Designing a Low-Maintenance Landscape with Turf

Poly-Turf was a brand of artificial turf in the early 1970s, manufactured by American Biltrite of Wellesley, Massachusetts. It was the first specifically designed for American football, with a patented layered structure which included a "shock pad" between the artificial grass and the asphalt sub-surface.^[1] It used polypropylene for its artificial grass blades, rather than the nylon used in AstroTurf and 3M's Tartan Turf.^[2][3][4]

In the late 1960s, the natural grass surface at the Orange Bowl in Miami was constantly in poor condition,^[5] primarily due to heavy usage; 34 games were scheduled there during the 1968 football season.^[6]

Poly-Turf was installed at the city-owned stadium in 1970,^[7] and utilized for six seasons. The stadium was used for both college and professional football, primarily by the University of Miami Hurricanes and the Miami Dolphins of the NFL. It also hosted the eponymous New Year's Day college bowl game, Super Bowl games, and high school football.

The University of Nebraska Cornhuskers won the first three Orange Bowl games played on Poly-Turf, which included two national championships. The first Super Bowl played on artificial turf was played on Poly-Turf in the Orange Bowl in January 1971, when the Baltimore Colts defeated the Dallas Cowboys 16-13 in Super Bowl V. The next Super Bowl at the stadium was the final game played on Poly-Turf in Miami; Super Bowl X in January 1976.^[8] Its flaws received additional media exposure the week prior to the game,^[9] and Dolphins receiver Nat Moore documented them in a local article.^[10]

The longer polypropylene blades of Poly-Turf tended to mat down^[11][12] and become very slick under hot & sunny conditions.^[13][14][15] Other NFL owners were skeptical of the brand before the first regular season games were played in 1970.^[7] The field was replaced after two seasons,^[16][17] before the Dolphins' 1972 undefeated season.^[18] It was replaced by another Poly-Turf surface. While it had similar problems,^[19][20] it lasted longer than the first installation, and was used for four years. Over just six years, both installations deteriorated rapidly and some football players suffered an increasing number of leg and ankle injuries; some players claimed to trip over seams. Prior to the second installation in 1972, the city did not consult with the Dolphins about the replacement; Dolphins' head coach Don Shula preferred a different brand, either AstroTurf or Tartan Turf.^[21] The field discolored from green to blue due to the severe UV nature of the Miami sun.^[14][22]

The city removed the Poly-Turf in 1976 and re-installed natural grass, a special type known as Prescription Athletic Turf (PAT),^[23][24][25] which remained until the stadium's closure in early 2008. As late as December 1975, the city had planned to retain the Poly-Turf for the 1976 season,^[23] but that decision was changed a few weeks later, prior to the Super Bowl.^[8][26][27]

The Orange Bowl became the first major football venue to replace its artificial turf with natural grass, and it was the third NFL stadium to install Prescription Athletic Turf; Denver's Mile High Stadium and Washington's RFK Stadium installed PAT fields a year earlier in the spring of 1975.^[24]

Other NFL stadiums which installed Poly-Turf included Schaefer Stadium, opened in 1971 for the New England Patriots,^[11] and Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, home of the Saints, Tulane University, and the Sugar Bowl. Notable college stadiums included Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama^[28] and Alumni Stadium at Boston College.^[29]

American Biltrite ceased production of Poly-Turf in 1973; 3M stopped the manufacture of its Tartan Turf in 1974, citing rising oil prices in light of the 1973 oil embargo.^[4] This left AstroTurf as the only major manufacturer of artificial turf (with only minor competition along the way) until FieldTurf was introduced in the late 1990s.^[30]

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Landscape design is an independent profession and a design and art tradition, practiced by landscape designers, combining nature and culture. In contemporary practice, landscape design bridges the space between landscape architecture and garden design.^[1]

Landscape design focuses on both the integrated master landscape planning of a property and the specific garden design of landscape elements and plants within it. The practical, aesthetic, horticultural, and environmental sustainability are also components of landscape design, which is often divided into hardscape design and softscape design. Landscape designers often collaborate with related disciplines such as architecture, civil engineering, surveying, landscape contracting, and artisan specialties.

