Garden Design Diploma
Collection of 12 courses
Course Description
All Abilities
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. Garden Designs without shrubs tend to look strangely immature and lacking. 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 tells you what to choose for just about every situation in your garden, and at any time of the year.
Learning Outcome 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.
Course outline
The Role of Shrubs and How to Use Them
Caring For Your Shrubs
Hard Working Foliage Shrubs - The Foundation for Good Planting
Shrubs For Interest Throughout The Year
Choose how you want to learn
The Expert option
RecommendedDevelop your learning further with marked assignments and personal tuition from Andy McIndoe
- Start course whenever you like
- 4 weeks tutor access for personalised assignment feedback & coaching
- 4 assignments marked by Andy McIndoe
- Certificate of completion
- Online classroom with up to 20 classmates
- 4 lessons with expert videos & notes
- Group chat & direct message with tutor & classmates
- Lifetime access to videos, notes & classroom
$299The Peer option
Discover the benefits of group learning in an online interactive classroom of no more than 20 people. 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
- 4 lessons with expert videos & notes
- 4 course assignments
- Group chat & direct message classmates
- Lifetime access to videos, notes & classroom
$99
Gardening classroom - how it works
Start anytime
Watch video tutorials led by expert tutors
Test yourself
Practice what you learn with inspiring assignments
Personal tuition
Get assignment feedback from expert tutors
Share ideas
Collaborate and chat directly to classmates
Meet Andy McIndoe
We are absolutely delighted that Andy McIndoe has won a record breaking 70th consecutive Gold at The Chelsea Flower Show for Hilliers. It’s a fantastic achievement!
Andy McIndoe is our Chief Blogger, and teaches five courses on the site. Andy has over thirty years experience as a practical horticulturist and consultant. He has designed and advised on gardens of all sizes and was responsible for the Hillier Gold Medal winning exhibit at the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower for 25 years.
A regular contributor to magazines, newspapers and BBC Radio, Andy lectures widely at home and abroad. Special interests include hardy shrubs, trees, herbaceous perennials, flower bulbs, wildlife and garden design; he has authored books on all of these subjects.
A keen gardener Andy and his wife Ros have a two acre garden in Hampshire, U.K. that is open to groups by appointment. Started from scratch fifteen years ago, the garden is naturalistic in style, with an extensive wildflower meadow and informal planting. The emphasis is on foliage to provide colour and texture.
A regular contributor to magazines, newspapers and BBC Radio, Andy lectures widely at home and abroad. Special interests include hardy shrubs, trees, herbaceous perennials, flower bulbs, wildlife and garden design; he has authored books on all of these subjects.
A keen gardener Andy and his wife Ros have a two acre garden in Hampshire, U.K. that is open to groups by appointment. Started from scratch fifteen years ago, the garden is naturalistic in style, with an extensive wildflower meadow and informal planting. The emphasis is on foliage to provide colour and texture.
Frequently bought as part of this collection
From $1,499Up to $4,499 Garden Design Diploma
Master the entire subject and SAVE 2% when you buy this collection
12 Courses • 10 Expert TutorsLearn moreMaster the complete range of garden design skills from the biggest names in gardening, including landscape architects Tom Stuart-Smith and Chris Beardshaw, influential Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf and his co-writer Dr Noel Kingsbury, along with acclaimed design lecturer Annie Guilfoyle.
Whether you want a career change, or are keen to design your own garden under the watchful eye of some of the world's big names in gardening and design, this collection of courses is unrivalled in its level of expertise.
Our students at Learning with Experts say that it’s the practical elements of our courses that give them real-world insights into how they can succeed in garden design. Whether you’re hoping to upskill in an existing role or thinking of pursuing a new career in garden design, this Garden Design Diploma will give you all the skills you need to help you on your journey.
The opportunity to have the likes of Tom Stuart Smith casting his eye over your own design plans is not something that you will find anywhere else – and will give you a huge advantage as a newly qualified garden designer. The experts who are on hand to guide you through this process are at the absolute top of their game, and they are keen to help you develop your skills further by giving detailed feedback on any work you submit to the classroom.
As you progress through these courses, you will explore the principles that underpin good design and how you can apply these to your own ideas. You will tap into your creative side and be encouraged to create your own unique designs under their guidance. All aspects of the profession will be covered, including technical knowledge, artistic tendencies, planting in specific situations and skills in drafting and rendering, allowing you to create professional-quality plans with confidence.
The course is taught in our friendly and private online classroom, where you will get to know your tutor and classmates. You will have the opportunity to bounce ideas off each other, compare designs and planting plans, discuss difficulties you face and ask your tutor any questions.
You will receive 2 Continued Education Units (CEUs) for each course in this collection, which are recognised by the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD). This certification is a huge advantage in the marketplace, promoting the recognition of landscape designers as qualified and dedicated professionals.
Most importantly, you will have an enjoyable learning experience, whilst learning from highly acclaimed and trusted practising designers. Many of our students have gone on to make a hobby into a profession and now have careers in gardening or garden design all over the world.