Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Landscaping

[Stevenson/Bitner (lilbert]

>We have some that want a common, unified design that is well-maintained by a
>committee or something with a planned out and beautiful look that goes with
>the architecture, etc.
>Others want to express their individuality by planting whatever they like in
>front of their house.
The short answer is:  people care for what they own more than the common 
stuff.  The areas in our community that are the most beautiful are the 
ones that are "private".  We started out with a landscape plan, 
implememted by all of us before move-in (Digging holes and planting trees 
in 107 degree heat is a real community builder). After that, people 
pretty much went their own ways in their private and semi-private yards.  
The common areas always look less well-tended than the private ones.  I 
think "well-maintained by committee" is pretty much an oxymoron!  I just 
thought of a rule of thumb- if it can be done by an individual, don't 
assign it to a committee.

Liz Stevenson
Southside Park Cohousing
Sacramento, CA