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  chris December 27, 2016 at 8:21pm

  Same for me I've been looking but can't seem to find anything suitable to fit in with my heavy work schedule.
  I've looked at my gardening school looks interesting.
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    dan > chris December 28, 2016 at 7:15pm

    i was thinking of doing a my garden school short term specific course in jan / feb 

    be happy to let you know how it goes but im guessing thats the kind of time everyone looking to do such

    having previously done RHS based physical courses -- id say dont write off a local well taught garden design course -- they are often just one evening a week -- 2 hrs or so -- so not impossible to fit in 
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      chris > dan December 28, 2016 at 7:32pm

      Which course are you thinking of doing Dan
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        dan > chris December 29, 2016 at 10:25am

        The Piet Oudolf one -- if its good might consider the introduction to garden design one later in the year 

        I think Piet Oudolf is great -- not exactly what a lot of clients may want but the principles behind it i really agree with -- more of a personal intrest one 
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  Andrew Midgley December 28, 2016 at 11:48pm

  The best way to learn garden design is visiting NT gardens for inspiration in my opinion. Taking photos and looking at the planting plan will help you time after time.
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  Anna Walshe December 29, 2016 at 4:11pm

  Yes the Piet Oudolf course does look interesting, Trentham Gardens is my favourite garden to visit.  I was considering doing their Professional Planting Design course.

  When you google the Piet Oudolf course there are loads of comments about it being their best selling course to date, but so far I cannot find any reviews from someone who subscribed to take it.  So Dan ,if you do the course could you let me know what you thought of it!

  Yes I attended college for my RHS courses but I know that committing to attending college once a week is just not going to work for me at the moment.  

  We visited loads of national trust gardens this year and I took tonnes of photos, probably need to spend an afternoon going through them and picking out good ones to use when looking for a bit of inspiration when planning designs.  Would make quiet a nice wet day job!
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  Paul Rogers January 3, 2017 at 5:01pm

  I wanted to have a better idea of what was involved with successful garden design of small beds/borders, but didn't have the time or motivation to go to college etc so I purchased two books and a gardeners colour wheel.

  The books are:

  The Complete Planting Design Course by Hilary Thomas & Steven Wooster

  The Essential Garden Design Workbook by 2nd Edition by Rosemary Alexander

  The gardeners colour wheel I got on-line from:

  https://www.jacksonsart.com/color-wheel-company-gardener-s-color-wh... (Google them, there's loads).

  I have no intention of becoming a garden designer but find these comprehensive books indispensable for me, to dip in and out of, to understand what I need to be aware of when creating a successful planting scheme, however small or big.
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  Angela Sharp January 3, 2017 at 6:39pm

  It is a kind of reassurance that there are others who are in exactly the same position as me. It is important for many of us gardeners to have some knowledge of how to put planting schemes together, but we don't necessarily want to become a fully fledged garden designer. I'm definitely in that category. Having been on short design courses, I have realised I am a horticulturalist first, not a designer first, as we probably all are on here.

  You may feel you live too far away but I have attended a few one or two day (not consecutive) courses at RHS Wisley where they offer several design courses. Courses vary year to year a bit, but I am considering one or two of these. The courses they run are brief but insightful and run by staff from the London College of Design, and give you some good ideas of what to do. I don't know if other RHS gardens run courses.

  I have also found lots of interesting snippets on design ideas in magazines like Gardeners World which often feature design articles, and looking in your bookshop for books that appeal to you and seem to tell you what you want to know is a good idea too. A couple of years ago my husband bought me an excellent book - Garden Design Bible by Tim Newbury published by Hamlyn. Very well laid out and offers off the peg designs for types of garden - eg woodland, minimalist, contemporary, by the sea, balcony, seasonal (ie 4 seasons interest in 1 garden), mediterranean, gravel and pots, kitchen garden plus others. It also includes a suggested plant list for each type of garden, so is an excellent starting point if you want to think about just the plants for a garden, or the hard landscaping as well. Published 2004, ISBN 0 600 615415.

  I also highly recommend a Plants for Places book. I've got one by Dorling & Kindersley, and it basically gives you plant ideas for what will grow in a given situation (dry, wet, east facing wall etc). It's a very small book this one, but very fat and very useful. I also have comprehensive plant encyclopaedias so that I can look up any plant and see what conditions it likes and dislikes, and I have a small plant notebook so I can note down any plants I see that I really like (but you do have to remember to have it with you whenever you go to a garden and I'd recommend always looking up their favoured growing conditions as the ones they're in in a show garden may either be temporary or have been manipulated a bit and may not stand for being ignored in a lay person's garden!). 
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  Jane Harries January 4, 2017 at 6:13pm

  I would go for the Professional Planting Design course rather than the Piet Oudolf one, though PO's ideas are very good. Shrubs and trees need to be covered, and Piet tends to focus just on perennials and grasses. The PPD one has a wide overview (though NB I haven't done it myself, I did longer garden design courses including planting within them.)
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  Nicola Berry January 10, 2017 at 10:35am

  I agree with Andrew, garden visiting is vital - analyse whilst you're there and the TONS of photos afterwards - look at the conditions they are growing in and take note. Try to visit gardens where there are difficult/differing conditions e.g Beth Chatto's garden for drought resistant planting. Paul mentioned those two books - they are both very good. For the Oudolf angle, Planting, A New Perspective (with Noel Kingsbury) is absolutely excellent giving you a deeper understanding of how he puts plants together and why they work. I covered planting design as part of my qualification and with your RHS qualification and some book and 'field' learning, and careful research when putting plans together, I think you can skip formal learning - unless you need it as motivation.
  
  I should add to that - getting comfortable with sketching elevations to scale will help visualise what plants would look good where. Have a look at Lisa Orgler's website - www.papergardenworkshop.com - she's very talented in explaining concepts visually and has done some really good blog posts on combining plants. Nic