As the last of Bermuda's landscape is rapidly developed, there is a small group of people dedicated to ensuring that the Island's natural beauty is maintained through a carefully designed landscape.

The Bermuda Association of Landscape Architects (BALA) is in the process of incorporating and includes the Island's eight qualified and practising landscape architects.

And while the term landscape architect may conjure images of gardeners randomly planting flowers and trees, nothing could be further from the truth.

Three of Bermuda's landscape architects spoke with The Royal Gazette recently about their profession and what BALA hopes to achieve.

Souhaila Sarkis is a landscape architect with Linberg & Simmons, Drew Pettit is a landscape architect with the Parks Department and Sarah Vallis Pietila works with Cooper & Gardner Architects, and all hope BALA will raise the public awareness of their profession and define exactly what they do.

“It is a very broad scope of work,” said Ms Sarkis, who explained that a landscape architect is a professional designer who is responsible for the design of outdoor spaces, from residential lots to entire cities.

Landscape architecture combines artistic principles and engineering science to plan, design and manage the outdoor natural and built environments with the aim of creating spaces that are useful, safe and healthy for people and other living things.

Through BALA, Bermuda's landscape architects are trying to have a recognised professional identity.

The group is seeking an increased influence in projects dealing with ecological issues, urban planning, marine resource management, and sustainable development, as well as the traditional practices of residential and commercial master planning and design.

According to Ms Sarkis, the biggest demand currently for landscape architects in Bermuda exists in high-end development.

More importantly, said Ms Sarkis, landscape architects serve in preserving and enhancing natural systems while encouraging a lifestyle conscious of vital environmental values.

Sarah Vallis Pietila said Landscape Architects take a holistic approach when designing, and try to encompass all aspects of the landscape and development within the landscape.

The group said that in the past there was no body of landscape architects.