HOME STUDY - GARDEN DESIGN & LANDSCAPING CERTIFICATE
This is a course which both develops the students design skills, as well as basic knowledge in other areas of concern to the landscaper (eg. horticultural practices, management, plant identification and use, and marketing).
This is a great foundation Course -the first substantial step toward a career as a Garden Designer. If your focus is squarely on design, this is a better course than Certificate in Horticulture -Landscape & Garden Design (which leans a bit more to horticulture and as such may be more appropriate for a garden contractor/designer)
To obtain the Certificate in Garden Design, you must complete all assignments (including a special assignment); sit for (and pass), two 1.5 hour examinations: one at the end of the first 15 lessons; the other on completing the final 15 lessons.
The aim of the course is to lead you through a learning experience. Every student will interpret the guide differently and be led differently. Your tutor will be monitoring your progress through the assignments, so if you miss anything he/she will fill you in.
CONTENT
There are 30 lessons are outlined as follows:
- Introduction to Landscaping
- Plant Identification
- History of Gardening
- Drawing Plans
- Soils & Nutrition
- Understanding the Environment
- Earthworks & Surveying
- Basic Landscape Construction
- Surfacings
- Garden Structures
Park Design- Home Garden Design
- Costing & Specifications
- Trail Design
- Tools & Machinery
- Plant Establishment Techniques
- Ponds & Pools
- Rockwork & Masonry
- Lawn Construction Techniques
- Irrigation Design & Installation
- Bush Garden Design
- Cottage Garden Design
- Playground Design
- Garden Bed Design
- Management
- Land Rehabilitation
- Drainage
- Maintenance
- Dealing with Clients
- Major Design Project
AIMS
- Discuss the principles Garden Design.
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Develop a foundation for systematic identification of plants and systematic determination of cultural requirements.
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Develop an awareness of different styles of gardening, principally through the study of the history of gardening.
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Develop the basic skills of landscape drawing as well as developing a basic understanding of contracts and specifications.
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Identify soil conditions appropriate for a garden design.
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Identify and properly account for environmental conditions within a garden design.
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Determine earthworks required for a garden design.
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Consider the relationship between design and construction when designing a garden.
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Determine appropriate surfacing for different gardens
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Determine appropriate garden structures for a garden.
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Evaluate the functionality of a park design.
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Evaluate the design of a home garden.
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Develop an appreciation for the impact that design can have on the cost of a garden.
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Discuss the functionality and design of surfaced areas in a garden or park, including paths, trails and sporting facilities.
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Discuss the scope and nature of tools used to landscape gardens.
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Discuss ways that plants may be better established.
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Discuss the design of water gardens
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Discuss the use of Rock, Stone, Brick and Concrete in garden designs.
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Discuss the appropriate use of lawns in garden designs.
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Discuss the appropriate use of irrigation in garden designs
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Discuss the design of natural gardens.
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Discuss the design of cottage gardens.
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Discuss the design of children's play areas.
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Discuss the design of garden beds.
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Identify Management skills required to be a commercially viable garden designer.
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Explain methods of rehabilitation of degraded landscapes.
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Explain methods of dealing with drainage problems in a garden design
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Discuss the relationship between garden design and maintenance.
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Explain how a garden designer should successfully deal with clients.
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Prepare a significant garden design.
DURATION: 600 hours
EXAMPLES OF TASKS UNDERTAKEN IN THIS COURSE
The following are only some of the activities you may undertake in this course.
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Find a site to be landscaped. (It could be a park or home garden; it could be a new development or a redevelopment of an older garden). Visit the site and record pre planning information required to design the landscape.
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Find examples of the use of landscape principles. Using sketches and written descriptions, describe the way the garden has been laid out in order to achieve those particular effects.
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Find gardens which represent different styles. Submit a photograph or sketch plan of each along with a half page written description of the style of the garden. Explain any historical influences, including the influence of those who build to owned the garden. The gardens may be gardens you have actually visited, or can be gardens you have seen in a magazine or book.
