Landscape Design Basics for Homeowners

Landscape Design Basics for Homeowners: Entry or Deck/Patio Gardens

Five sessions: Mondays Feb. 5, 12, 19, 26 and March 5; 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Deadline for registration: February 1, 2018
Cost: $149 members ($249 per member couple); $159 nonmembers ($259 per nonmember couple). Price includes 15 hours of instruction, a comprehensive course packet, lab materials, and a set of basic landscape design tools plus snacks, coffee / tea.
Location: University of Minnesota (St. Paul Campus); 405 Alderman Hall (Department of Horticultural Science), 1970 Folwell Avenue, St. Paul.

Do you dream about having a beautiful home landscape or have a specific landscape project in mind, but don't know how to get started? Whether professionally designed or not, it's fair to say most landscapes start out with good intentions. This five-session workshop is your opportunity to learn the theory and basic principles of sustainable landscape design, and how to avoid some common mistakes. This comprehensive class curriculum allows participants to use their own property as a class project focused on designing an entry garden or a deck and/or patio garden, or similar landscape space.

The workshop focuses on the landscape design process including how to perform a site survey and site analysis (including how to collect a soil sample and complete a landscape needs assessment), base plans, concept lines and concept plans, draft and completed designs, site-specific plant selection, and landscape installation. Participants will also learn how to develop quality bed lines, how to properly mix and match plants based on function and landscape characteristics when designing landscape beds, and how to build flexibility into the landscape design and implementation process. Each workshop session will culminate in a hands-on, take-home assignment that will allow participants to put pencil to paper and apply the techniques learned to their personal landscape project in preparation for the next class and the next steps in the landscape design sequence. The workshop will also include time for personalized critiques of your ideas during the second, third, fourth and fifth sessions as you develop your designs. The instructors are looking forward to helping you make your landscaping dreams a reality.

Instructors: Julie Weisenhorn, University of Minnesota Extension horticulture educator, and Jim Calkins, landscape horticulturist and former landscape design and management instructor at the University of Minnesota.