Design projects may involve two different professional roles: landscape design and landscape architecture.

• Landscape design typically involves artistic composition and artisanship, horticultural finesse and expertise, and emphasis on detailed site involvement from conceptual stages through to final construction.
• Landscape architecture focuses more on urban planning, city and regional parks, civic and corporate landscapes, large scale interdisciplinary projects, and delegation to contractors after completing designs.

There can be a significant overlap of talent and skill between the two roles, depending on the education, licensing, and experience of the professional. Both landscape designers and landscape architects practice landscape design.^[2]

The landscape design phase consists of research, gathering ideas, and setting a plan. Design factors include objective qualities such as: climate and microclimates; topography and orientation, site drainage and groundwater recharge; municipal and resource building codes; soils and irrigation; human and vehicular access and circulation; recreational amenities (i.e., sports and water); furnishings and lighting; native plant habitat botany when present; property safety and security; construction detailing; and other measurable considerations.

Design factors also include subjective qualities such as genius loci (the special site qualities to emphasize); client's needs and preferences; desirable plants and elements to retain on site, modify, or replace, and that may be available for borrowed scenery from beyond; artistic composition from perspectives of both looking upon and observing from within; spatial development and definition – using lines, sense of scale, and balance and symmetry; plant palettes; and artistic focal points for enjoyment. There are innumerable other design factors and considerations brought to the complex process of designing a garden that is beautiful, well-functioning, and that thrives over time.

The up-and-coming practice of online landscape design allows professional landscapers to remotely design and plan sites through manipulation of two-dimensional images without ever physically visiting the location. Due to the frequent lack of non-visual, supplementary data such as soil assessments and pH tests, online landscaping necessarily must focus on incorporating only plants which are tolerant across many diverse soil conditions.

Historically, landscape designers trained by apprenticing—such as André Le Nôtre, who apprenticed with his father before designing the Gardens of Versailles—to accomplished masters in the field, with the titular name varying and reputation paramount for a career. The professional section of garden designers in Europe and the Americas went by the name "Landscape Gardener". In the 1890s, the distinct classification of landscape architect was created, with educational and licensing test requirements for using the title legally. Beatrix Farrand, the sole woman in the founding group, refused the title preferring Landscape Gardener. Matching the client and technical needs of a project, and the appropriate practitioner with talent, legal qualifications, and experienced skills, surmounts title nomenclature.^{[citation needed]}

Institutional education in landscape design appeared in the early 20th century. Over time it became available at various levels. Ornamental horticulture programs with design components are offered at community college and universities within schools of agriculture or horticulture, with some beginning to offer garden or landscape design certificates and degrees. Departments of landscape architecture are located within university schools of architecture or environmental design, with undergraduate and graduate degrees offered. Specialties and minors are available in horticultural botany, horticulture, natural resources, landscape engineering, construction management, fine and applied arts, and landscape design history. Traditionally, hand-drawn drawings documented the design and position of features for construction, but Landscape design software is frequently used now.^{[citation needed]}

Other routes of training are through informal apprenticeships with practicing landscape designers, landscape architects, landscape contractors, gardeners, nurseries and garden centers, and docent programs at botanical and public gardens. Since the landscape designer title does not have a college degree or licensing requirements to be used, there is a very wide range of sophistication, aesthetic talent, technical expertise, and specialty strengths to be responsibly matched with specific client and project requirements.^{[citation needed]}

Many landscape designers have an interest and involvement with gardening, personally or professionally. Gardens are dynamic and not static after construction and planting are completed, and so in some ways are "never done". Involvement with landscape management and direction of the ongoing garden direction, evolution, and care depend on the professional's and client's needs and inclinations. As with the other interrelated landscape disciplines, there can be an overlap of services offered under the titles of landscape designer or professional gardener.^[2]

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