Here is the T (that’s slang for Truth) – I am a streetwalker and might be unabashedly stepping onto your “turf” in broad daylight. I go where curiosity takes me, even if others question my presence. Yes, gurl (another slang term within my community of people, wherever they may be), I walk the streets, and thankfully, I have yet to be accused of loitering… “Karen.”  If you see me on your street, know that the only service I provide is the judgment of what I see in my surroundings…the good, the bad, and the cringeworthy, as if I am on a traveling tour seeing places for the first time.  Plenty of other institutions shine the light on beautiful landscapes, from coffee table book authors to designer awards, so I am taking it upon myself to walk in the shadows of lesser-known places.

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Why do certain landscapes look the way that they do?  What message does a front garden, an urban landscape, or a public park express?  Am I a critic?  Perhaps as unprofessionally as possible, but only in the most lighthearted sense to raise awareness of one’s surroundings.  It has been said before by scientists, and it deserves repeating; there is indeed such thing as “plant blindness,” but I will also more generally add that landscapes go unseen daily. This section will look at small or large details to articulate landscape elements and what information they can provide to gardeners, designers, and people interested in their relationship to outdoor spaces.  Therefore, while I may self-identify as a streetwalker, no misdemeanors will be committed unless I consider a design a “crime against nature.”