Please use the form below to ask us a question on the course only, if you want to ask a general question please close this window and go to our contact page.
Beautiful Gardens
| Start date: | Any |
| Duration: | Up to 18 months |
| Formal prerequisite: | None |
| Certificate awarded: | Yes |
| Fee: | £300.00 |
Our Beautiful Gardens course endeavours to give you the skills to make the best use of the seasons - spring, summer, autumn and winter - by creating a coherent garden feature which will be much more spectacular than if the planting were merely randon. A garden which develops at random might well be of dilute quality if the total scene neutralises the splendour which is within reach.
| Lesson 1 | An introduction to planting design; site; planning; budgets; maintenance and plant data. |
| Lesson 2 | Overcoming limitations; plants for the site; integrating house, landscape and plants; hard landscape; plant design. |
| Lesson 3 | Developing the planting design : details of a five year plan; preparing a budget and planning; using computers for planting design; charts and colour use in planting design; choosing plant material; establishing an order of planting; ongoing maintenance. |
| Lesson 4 | Autumn and the yearly cycle; sun, shadow, wind, rain; sound and movement; water, lighting and hard landscape; four seasonal gardens; herbaceous perennials and biennials; flowers and fruit; a potager; wildlife in the autumn garden; ferns, fungi and moss; trees and shrubs with berries and fruit; herbaceous plants and ornamental grasses; bulbs and corms for autumn flowering. |
| Lesson 5 | Britain in winter; sun, rain, snow and ice; winter weather and the landscape; scale; microclimate effects; shelter; water and ice – ice sculpture; food plants for people; winter bedding. |
| Lesson 6 | Winter into spring; the landscape in spring; planning a spring garden; developing a planting strategy; spring bulbs and bedding; pre-vernal herbaceous plants; spring flowering trees and shrubs; foliage and stems; using the glasshouse; spring maintenance. |
| Lesson 7 | Annual and biennial plants; tender perennials; succulents; summer bedding; using the glasshouse; summer maintenance. |
| Lesson 8 | Herbaceous perennials, traditional views; integrating herbaceous perennials in the garden; ornamental grasses, form and function; mixed planting of herbaceous perennials and grasses; dry gardens; ideas for lawns; maintenance. |
| Lesson 9 | Trees and shrubs to create scale and enclosure; trees in parks and gardens and mixed borders; the use of trees and shrubs in rock gardens; the meaning of plantings in oriental gardens; the Mediterranean garden; roses; hedges. |
| Lesson 10 | Water in the landscape and in the garden; water ecology; designing with water; sculpture and water as a sculptural element; design solutions; climbing plants, form and function; designing with climbing plants; wall plants. |
Special notes
We are currently offering a free copy of Making a Garden worth £20.00 when you enrol on this course and pay in full. (UK Enrolments Only)
FarmingGarden Design |
GardeningGardening Studies - Beyond the Basics Start Gardening - The Basics and Beyond Royal Horticultural SocietyRHS Advanced Certificate in Horticulture |
ArboricultureArboricultural Studies at HCC Diploma Level RFS Level 2 Certificate in Arboriculture Business |
