Learn the Principles of Thoughtful Garden Design
GardenStyle Course offers a web-based course on the topic of creating practical garden designs. This course covers how to outline the design of an outside area, select the right plants for the space, achieve visual balance, and make your concept come to life in a way that looks great and works well.
Select plants carefully
Learn how sunlight, soil, climate, scale, color, and season affect plant choice and location.
Plan with confidence
Learn how to evaluate your site, determine the desired use, and design your plan before making decisions about plants and features.
Design harmonious landscapes
Learn how pathways, beds, structures, texture, and focal points combine to produce a unified outdoor room.
Build Skills You Can Apply to Your Own Garden
The content of our courses is applicable to anyone from those planning a small courtyard garden through to those planning a more extensive outdoor area or wanting to update a small area of their garden.
From an Idea to a Garden Plan
Before you start selecting plants for a new garden, decide what type of garden you want, and what you want it to look like and do. How will people move through the garden? Where will they sit or linger? How should the garden change with the seasons? GardenStyle Course gives you a systematic way of thinking about these things, so that the end result will feel planned, not improvised.
Design for Every Season
Gardens are in constant flux. Plants flower and drop their leaves. Foliage grows and light levels change with the seasons. Designing a garden should incorporate these shifting elements. With a mix of plants that offer contrasting bloom times, textures, heights and shapes, you can ensure your garden looks great all year round.
What You’ll Learn
Use plant combinations
Understand the key features of different types of plants and how to pair them for suitable soil and light requirements, height, color, and bloom time.
Organize the space
How to divide a garden into distinct zones and create layouts that facilitate circulation, planting, seating, and visual appeal.
Create a unified look
Examine a variety of design styles and discover how to achieve harmony in garden design using materials, plants, features, and accents.
What Our Learners Say
“I was picking plants purely by appearance before. Now I consider the light, the space, the growth, and plant combinations. My garden is looking much better as a result.”
Aiko Tanaka
“I had tons of ideas for my garden, but couldn’t see how to bring them all together. The course gave me the tools to put it all into a plan, and helped me understand the right order of things.”
Ren Ito
“The class taught me to focus on my own garden rather than imitating someone else’s. I now have my own style and plan, which fits perfectly with my home.”
