Beneficial Insects in the Garden | Dr. Ryan Gott

Tues., Sept. 28 | 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

$20 members | $25 non-members

In-person at Phipps Garden Center in Mellon Park [Please note new location]

Objective: To be able to recognize and support beneficial insects in your garden.

Level: Beginner to Intermediate

Pre-requisite: None

The vast majority of insects around your home are actually a great benefit to you and your garden. Beneficial insects fill a wide variety of roles, but here we will focus on the natural enemies that help manage pests. In this course we will explore who these helpful insects are, how they help, and how you can support them. We will also discuss how harnessing these helpers enhances the sustainability of your yard as part of your surrounding natural system. Sustainable Horticulture, Landscape and Garden Design, and Native Plant Landscapes elective. This course has been approved for 2.0 CEUs by LACES.

COVID note: Class sizes will be limited to allow for adequate social distancing during class. Masks are required for all guests attending in-person classes. Phipps closely monitors changing guidelines and may need to make adjustments to this class or our requirements to ensure a safe student experience.

Client Communication: Talk to Prospective Clients about Transitioning to New, Organic and Sustainable Gardening Practices | Panel Discussion

Sept. 30 | 7 – 8 p.m.

In person, held at Phipps Garden Center in Mellon Park [Please note new location]

Free 

Are you having trouble communicating to customers and potential clients about the benefits of using sustainable practices? Do you want to learn more strategies for sharing your interest in Sustainable Landcare? Hear from four experts in the field and learn new techniques for promoting your organic landcare business. 

This event is intended for Sustainable Landcare Accredited professionals and aspiring small landscape business owners, those who want to build up their customer base. Panel Discussion members will include local landscapers: Meg Graham, John Totten, Linda Kramer and Keith McNeish.

Note: Class sizes will be limited to allow for adequate social distancing during class. Masks are required for all guests attending in-person classes. Phipps closely monitors changing guidelines and may need to make adjustments to this class or our requirements to ensure a safe student experience.

Landscape Graphics | Michele McCann

Mondays: Oct. 4, 11, 18, 25, Nov. 1 and 8 | 7 – 9 p.m.

$225 members | $245 nonmembers

Phipps Garden Center in Mellon Park

Objective: To be able to use basic freehand and drafting techniques to produce legible drawings of landscapes

Level: Beginner to intermediate

Prerequisite: This course is the prerequisite to Landscape Design I – IV

In the field, designers rely on graphics to develop and communicate ideas. Working with pencil, practice freehand and mechanical drawing techniques while learning about lettering, sheet layout, title blocks, concept drawing, colored renderings and presentation plan graphics. Landscape and Garden Design Certificate core course

COVID note: Class sizes will be limited to allow for adequate social distancing during class. Masks are required for all guests attending in-person classes. Phipps closely monitors changing guidelines and may need to make adjustments to this class or our requirements to ensure a safe student experience.

Sustainable Landcare Book Club Discussion: Braiding Sweetgrass | Moderator: Juliette Olshock

Thurs., Oct. 7 | 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.  Eastern

$5 members | $7 non-members

Presented as a live webinar through Zoom

Join the Sustainable Landcare book club each semester to read and talk about a book that showcases new research and teachings of sustainable landcare principles and practices. Our first book is Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Join us on a heartfelt journey to reconnect with our natural world. Participants must obtain and read the book prior to the meeting in order to fully share in the discussion.

The book is available at the link above, or from The Shop at Phipps here.

From the publisher, Milkweed Editions, “As a botanist, the author has been trained to examine nature with the tools of science; as a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our teachers. Here she brings these two lenses together, showing how other living beings offer us gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices.”  Native Plant Landscapes Certificate elective

Landscape Graphics | Michele McCann

Thursdays: Oct. 7, 14, 21, 28, Nov. 4, 11 | 7 – 9 p.m. 

