Tropical Plants 100 Hour Certificate Course

There are 10 lessons:

1 Introduction to Tropical Plants

• What does the term ‘Tropical Plant’ mean?
• What Tropicals can you grow?
• Naming Plants: Plant Divisions, Hybrids, Varieties and Cultivars, Monocotyledons vs Dicotyledons, Plant Families
• Growing Tropical Plants - Climatic Zones: Some climatic variations
• Warm Climate Gardening: Some climatic variations
• Plant Review Worksheets: Naming the Plant, Describing the Plant, Illustrating the Plant, Plan Review Submissions

2 Plant Cultural Practices

• Basic Gardening
• Understanding Soils: Soil Texture, Naming Soils, Soil pH, Nutrient Availability and pH, Improving Soil
• Water and Plant Growth - Why Is Water Important To Plants: Symptoms of Water Deficiency, Symptoms of Water Excess, Water Loss from Soils, Improving Water Retention
• Planting The Garden: Plant Establishment Methods, Light Requirements, Mulches, Tree Guards, Common Problems, Weeds
• Plant Nutrition: The Nutrient Elements, The Micronutrients
• Deficiencies And Toxicities: Indicators of Deficiency and Toxicity
• Propagation: Sexual (seed), Asexual (vegetative), Types of Cuttings, How to take a cutting, Looking after Cuttings, Propagating Cymbidium Orchids, Cutting Propagation Mixes, How to Sow Seeds in Containers, Seed Mixes, Propagation Equipment and Materials, Simple structures for propagating plants
• Potting Mixes: How to Evaluate a Potting Mix, Different mixes are needed for different jobs, Water Repellence
• How To Pot A Plant: What Does Pot-Bound Mean?
• Taking Care Of Young Plants: Purchasing Young Plants, Planting Out, After Planting
• Pruning: Basic Rules of Pruning, Points to Consider when Pruning

3 Tropical Annuals, Perennials, Bulbous Plants, Bamboos & Lawns

• Bamboos, Grasses And Grass-Like Plants (Including Identifying markers): Some Bamboo and Grass Plants, Bamboos, Bamboo Species, Bulbs and Herbaceous Perennials (note – gingers are included in the following lesson)
• Lawns: The Benefits of Lawns, Lawn Shape and Design, Which Lawn?, Creating a Lawn, Turf Varieties Suited to Tropical and Sub-tropical Conditions, Soil Preparation for Lawns, Sowing Seed, Laying Sod, Rolling a Lawn, Watering a New Lawn, Keeping a Lawn, Scarification, Mowing, Repairing a Lawn

4 Ornamental Gingers and Heliconias (and related plants including Alpinia, Hedychium, Zingiber, Musa & Costus

• Zingiberales: Gingers
• Heliconias: Parrot’s Beak Heliconia
• Canna
• Costus
• Musacaeae

5 Cordylines, Palms & Cycads

• Palms And Palm-Like Plants (Including Identifying Markers): Self Cleaning or Not, Solitary or Clump Forming, Pinnate or Fan-shaped Fronds, Palm Encyclopaedia
• Cordylines

6 Climbers, Shrubs and Trees

• Trees And Shrubs (Including Identifying Markers)
• Conifers (Including Identifying Markers)
• Climbers (Including Identifying Markers)

7 Orchids, Ferns, Aroids and Bromeliads

• Orchids: General Guidelines for Orchid Culture, Specific Guidelines for Orchid Culture, Epiphytes
• Orchid Varieties: Cattleya, Crucifix Orchids (Epidendrum sp.), Cymbidiums, Dendrobium, Odontoglossum, Oncidium, Paphiopedilum (Slipper Orchids), Phalaenopsis (Moth Orchids), Pleione (Indian Crocus), Vanda
• Requirements For A Range Of Orchid Genera: Orchid Pests, Orchid Diseases, Orchid Viruses
• Bromeliads
• Growing Ferns: Classification, Ferns as Indoor Plants, Getting to Know Your Ferns, Some Families of Ferns, Fern Culture, More Hints, Recommended Ferns
• Aroids

8 Tropical Herbs, Vegetables and Fruit Bearing Plants Including Bush tucker, Selected Vegetables, Tea & Coffee, Tropical Fruit trees

• Growing Methods: Organic Growing, No Dig Techniques/sheet mulching, Hydroponics, Permaculture, Container Growing, Greenhouse Growing
• Plant Needs: Choosing the Right Site
• Notes On Selected Vegetables: Cucumber, Melon, Watermelon, Sweet potato, Taro
• Notes On Tropical Herbs: Galangal, Ginger, Lemon Grass, Vietnamese Mint, Coffee, Tea
• Tropical Fruit Trees: Avocado, Banana, Carambola, Coconut, Custard Apple, Guava, Fig, Paw Paw, Pepino, Macadamia, Mango, Pineapple, Passionfruit, Peanut, Pecan, Rosella
• Tropical Fruits: Tables

9 Growing Tropical Plants outside the Tropics

• Introduction
• A Review Of Some Important Indoor Plant Families: Aracea, Asteraceae, Bromeliaceae, Gesneriaceae, Orchidaceae, Liliaceae, Moraceae, Marantaceae, Piperaceae
• Problems With Indoor Plants: Potting Mixes

10 Landscaping with Tropical Plants

• Principles And Elements Of Landscape Design: Landscape Principles, The Qualities of Landscape Components, Creating Landscape Effects, The Characteristics of Garden Styles
• Pre-Planning Information: What do you want from the Garden?, Cooling Effects, Collecting Pre-planning Information
• The Design Procedure
• Producing Drawings To Scale

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

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.