in terms of their adaptations to the community that matches the site conditions. Instead of restricting design possibilities, this approach can add to the effects of color, movement, light, and sea- sonal change . Along with such showy plants as large. flower- ed trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) , butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) , and blazing star (Liatris pycnostachya ) , a host of other plants . are part of the planting. Ferns, grasses and plants with smaller, yet no less showy, flowers, not only act as a backdrop but provide visual diversity in themselves with the play of light on the leaves in ever changing ways throughout the days and seasons. When one adds the fact that the planting changes through the growing season yet another dimension is added. From the first pasque flower or hepatica in the spring to the asters and goldenrods of the fall there is progressive change in the native landscape . Prairie plantings in particular are noted for their •variety of colors and forms. It also should be noted that many of the grasses of the prairie stay green during the summer and their foliage turns colors as bright, as many of the bright- est trees and shrubs. This is in contrast with ,lawn grasses which must be watered to stay green and are devoid of bril- liant fall colors. The wind-induced movement of prairie grasses and flowers on a sunlit fall day is a sight that makes the much beloved rolling wheat fields seem_ uninteresting in comparison. Adding to the visual diversity of natural plantings is the wildlife they attract. Along. with brightly colored gold- finches and indigo buntings come many different species . of butterflies, moths and dragonflies. 5