Plant Symbols

 

A plant’s symbol can be assigned to the plant when it is added to the project while creating the Plant Palette, or at any time during the planting design process. Again, this is to allow the Plant Palette creation to be a quick process.

 

From Edit the Plant

 

When you select Edit on a highlighted plant from the Project Plant Manager, the Plant Info dialog box appears. If a symbol has previously been assigned to this plant it will appear in the Symbol box. If no symbol has yet been assigned, this box will be empty.

 

Click on the Symbol box and the Plant Symbols Library dialog box will open allowing the user to select a symbol and determine its graphic size. The symbols library will be appropriate for the Tree, Shrub or Ground Cover category of the highlighted plant.

 

When Placing a Plant

 

If you place a plant into the drawing that has not yet had a symbol assigned to it, the Plant Symbols Library dialog box will open to allow you to select a symbol and determine its graphic size. This allows symbol selection to be accomplished “on the fly”.

 

Plant Symbols Libraries

 

Trees

Plant Symbol Library for Trees. Notice the sub-categories in the upper left corner. Click on one of these categories to view the symbol library associated with that sub-category.

 

The Tree Symbol Library has sub-categories of:

§	Simple: symbols with variations of a simple outline.

§	Evergreen: symbols with fill or foliage texture.

§	Deciduous: symbols with variations of line work representing branching.

§	Conifer: symbols that can represent a fine textured plant.

§	Palm: symbols that could represent a palm tree or tropical plant.

§	Diagrammatic: symbols that are diagrammatic in nature.

§	Small Scale: symbols used when drawing a plan with a very small scale, such as 1”=100’.

 

Shrubs

Plant Symbol Library for Shrubs. Notice the sub-categories in the upper left corner. Click on one of these categories to view the symbol library associated with that sub-category.

 

The Shrub Library has sub-categories of:

§	Large: symbols drawn with a line color that will print with a somewhat thicker line, to be used for larger shrubs of about 5 feet diameter or larger.

§	Small: symbols drawn with a line color that will print with a somewhat thinner line, to be used for smaller shrubs or shrub masses of about 1 to 4 feet in diameter.

§	Tropical: symbols with course bladed or foliage plants.

§	Vine: symbols for vines or espalier plans.

§	Diagrammatic: symbols that are diagrammatic in nature.

F Remember: Only use the “Large” shrub symbols for plants indicated on the drawing at about 5 or 6 ft in diameter or greater. For plants of a smaller diameter, use on of the “Small” library plants. This will avoid having very small plants with a thick outline, and thus plotting too dark or as a “blob”.

 

Shrub Areas

Shrub Areas allow you to define an area where a mass of shrubs will be planted at a set spacing. The shrub areas are defined by a boundary linetype and an interior hatch pattern.

 

When you edit a shrub area after adding it to a project, you will first be required to select a linetype to represent that shrub area.

 

Shrub Area linetype library to select a linetype from.

 

After selecting a linetype, you will be required to select an infill hatch pattern.

 

Shrub Area infill hatch pattern library.

 

You may select a hatch pattern, or the first pattern of “NONE” if you want no pattern. After selecting the linetype and hatch pattern to represent your shrub area, you will be brought back to the Plant Info dialog box.

 

Plant Info dialog box for a shrub area indicating the symbol selected.

F Remember: The color (and thus plotted thickness) of the outline of a Shrub Area is controlled in the Planting tab of the Preferences dialog box.

 

Ground Covers

Ground covers are indicated with hatch patterns. When you click on the Symbol box in the Plant Info dialog box, you will be presented with the Ground Cover hatch pattern library.

 

Ground Cover hatch pattern library.