Learning with Experts

Shrubs

£45 £27 Save 40%
Level: Peer






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Level: Peer

Course overview

RHS Chelsea Gold Medal winner and expert gardener Andy McIndoe teaches you how to choose the right shrub for your garden and how to maintain, prune and combine other plants with shrubs.

Shrubs are the backbone of planting design. They provide essential structure, beauty and colour from foliage and flowers, texture and a great variety of shape and form in the planting palette.

Shrubs are tipped to be the big thing this year in garden design - particularly the use of fragrant shrubs. Shrubs play a key role in garden designs throughout the seasons, including flowering shrubs and evergreen shrubs.

This course delivers essential advice on selection of the right shrubs for any garden design situation. You will also learn the practical aspects - the simple secrets of pruning, and how to plant and care for your shrubs for best results. Foliage is the foundation of good planting and shrubs deliver leafy colour in both deciduous and evergreen form.

Learn how to use shrubs to create simple but effective planting combinations for designer impact in any garden. If you select wisely the shrubs in your garden can create all-year round interest year after year.

This course will help you choose the right shrub for every situation in your garden, and at any time of the year.

You'll learn:

  • how to choose shrubs for your garden and planting designs
  • how and when to prune shrubs
  • combining shrubs with other plants
  • choosing shrubs for fragrance, foliage, flowers, colour or structure
  • planting shrubs

This gardening course will empower you to choose the right shrubs for your planting design. It will also ignite passion for an area of planting that is rarely used to its optimum potential.

The course includes:

  • 4 on-demand video lessons - presented by Andy McIndoe
  • lifetime access to the videos, notes and interactive class
  • flexible classes - join and learn when and where you like
  • downloadable lesson notes
  • practical shrub related projects (with tutor feedback available)
  • access on your mobile, PC, Mac or laptop
  • small interactive online classroom - chat online to students from around the world and share your creative ideas

Time to complete the shrubs course:

Every student is different but in general we think the whole course will take around 13 hours 20 minutes to complete including:

  • Video lessons: 1 hours 20 minutes in total
  • Course notes: 30 minutes per lesson
  • Your planting design projects: at least 2 hours per lesson
  • Interactive classroom time: 15 minutes per lesson
  • Tutor feedback review (Expert level): 15 minutes per lesson

You'll need:

You don't need special equipment, but you will be planning which shrubs you could use in various garden situations.

This course is suitable for gardeners at all levels - from people new to gardening to professional gardeners who are keen to understand more about the use of shrubs.

Ready to get started?

Just add the course to your basket above - choose the 'Expert' option for personal feedback from Andy on your garden shrubs and garden designs.

If you know someone who'd love this course then give it as a gift - just tick "This is a gift" at the checkout.

Any questions? Contact us by clicking on the orange speech symbol - we'd love to hear from you.

Watch course trailer

Lesson summary

The Role of Shrubs and How to Use Them
How to select the right shrub for a situation and a guide to buying the best plants. Giving your shrubs the best possible start in your garden; how and when to plant them.
Caring For Your Shrubs
How and when to prune flowering and foliage shrubs to control shape, size, foliage quality and flowering. Feeding your shrubs: how, when and why.
Hard Working Foliage Shrubs - The Foundation for Good Planting
The importance of shrubs for structure in gardens of all sizes. Maintaining a colour scheme with foliage throughout the year and creating exciting planting combinations.
Shrubs For Interest Throughout The Year
A pick of the best shrubs that will work hard in your garden to deliver colour, texture and form in every situation, including sun, shade, clay, chalk and in pots and containers.

Choose how you want to learn

Expert-level

Develop your learning further with marked assignments and personal tuition:

  • Start the course whenever you like
  • Tutor access for personalised assignment feedback & coaching
  • Certificate of completion and CPD learning hours
  • Online classroom with up to 20 classmates
  • Lessons with expert videos & notes
  • Group chat & direct message with tutor & classmates
  • Lifetime access to videos, notes & classroom

Peer-level

Get the most from shared knowledge and community study:

  • Start course whenever you like
  • Practise what you learn with your peers
  • Online classroom with up to 20 classmates
  • Lessons with videos & notes
  • Course assignments
  • Group chat & direct message classmates
  • Lifetime access to videos, notes & classroom

meet the expert

Andy McIndoe

Renowned horticulturist with 30+ years' experience, RHS Gold Medalist, prolific writer, lecturer & consultant.

Read more

Why choose Learning with Experts?

Start whenever it suits you, and immerse yourself in motivational lesson tutorials with expert guidance.
Enhance your learning and personal growth with lesson assignments. Each course includes an optional assignment at the end of every lesson.
Drop a friendly message or respond to your assignment feedback. Our world-class experts are just a click away, ready to help you!
Stay informed about your own progress and those of your peers, and take joy in celebrating achievements along the way.
Chat and share ideas with passionate communities of learners from around the world.

Frequently asked questions

What’s the difference between PEER and EXPERT options?

At Peer and Expert level, you get access to the same core content and features:

  • Video lesson tutorials led by your expert tutor
  • Downloadable lesson notes
  • Option to practise what you learn with lesson assignments
  • Group learning within an online interactive classroom of up to 20 classmates
  • Lifetime access to videos, notes and classroom

If you choose Expert level, you get all of the above plus the following:

  • Personalised assignment feedback and coaching from your expert tutor
  • Opportunity to interact with your expert tutor through a private messaging system
  • Certificate of completion.
What is an online classroom?

Our online classroom has been developed to allow you to learn from our experts in a sociable environment alongside up to 20 other students. After each video tutorial led by your expert, you will be encouraged to practice what you have learned with optional assignments - these can be seen by the other students in your class, who are free to share their own thoughts and questions with you.

You will be encouraged to take part in an ongoing class discussion where you can discuss ideas, post images or work, and comment on each other’s assignments. It’s a great way to learn from other like-minded people who share your passion from all over the world.

This means not only do you benefit from people who are outstanding in their field, but also from a close-knit group of like-minded people whom you can learn alongside. Group learning has shown to greatly improve not just the experience of studying, but also how well you retain the knowledge, and we have built our classroom experience around this fact.

When can I start my course and how long will it take?

You can start your course any time within 12 months after receipt of your purchase confirmation email. Once you start, you’ll have lifetime access — meaning you can revisit the lesson videos and notes whenever you want.

Our courses are designed so that you can study at your own pace, some prefer to binge learn while others like to spread their studying over a longer period of time - it’s completely up to you. To give you a rough time frame, each lesson video is approximately 30-40 minutes long, and we recommend that you spend around an hour on each assignment.

How often can I speak with the Expert?

If you opt for the Expert version of your course, the time you have to interact with your tutor is limited to course length. You will have one week per lesson to chat to your tutor and to have your assignments marked, and during this period you can ask them as many questions as you would like.

To find out the length of each course, head to the product page and look at the Course outline to see how many lessons it contains. e.g. a four lesson course assumes that you will have completed the assignments within four weeks.

Your tutor interaction period will start as soon as you enter the classroom. If you find that you are struggling to complete the assignments in the allocated time or you wish to put this function on hold, just get in contact with one of the team via the support button and we will help you out.

Support and full FAQs

If you need any help with a course, be it one you’ve started already, or one you are looking to purchase, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our Support email address, or view the full FAQ’s here.

You can also use the orange speech bubble on your page to start a conversation with us.

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Awards and accreditations