Ecological-Based Landscape Design: Understanding Plants & Planting

Instructor: Noel Kingsbury, writer, horticultural consultant, garden designer *Note: Prior to each online, live workshop, students will be sent a link to view a one-hour, recorded presentation on each session topic. The teacher will provide additional readings and weekly assignments that will be reviewed during each of the live sessions. Classes will be recorded with online links sent to students. Overview Join this interactive learning opportunity with Noel Kingsbury, who is best known for his work in pioneering naturalistic planting design and his collaboration with Dutch garden and landscape designer Piet Oudolf. Take advantage of this rare opportunity to learn in a small class setting while benefitting from 1:1 help with your design projects. The long-term performance of plants in the landscape is poorly understood, yet this is the foundation to a successful design and garden. This three-part interactive series aims at remedying this, by helping to understand plants from an ecological perspective. This includes emphasis on predicting longevity, rates of spread and how plants interact with each other. The focus will be on perennials and grasses with some discussion of woody plants. This course is aimed at gardeners, designers and landscape professionals who want to learn effective design strategies to create innovative plans for naturalistic and environmentally friendly gardens. Session I: Plant Ecology and Landscape Plantings Plant succession affects all natural and human-made landscapes. Understanding it is key to appreciating how designed plantings perform and evolve over time. This session will analyze the parallels between the stages of succession in nature and in designed plantings that include habitats, growth cycles, weeds, changes in shade and other aspects of the garden environment. The roles of native and non-native plants will be evaluated, with a focus on invasive species and plants that take longer to establish. Session II: Plant Survival Strategies This session will focus on the effects of competitive, stress-tolerant and pioneer plants in both resource-rich and poor environments. Students will learn how ecologically based and native plantings are impacted by resource availability and habitat differences. Students will learn how plantings dominated by competitors, stress-tolerators and pioneers affect their plant selections, long-term performance, and design aesthetics. Session III: Understanding Perennials, Shrubs and Everything In-Between Reading plant forms is a way of interpreting their growth strategies and therefore their prospects for long-term performance. Students will learn about plant lifespans, vegetative strategies, the importance of clonality, and how plant architecture impacts landscape designs. How should the design process integrate these factors to create successful naturalistic plantings? We’ll cover various ecological gradients and how they affect the growth, lifespan, and environmental tolerances of plant communities.

Intended for ages Ages 18+

This event will be held at Brookside Gardens