There is much more to the job of a landscape architect than putting a couple of shrubs or a pond in someone's yard.

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Landscape architects design areas so they are functional as well as visually attractive. Their work surrounds us and comes in all shapes and sizes. It is everywhere from private residences to public parks and other municipal properties, college campuses, and shopping plazas.

When working on a project, the landscape architect first analyzes the physical layout of the site and develops a preliminary design. This is then adjusted based on client request, government regulations or changes in conditions at the site.

They also work with the other professionals involved with the project, such as civil engineers, when developing the proposal to be submitted for approval by the client and regulators. This proposal includes detailed written reports, sketches, photographs, land-use studies and cost estimates.

Once the proposal is approved, the landscape architect prepares working drawings of the project's exisiting and proposed features and an outline of construction methods and materials. They may also stay on and oversee construction as well.

While many do residential work, few landscape architects concentrate solely on design for the individual homeowner because most of these projects don't provide the revenue that commercial or government opportunities do.

Landscape architects working in site planning focus on the physical design and arrangement of man-made and natural elements of a piece of land such as the soil, vegetation, and even where sunlight and shadows fall. This ranges from planning a single house to an office park or even an entire residential section.

Those in urban planning deal with designing and laying out cities and towns. They use municipal master plans, land-use studies and other methods to lay out urban areas.

Regional landscape planners merge landscape architecture with environmental planning. In this field the landscape architect deals with planning and managing land and water, including natural resource surveys, preparing environmental impact reports and, in some areas, waterfront zones.

A bachelor's degree in landscape architecture normally is the minimum requirement for an entry-level job in the field. According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, the median annual salary for landscape architects in 1996 was $39,500.