Small plants are often overlooked in our planting designs. Compared to larger plants, they can be harder to cultivate and grow, they have lower perceived value, they’re more easily taken over, and they don’t necessarily have the same immediate impact. Emerging green infrastructure resources, such as the City of Melbourne’s Green Factor tool, also prioritize larger plants. Yet most plant species are relatively small.1 Despite their size, they can have great cultural, ecological, aesthetic, health and wellbeing, and environmental value – and have the potential to cultivate attentiveness and a sense of wonder in those who cultivate them.
Small plants have a reputation for being unimpressive. Late in 2022, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria director and chief executive Tim Entwisle expressed his disdain for Victoria’s floral. Entwistle described it as “inadequate,” “underwhelming” and “scrappy.”2 Maybe his opinion piece in was tongue-in-cheek, but it sparked some emotion in me and got me thinking about how we value different species – and the power we have when specifying them.