$225 members | $245 nonmembers

Phipps Garden Center in Mellon Park

Objective: To be able to use basic freehand and drafting techniques to produce legible drawings of landscapes

Level: Beginner to intermediate

Prerequisite: This course is the prerequisite to Landscape Design I – IV

In the field, designers rely on graphics to develop and communicate ideas. Working with pencil, practice freehand and mechanical drawing techniques while learning about lettering, sheet layout, title blocks, concept drawing, colored renderings and presentation plan graphics. Landscape and Garden Design Certificate core course

COVID note: Class sizes will be limited to allow for adequate social distancing during class. Masks are required for all guests attending in-person classes. Phipps closely monitors changing guidelines and may need to make adjustments to this class or our requirements to ensure a safe student experience.

A Piet Oudolf Story | Deborah Chud

Tues., Oct. 19 | 7 – 8 p.m. Eastern

$20 members | $25 non-members

Presented as a live webinar through Zoom

Objective: To be better able to implement Oudolfian design principles in your home garden.

Level: Beginner to Advanced

Pre-requisite: None

A Piet Oudolf Story is a personal introduction to the design principles of the leading naturalistic landscape and garden designer in the world, Piet Oudolf. Deborah Chud’s five years of research on Oudolf’s gardens led to her own Oudolfian garden and the only known database of his plant combinations. Her talk is part memoir, part history and part design theory — with some practical Oudolfian “dos and don’ts” for gardeners at every level. Sustainable Horticulture, Landscape and Garden Design, and Native Plant Landscapes Certificate elective. This course has been approved for 1.0 CEUs by LACES.

Planning for Fall Color | Leslie Kaplan

Tues., Oct. 26 | 7 – 9 p.m.

$25 members | $30 non-members

Phipps Garden Center in Mellon Park

Objective: To be familiar with the plants that add fall interest to the garden

Level: Beginner to intermediate

Pre-requisites: None

Don’t let your garden’s interest fade as the weather cools. Fill your garden with plants that will offer color, texture and other interest to help your garden look its best in the beautiful fall season. Sustainable Horticulture and Landscape and Garden Design elective. This course has been approved for 2.0 CEUs by LACES.

COVID note: Class sizes will be limited to allow for adequate social distancing during class. Masks are required for all guests attending in-person classes. Phipps closely monitors changing guidelines and may need to make adjustments to this class or our requirements to ensure a safe student experience.

History of Landscape Design | Joshua Beblo

Mondays: Nov. 15, 22 and 29, Dec. 6, 13 and 20 | 7 – 9 p.m. Eastern

$132 members | $152 nonmembers

Presented as a live webinar through Zoom

Objective: To be able to integrate design principles with architectural styles based on landscape history knowledge

Level: Beginner to intermediate

Prerequisite: None

A garden’s form and the sense of place it creates can only fully be understood by studying the culture and individuals who brought it into existence. Learn to apply knowledge of garden history in evaluating today’s materials and spaces. Landscape and Garden Design Certificate core course; Sustainable Horticulture Certificate elective. This course has been approved for 6.0 CEUs by LACES.

Rain Garden Design for Homeowners | Evan Burbridge, Upstream

Tuesdays: Sept. 14, 21, 28 | 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. Eastern

$66 members | $76 nonmembers

Presented as a live webinar through Zoom with optional walking tour

Objective: To be able to design a small residential rain garden for your home

Level: Intermediate

Prerequisite: None

Materials: graph paper (quadrille or ¼” engineering graph paper), circle template or compass, ruler. Materials will not be needed until class session 2, so instructor can provide clarification in the first session. 

*Virtual class sessions will be recorded and made available to pre-registered students within 1 week of each class session. Videos will be viewable for one month from receipt.

Learn how rain gardens positively impact the environment and how to implement your own rain garden project. You will be guided through the process, from site selection, stormwater runoff calculations, plant selection and aesthetic considerations. Step-by-step creation of a rain garden plan drawing for your site and the installation process will also be covered. Please note: some properties may not have suitable space available for a rain garden. Sustainable Horticulture, Landscape and Garden Design certificate elective. This course has been approved for 6.0 CEUs by LACES.