Garden History 100 Hours Course

There are 8 Lessons:

1 Introduction - A Revision of the History of Gardens

• Ancient Mid-Eastern Gardens
• Chinese Gardens
• UK Garden History
• Important English Landscapers
• Spanish Gardens
• Monastery Gardens
• Olmstead (Frederick Law) 1822-1902
• Burle Marx (Roberto (1909-1994)
• Australian Bush Garden
• Permaculture
• TheWorld's first plant collectors
• Where Were Plants Introduced First?
• Important Plant Explorers, Pierre Belon (1518 -1563), Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (1656 -1708), Tradescants (1600’s), Sir Hans Sloane (1660 -1653), Sir Joseph Banks (1743 – 1820)
• Reasons for studying garden history
• Scope and nature of garden conservation today

2 Development of Private Gardens

• The Earliest Private Gardens
• Sino-Japanese Gardens
• Hispano-Arabic Gardens
• Italian Gardens
• French Gardens
• English Gardens
• The English Landscape Garden

3 Development of Public and Commercial Landscapes

• The Earliest Public Gardens
• The Development of the English Park
• The Park Today
• Factors Influencing the Development of Parks
• Streetscapes and other Public Landscapes

4 Great Gardens & Gardeners of the World

• The Villa D’Este
• The Villa Lante
• Vaux-le-Viconte
• Versailles
• Stowe
• Hidcote Manor Garden

5 People who Influenced Gardens

• Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
• Joseph Furttenbach (1591-1667)
• Sir Joseph Banks (1743 – 1820)
• Edwin Beard Budding (1796-1846)
• Dr Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward
• Plant Collectors
• Frederick Mueller
• Bill Molyneaux and Roger Elliot
• Horticultural Authors and Media Presenters

6 Globalization of Gardens

• Indian Influences
• Chinese Influences
• Japanese Influences
• Eclecticism in the Nineteenth Century
• Eclecticism in the Twentieth Century
• Resurgence of the Renaissance Garden
• Influence of William Robinson and Gertrude Jekyll
• Burle Marx (Roberto (1909-1994)
• Permaculture Gardens

7 Scope and Nature of Modern Garden Conservation

• Approaches to Conservation
• Conservation
• Restoration
• Re-Creation
• Creative Conservation
• Conservation Policy: Design, Construction, Plants, Garden Spaces
• Collecting Information for Garden Conservation
• Storing Information for Garden Conservation
• Traditional Storage: Using Notebooks, Card Index, Filing Cabinets, Standing Files
• Computer Storage: Computers, Word Processing, Database Programmes, Web Authoring Programmes, Geographical Information Systems

8 The Role of Organisations in Garden Conservation

• English Heritage
• CABE Space
• National Trust
• Significance
• Integration
• Change
• Access and Engagement
• Skills and Partnership
• Accountability
• Royal Horticultural Society (RHS)
• Garden History Society
• Australian Garden History Society

The quality of this course is second to none, from the in-depth learning you will get to the expert individual mentoring you will receive throughout your studies. The mentors for this course are:

Susan Stephenson

BSc in Applied Plant Biology (Botany) Univ. London 1983.
City and guilds: Garden Centre Management, Management and Interior Decor (1984)
Management qualifications in training with retail store. Diploma in Hort level 2 (RHS General) Distinction.

Susan Stephenson is a passionate and experienced horticulturist and garden designer. She has authored three books, lectures at 2 Further and Higher Education Colleges, teaching people of all ages and backgrounds about the wonders of plants and garden design, and tutors many students by correspondence from all over the world.

Susan studied botany at Royal Holloway College (Univ of London) and worked in the trading industry before returning to her first love plants and garden design. She is therefore, well placed to combine business knowledge with horticulture and design skills. Her experience is wide and varied and she has designed gardens for families and individuals. Susan is a mentor for garden designers who are just starting out, offering her support and advice and she also writes, delivers and assesses courses for colleges, introducing and encouraging people into horticulture and garden design.

In 2010, Susan authored a complete module for a Foundation degree (FDSC) in Arboriculture.

Susan holds the RHS General with Distinction. She continues to actively learn about horticulture and plants and (as her students will tell you) remains passionate and interested in design and horticulture.

Steven Whitaker

Diploma in Garden Design (Distinction) – The Blackford Centre, Gold Certificate of Achievement in Horticulture, Level 2 NVQ in Amenity Horticulture, Level 1 NOCN Introduction to Gardening, – Joseph Priestly College, BTEC Diploma in Hotel, Catering and Institutional Operations (Merit), Trainer Skills 1, & 2, Group trainer, Interview and Selection Skills – Kirby College of Further Education

Steven has a wealth of Horticultural knowledge, having ran his own Design and Build service, Landscaping company, and been a Head Gardener. His awards include five Gold awards at Leeds in Bloom, two Gold awards at Yorkshire in Bloom and The Yorkshire Rose Award for Permanent Landscaping. Steven has worked with TV’s Phil Spencer as his garden advisor on the Channel 4 TV Programme, “Secret Agent”.

He is qualified to Level 2 NVQ in Amenity Horticulture and has a Diploma in Garden Design which he passed with Distinction. Steven’s Tutor and Mentor was the Chelsea Flower Show Gold Award-winning Garden Designer, Tracy Foster. He also works for a major Horticultural Commercial Grower in the field of Propagation and Craft Gardening. Steven lives in Leeds where he is a Freelance Garden Designer and Garden Advice Consultant.