Start Date
06/02/2018
End Date
06/09/2018
Description
Make your landscape more ecologically sound by implementing a variety of sustainable gardening and landscaping techniques. Learn how to manage and conserve water using rain gardens, bio-swales, and rain barrels; reduce the demands of lawn care by adding meadow areas; and increase your energy savings with strategically placed layered plantings. Develop your garden as an ecosystem that supports a diverse population of beneficial wildlife and creates healthy, natural habitats.
Claudia West: Claudia is the Ecological Sales Manager at North Creek Nurseries. Her work is centered on the development of stable, layered planting designs. She strives to bring American native plants back into our landscape by making them widely acceptable. Claudia co-authored with Thomas Rainer, Planting in a Post-Wild World, published in 2015.
Susan Barton, PhD: Sue is an extension specialist and associate professor in the Plant and Soil Sciences Department at the University of Delaware. Along with partners, she developed the Plants for a Livable Delaware program and in 2007 received the Ratledge Award for service from the University of Delaware.
Agenda
Day 1
9:45 – 10: Registration
10 – 11: Lecture: Water Management in Gardens; Rain Barrels, Rain Gardens, Bioswales, and Stormwater Prevention Planting
11 – 11:10: Short Break
11:10 – 11:40: Lecture continued
11:40 – 12:00: Tour of Rain Garden
12:00 – 12:30: Lunch Break
12:30 – 2:30: Student Design Exercise
2:30: Class Dismissal
Day 2
9:45 – 10: Registration
10 – 11: Lecture: Sustainable Landscape Techniques emphasizing creating and maintaining meadows and landscape beds that support ecosystem services found in a natural environment.
11 – 11:10: Short Break
11:10 – 12: Lecture continued; base plan provided
12 – 12:30: Lunch Break
12:30 – 1:30: Tour of Meadow
1:30 – 2:25: Base plan project and discussion
2:25 – 2:30: Questions, Evaluations, Plant Giveaways, and Dismissal
Location
Hockessin, DE
Distance Learning
No
Course Equivalency
No
Subjects
Horticulture / Plants
Sustainable Development & Design
Health, Safety and Welfare
Yes
Hours
7.50
Learning Outcomes
1. Learn how to incorporate sustainable practices into the landscape.
2. Have an understanding of the role of water in the landscape and why water management is critical.
3. Understand the basic elements of designing rain gardens and bioswales and utilizing rain barrels.
4. Learn sustainable landscape techniques and strategies that reduce mowing, minimize lawns, save energy and lower maintenance costs.
5. Learn how to reduce water usage in the landscape.
6. Find out how to become carbon neutral.
7. Understand the value and role of native plants in the landscape.
8. Learn how to use windbreaks and hedgerows.
Instructors
Claudia West; Susan Barton, PhD.
Course Codes
GAR 302
Provider
Mt. Cuba Center