To some, the idea of good-looking landscapes with a high functionality or productivity was pretentious maybe even elitist. The rush of enthusiasm for edible landscapes, mostly during the 1980s, was fueled by the realization that long, straight rows of ratty corn don't have to be the order of the day. Previously, the landscape architecture department of a state university had never considered talking to the agriculture or pomology departments. While some believe that eternal popularity is the true mark of success, I take an altogether different view. Like the successional growth of grasses and lupines cloaking a recent landslide and yielding to the choking shade of woody shrubs some decades later, all gardening styles and methods should go through natural deaths, rebirths, and renewals.
Edible landscaping is no exception.
Today edible landscapes have begun to fully integrate into the web of suburban life as they were meant to. My favorite example of the success of edible land scaping comes from one of those women's magazines found clustered around the supermarket cashier like leering buzzards. It is a cartoon. One guy is picking from a hedge. Another is on a ladder in a fruit tree.