As online learning has grown, MyGardenSchool had blossomed. After several successful years we sought in-depth feedback from our customers, tutors and the trusted gardening community to enable the next phase of our business growth.
Led by our CEO and Founder Elspeth Briscoe and Dan Rosewarne our talented CTO, we challenged ourselves to consider the evolution of the industry, technology and the path our students tread.
Over the next month you will see a continual thread of exciting changes to enhance your experience with us.
We think you're going to love it.New name and new lookWe are moving away from our MyGardenSchool. From now on, we’re Learning with experts.
The design of our website has been lovingly updated to deliver our evolved online learning proposition.
Learn for lessDriven by a need to be more accessible to all garden lovers with a thirst for knowledge, we have worked with our tutors to create alternative paths for engaging with a course. Whilst we wholeheartedly advocate interaction with your tutors, we recognise that time and cost could sometimes be a barrier.
There are now two options available for each of our course, with a third on the way. The difference between them is broken down by your level of participation.
PEER: Simply enter the classroom, watch the videos and chat to your classmates. Work together with your classmates to critique and discuss aspects of your assignments.
EXPERT: We pride ourselves on partnering with the best tutors in the world. And we like the idea that anyone, anywhere, at any time, can connect to a trusted expert. You can still benefit from the experience and interaction with your expert tutor through in-depth critique of your assignments.
The next instalment from the legendary Piet Oudolf and Dr Noel KingsburyPerennial Management featuring the High Line New York.
We're so excited to welcome you to this new and very unique course. The story of Manhattan’s most popular tourist attraction 'The High Line' is fascinating if you're an enthusiastic gardener or indeed a landscape designer. It's become a blue print for planting in harsh conditions or cities. The disused historic freight railway line elevated above the streets on New York's West Side was really neglected. Until gradually the plants began to colonise. And that's when Piet Oudolf and The Friends of The High Line stepped in to help it evolve.
Throughout the course, you will experience unique top down drone footage of High Line and Battery Park, enjoying a bird’s eye view of the plantings and their context. Walk together with Piet and Noel down its vast length analysing the planting as a blue print for perennial success. Dr Noel Kingsbury will then demonstrate at plant nurseries how to maintain perennials using their best practice techniques. Dr Noel Kingsbury will also personally comment on your work and assignments if you choose the 'expert' version of the course.
New tutorsBringing you the best the Gardening industry has to offer has always been at the forefront of what we do. Our new tutors are no exception. We are thrilled to welcome..
Jacqueline van der Kloet and her new course Spring Flowering Bulbs with Perennials
Perhaps best known for her collaboration with the famous planting designer Piet Oudolf, van der Kloet has is known as an international expert on bulbous plants, experimenting at her own garden, the Theetuin (“tea garden”), which she established at Weesp near Amsterdam some 30 years ago.
Van der Kloet sources plants in New Zealand, Australia, Japan, South Africa, China, the United States, Oman and “most Western European countries,” observing plant communities in the wild with a view to replicating them at home as part of her naturalistic designs.
Dr Audrey Gerber and her course Conservation of Historic Gardens
Dr Audrey Gerber is a Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield. Audrey is specialised in the flowering and growth physiology of ornamental woody perennials with an emphasis on Australian and South African native flora.
Audrey’s work at the University of Sheffield, with James Hitchmough and colleagues in the Department of Landscape, integrates specialised horticultural knowledge with a sophisticated understanding of spatial design at the community plant level, and contemporary ecological theory.
New CategoriesWe have introduced Jewellery and Food & Drink to our range of topics available. In the coming months you will see a few more added such as Floristry and Interiors.
Exciting PartnershipsWe're delighted to announce our partnerships with some of the world's greats from the publishing industry. We strongly believe that the world of publishing is changing, and that together with our strong communities and global group of experts we can help print publishers embrace their digital sides.
We are delighted to be working with Immediate Media as a strategic partner and you will increasingly feel our presence within their titles including Gardens Illustrated, Gardeners World, Homes and Antiques).
So you will see us join together on many initiatives over the forthcoming months. We're also delighted to be working in a similar capacity with Dorling Kindersley (DK) the book publishers. Soon you will see books from our experts, packaged along with their courses. More on that to come.
RHS accreditation for distance learningIn other recent news we were delighted to have become the 'accredited distance learning provider' for the Royal Horticultural Society. It doesn't get better than that for our gardening community.
It also ties in with the launch of our RHS Level 2 course, taught by Hilary Thomas (former RHS examiner), and Dr Noel Kingsbury, established horticulturist and writer.
We are competitively priced and according to the influx of students we've had - are one of the best online options around for studying RHS Level 2 and getting on the horticultural ladder. See more here.
CollectionsFinally due to demand from our students, we have introduced 'collections'. These are collections of courses where students can benefit financially from buying their tuition in bulk.
Our first collection is the remarkable Garden Design Diploma, where you are literally taught by a plethora of tutors who are the best in the world in their fields (including Michael Marriot, David Austin Roses, Piet Oudolf and Dr Noel Kinsgbury, Annie Guilfoyle and many others).
Live LearningWe have always been active advocates of social media with over 100,000 followers across Facebook, twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. We believe that our access to our tutors and the gardening industry can benefit everyone in staying up to date with latest trends and news.
