Getting Started with Planting Design (start anytime)

Online course

Grow your planting design skills - online, at your own pace.

This online short course offers a comprehensive introduction to planting design, ideal for amateur gardeners of all experience levels. Across 10 tutor-supported units, you'll learn how to plan your garden, select suitable plants, work with site conditions, and create visual interest throughout the year.

The course introduces a design-led approach to planting, guiding you through every stage of the process—from organising garden space and building a planting structure to developing planting schemes and making informed plant choices.

You'll explore how environmental factors influence design, examine specialised planting styles, and discover techniques for achieving year-round appeal. The course also includes up-to-date guidance on designing for wildlife and adapting to a changing climate. 

Buy course

 

Frequently asked questions

What our students say

"I am loving this short course. It is structured in a really easy to digest manner with each unit building a fuller picture of how to take careful consideration when designing with plants.

Having John's input of ideas and feedback is great. And interaction with other course students is really positive. I'm finding the forums a great way to learn from other people.

In a short space of time, I feel I have gained a lot of knowledge. I would recommend the course to anyone who wants to improve their knowledge or is wanting to redesign their garden."

"I've just had the best time on this course. Admittedly a fair weather gardener (my husband is a 'proper' gardener!), this course has really helped me explore a multitude of possibilities for our garden and opened my eyes to different ways we can alter the structure and make it our own. The online community here has been brilliant, with timely and super useful feedback from the tutor, as well as comments or likes from other students. It's been great to upload our spaces, or gardens we've visited, and you start to get a sense of the journeys that everyone is going on. A really safe place to share ideas.

More than anything, I enrolled on this course as I was going through a particularly work-heavy period in my life, and this course helped me to explore and keep a hold of my own interests, encouraging me to get outside and do something that I really enjoyed rather than stay in front of the screen at weekends. The botany short course is definitely next for me."

Explore more online short courses

Botanics Recommends

Sign-up to our newsletter