Much of the Western world has inherited a concept of naturalness that is tied to an eighteenth-century British concept of the picturesque. Our preference for long views, open landscapes, clean edges, and just a touch of mystery has influenced all aspects of our built landscapes. As a result, the general public has very little tolerance for wild. illegible landscapes and plantings, particularly in our towns and cities. When people encounter highly mixed plantings, they are often reminded of abandoned fields or derelict industrial sites, places often associated with urban decay or neglect.

Our reactions to natural landscapes are not just culturally conditioned, they are innate, biological responses as well. While our cultural bias for tidy landscapes often limits the potential of ecological planting, our biological responses to natural landscapes may expand them. Environmental psychologists have long theorized that our partiality for certain landscapes is based in part on their ability to provide our basic needs such as shelter and food. Multiple studies have hypothesized that the human preference for savanna - an easily recognized, productive landscape - has influenced our overuse of the English landscape style in the form of lawns. But turf and trees are not the only ways savannas can be interpreted. They can also be recreated as ecologically valuable, attractive plantings. It may be that other types of landscapes that have some of the same characteristics as savannas (traits such as legibility, openness, mystery) may work equally well as design inspiration for designed plant communities. For designers, starting with an attractive reference community as an inspiration for composed planting is an important way of creating designs that the public accepts as beautiful.

— Planting in a Post-Wild World by Rainer, Thomas (Landscape architect) (Page 55)