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Copy the drawings of symbols (ie. drawings which show you how to represent plants, walls, rocks, etc. when you draw plans). Practice drawing these various components of a landscape.
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Using the pre-planning information collected, produce a design for that area. or part of that area.
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Take a sample of soil and attempt to name it using the test given.
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Obtain components of potting or soil mixes; make up different mixes and test their characteristics.
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Survey an area requiring earthmoving. Draw a plan of the area, to scale, showing the area to be excavated. Calculate the volume of earth to be removed. Calculate where it is to be put.
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Find, observe & report on some bad landscape construction work. (You might discuss a poor rockery, a wall which is falling over, or some playground equipment which is unsafe.)
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*Find three examples of bad selection of surfaces in a landscape (ie. home garden, park, sports oval, tennis court or whatever). Describe the material used and explain why they are bad. Consider both the aesthetic and functional qualities of the surfacing.
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Develop a redevelopment plan for an existing park. Submit a photograph of the park as it exists at the moment (otherwise submit a rough sketch). Prepare a design for redevelopment in line with the suggested changes.
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Choose an established home garden (your own or a friends), and draw a sketch plan as the garden exists. Explain how well do you think this garden is designed?
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Find another home garden, needing either a new design or redevelopment. Prepare four rough sketches showing the stages you would go through in designing or redesigning that particular garden.
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Develop a detailed explanation of how you prepared your costing in the set task. Show the various components of the costing and explain how and why you costed it this way rather than higher or lower.
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Design a trail. It can be any type of trail (fun & fitness, nature, history, etc.) and may be located anywhere (a street, park, home garden, etc).
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Find and visit some recently landscaped gardens. Visit up to three different properties. Take note of any problems with the maintenance. Consider what could have been done to prevent these problems occurring.
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Design a perennial border along the front wall of a brick house
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Prepare a plan for the establishment of a large number of trees in a degraded area. You should indicate clearly what the problem is and how you are going to use the trees to help rehabilitate the area.
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Design a water feature (eg. a pond or creek bed) for a bush or natural garden. Submit plans and a step by step description showing how you would construct such a water feature.
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Design a rockery area for a natural garden.
- Design a natural style garden using mainly ferns, for a small courtyard of specified dimensions.
Study Options Explained:
- Correspondence -Here we supply your course as printed materials, sent via the mail or courier.
- Online -Here we provide access to the course on line (While you are connected to the internet). The online option supplies you automated self assessment tests in addition to course notes (not available with the correspondence option) .
- E Learning -Here the course is sent to you on CD. It is identical to the online version (with self assessment tests), but you don't need to be connected to the internet to access course notes (so you can save on internet charges, and often access is faster).
Note: If you want printed notes, but choose the online or e learning options; you can print copies of pages as required from the electronic files. Assignments may be submitted by online submission, email or snail mail.
Understanding Landscape Design
A landscape consists of both living and non living things. These are the components of the landscape.
Examples of non living components might be rocks, gravel paths, timber, walls etc. These non living components can be looked on in two ways:
- as the materials which they are made up of; and
- as the structures or things which the materials are used to make.
The living components of the landscape are the plants (and perhaps the animals which inhabit it). A landscape is made good or bad by the way in which these components are both selected and are arranged together.
The landscape is constantly changing, and a good designer must foresee and account for changes which are likely to occur. Plants grow, flower and die. Wooden structures rot and metal ones rust. Earth can erode. The garden continually changes through the cycle of the season. A skilled landscape designer will not only be aware of, but will use these changes.
Principles
The basic principles of landscape design are those things which influence the way in which the components are used. For example, the over-riding principle in Chinese gardens is unity - between rocks, plants and water. For Le Notre, a famous 17th Century French designer, a very important principle was that of symmetry, while for Capability Brown, an influential 18th century English landscaper, the most important principle was for landscapes to be natural in appearance.
Ground form, structures and plants all need to be organised into a pleasing composition of spaces to satisfy the principles chosen by the designer with an emphasis to suit the client.
