Cottage Garden Design

Lesson Structure

There are 8 lessons in this course:

1. Introduction To Cottage Gardens
2. History Of Cottage Gardens
3. Design Techniques and Drawing Plans
4. Plants For Cottage Gardens
5. Planting Design In Cottage Gardens
6. Landscape Features and Components
7. Cottage Gardens Today
8. Special Assignment - Design Of A Complete Garden.

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims

• On successful completion of the course you should be able to do the following:
• Explain the concept of a cottage garden.
• Prepare concept plans for cottage gardens.
• Prepare planting designs for cottage gardens.
• Plan the incorporation of appropriate non-living landscape features in a cottage garden.
• Prepare a detailed design for a cottage garden.

What You Will Do

• Here are just some of the things you will be doing:
• Explain the concept of a cottage garden, both in historical and modern contexts.
• Explain the influence of one famous landscaper on cottage gardens.
• Explain the relevance of garden design concepts to cottage gardens, including: *Unity *Balance *Proportion *Harmony *Contrast *Rhythm *Line *Form *Mass *Space *Texture *Colour *Tone.
• Analyse the designs of three cottage gardens inspected by you.
• Describe the steps involved, accompanied by a sequence of illustrations, in the planning process for a cottage garden.
• Develop a checklist of pre-planning information required for a proposed cottage garden on a specific site.
• Compile pre-planning information for a specific site, for a proposed cottage garden, through an interview with a potential client, and surveying the site.
• Prepare drawings to represent landscape features on a cottage garden plan, including trees, shrubs, herbs, walls, rocks, buildings and other landscape features.
• Analyse the designs of three different cottage gardens, inspected by you.
• Prepare three different cottage garden concept plans for the same site, to satisfy given design specifications and pre-planning information.
• Prepare a plant collection of fifty-cottage garden plants, which includes: *A photo, drawing or pressed specimen of each plant *Plant names (scientific and common) *Cultural details *Uses/applications in garden design.
• Prepare a planting plan for a garden bed of 20 to 30 square metres in a cottage garden style, including: *A sketch plan *A plant list.
• Design a perennial border of 30 metres in length, in an appropriate cottage garden style.
• Design a 50 to 100 square metre garden bed, which incorporates companion planting principles.
• Evaluate the companion planting design in a cottage garden visited by you.
• Design a colour themed garden, such as a white garden, for an area of 200 square metres or less, to suit a proposed garden redevelopment, on a site visited by you.
• Describe briefly, different non-living features that may be included in a cottage garden, including: *Seating alternatives *Bird baths *Sun dials *Fountains *Statues
  • *Pergolas *Gazebos *Fencing *Ponds *Weather vanes.
• Determine criteria for inclusion of different landscape features in a cottage garden, including: *Gazebos *Ornaments *Arbors *Tub plants *Water features *Paths.
• Compare the characteristics, including: *Suitability for a cottage garden *Cost *Availability *Longevity *Appearance *Maintenance, of different landscape materials.
• Explain the use of plant sculpting, including topiary and hedging, in cottage garden designs; including references to: *Ways of creating it *Ways of using it *Maintenance.
• Analyse, in a report including photographs, the use of different structures as features, in the designs of two different cottage gardens, visited by you.
• Prepare three cottage garden concept plans, one each for different specified sites, which incorporate different types of features sympathetic to cottage or heritage gardens.
• Develop a brief for a cottage garden design, for the redevelopment of an established garden around an old building in your locality.
• Analyse the designs of two different well established cottage gardens visited by you.
• Compile pre-planning information for a specified cottage garden development.
• Prepare detailed plans for a cottage garden (following industry standards), including:
  • *Detailed plans *Materials lists *Costings.
• Explain the reasoning behind a cottage garden designed by you.

WHYCHOOSE US?

• Support:  communicate directly with staff . Answering you is our top priority
• Different:  if your training is different, you stand out
• Resources:  unique collection of people and intellectual property.
• Reputation: A team of a dozen university trained horticulturists led by our principal John Mason, with a 40 year career incl. author of over 50 gardening books, garden editor, landscape, nurseryman and parks director
• Flexibility:  more options for how, where, when and what you study
• Learning is top priority: what you learn changes you for life. Everything else is secondary
• Better value:   Compare our cost per study hour.
• Reliability:  Established since 1979, and being independent means we have avoided the stresses suffered by many other institutions