Feed Entries
Gardening courses to go
A week ago I hurried to finish my last assignment for the Planting Design course by Hilary Thomas. Going through the 4-week course on My Garden School website felt like going to a regular classroom except I completed the course in the comfort of my own home. 
What other things were different, and better than going to class? I could watch the video lecture from home as many times as I wanted and I didn’t have to write notes because I could download pdf lecture notes off the website! Plus, I could ask all the questions I wanted about planting design from one of the best plant designers and horticulturists in the world: Hilary Thomas.
Of course, as with any program, you get as much out of it as you put into it. I made sure I watched and understood the information-packed videos as well as completing all four assignments. Even though I had completed a Residential Garden Design course years ago, I still learnt a tremendous amount from the course. It filled gaps that I didn’t know I had! In this Planting Design course we covered:
- Selecting plants on form, texture and habit
- Colour and Design principles
- The role of plants in the planting scheme
- Seasonal colour and excitement.
Hilary Thomas provided valuable feedback to all the assignments. Though the design principles transcended the differences in climates, occasionally Hilary would suggest plants that wouldn’t grow in USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 5! We don’t have a good selection of large leafed broadleaf evergreens shrubs like the lucky British gardeners. When I pointed it out, Hilary was extremely gracious…that’s the kind of secure, confident teacher My Garden School has online.
Duncan Heather and Elspeth Briscoe have acquired the services of some of the most famous and prestigious British gardeners and garden personalities for their garden school. In addition to Hilary Thomas, a plant design genius, the garden school also includes courses by:
- John Brookes, one of the world’s most influential garden designer
- Sue Bishop, a productive, skilled plant photographer, who has a six week solo exhibition at the Royal Horticultural Society’s Lindley Library in London to her credit
- Andrew McIndoe, an experienced practical horticulturist, who has been responsible for the Hillier Gold Medal winning exhibit at the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower for the past 22 years.
Because the website is brand-new, there were a few things that needed fixing. To Duncan and Elspeth’s credit, my emails on any problems with the website received instant attention. Incredible service, great classes, amazing teachers. What more could you ask for?
Website
Thank you, Duncan Heather, for offering me a free course on your My Garden School website.
Written by Cristina da Silva
Wednesday, June 8, 2011 in Books & Products
Read 754 times
Social Sharing
Hi Cristina
I’m delighted that you enjoyed the course and thank you so much for your valuable feedback.
We are working hard to make MyGardenSchool as user friendly and intuitive as possible, with some major upgrades in June, thanks to your comments.
We hope to start recording with American tutors in the Autumn and have trips planned for both October 2011 and May next year.
We also have several new courses in the pipeline including Chickens, Shrubs, Climbers, and Bees Keeping,and hope to have over 40-50 different courses within the next 12 months, so if your interested, don’t forget to register with the site for monthly updates
Thanks, Duncan.
Your website is a tremendous achievement. And I see it’s only going to get better and better. Congratualtions on your hard work!