Garden design is both an art and a science, blending creativity with practicality to create outdoor spaces that are beautiful, functional, and sustainable with a strong focus on the right plant choices and hard-landscaping materials. However, learning the ins and outs of garden design can feel daunting—especially if you’re new to plants/horticulture, drawing up scaled plans, technical specifications or dealing with client requirements. How to learn garden design is almost a skill in itself.
Becoming a garden designer is not a profession you fall into by accident. It takes training and plenty of experience to become qualified and competent. Thankfully, there are plenty of affordable ways to learn garden design, depending on your training budget and time availability.
In this blog, I’ll explore the most cost-effective methods for learning garden design, from in-person classroom courses to online design courses, whilst sharing my top tips for success and highlighting why investing in the right resources can save you time and money in the long run. I'm a prime example of how to retrain as a garden designer and do rather well. So this article will give you my honest opinion to prevent you from falling into expensive traps or wasting your valuable time, dear aspiring garden designer.
Let’s dig in!
Training to become a garden designer is an utterly fantastic, creative, and sometimes scientific process. However, it's not the dreamy, Instagram-worthy, lush life that you may see on TV. I've written this guide to give you the warts and all account of how to learn garden design and also what to watch out for. Starting a new career as a garden designer or horticulturalist is exciting but incredibly hard, both in terms of learning and the awfully low wages paid in our profession.
I'm sometimes known as a 'career change garden designer', compared to those who came straight out of A-levels and went into garden design (which there are very few of). To be honest, nearly all the garden designers I know are career changers later in life.
For some reason, it's become a prefix for us, which I don't really agree with. I think maybe the old hierarchy of horticulture and landscape architects use it to try and separate us. Take my experience and ignore the term just like you would if you switched from being a project manager to a coffee shop owner; you don't need a 'career changer' moniker to make you feel less capable than those who have done it forever.
I've been a gardener since I was a child but never considered it a viable career (and if I'm honest, there are plenty of easier ways to make a living, but it is my passion). After many years in a highly paid but highly stressful IT job, I started to move into this career change to follow my true passion for design and plants. My eyes were open to the difficulties of earning a living and retraining as a garden designer, having spoken to a few. I chose to study part-time at Edinburgh Botanical Gardens on their distance courses so I could continue working as well. Sadly, online training didn't exist back then, or I would have been all over that as an option. I also volunteered A LOT for other designers, helping out at shows and on jobs. It was a graft to say the least.
I started at the very bottom. I worked nonstop, took every opportunity and smiled even when clients paid me in cake, brews or goodwill as a new designer. All to get enough experience and confidence to then move into properly paid garden design. Below is me on my very first show, garden beaming, after all the hard work had started to pay off.
Serendipitously, around the same time as I started charging for my design work I was fortunate enough to win an RHS and BBC Garden Design competition to create a show garden (see above), the design world called and I jumped at the chance to see where this creative journey would take me and the rest, as they say, is history!
This article is based on my experience, so you can see how I got to my position as one of the UK's most infamous garden designers (the mainstream media's title, not mine). I don't want to put anyone off from this fantastic career in learning how to garden design, but being honest about the challenges will make you a better designer and business person, as the two things certainly go hand in hand. I give some advice at the bottom of this article on how to actually make money as a garden designer.
This article will show you the various means of learning garden design and becoming a garden designer, whether this is just for pleasure, recreation (e.g., designing for friends), or turning your new skills into a garden design business.
Let's jump in with the first type of learning, in-person classes and courses.
For some people, classroom courses 'in person' meet their best needs, especially for people who learn better in a group of other students. These courses often run either as full-time courses, a bit like levels or degree educational courses or more often as part-time, weekend or evening courses spread out over a few years. I recommend classroom courses if you have the resources and time, as they give you in-depth knowledge. Still, they are also not available to everyone, especially with budget or time constraints.
For some students, learning garden design in a classroom setting is the best way to go. Others benefit from being with a group of other students in a more formal, structured setting. Let me explain the benefits of paying for a classroom-taught garden design course.
Immediate Feedback: In-person courses allow garden design students to ask questions and receive instant, tailored feedback from experienced design instructors. There's no waiting or ambiguity for the answer. Often, tutors will have their own portfolio of work to show examples of good garden design practices.
Mentorship Opportunities: Engaging face-to-face with garden design tutors and experts often builds rapport. These design experts can usually offer guidance and career advice and may help open up doors to gardening opportunities.
Comprehensive Curriculum: Classroom courses often follow a well-organized schedule covering essential aspects of garden design, including design principles, planting, and project management.
Time Commitment: A set timetable ensures consistent progress and helps students stay on track. It also gives structure to your garden design training, especially if you have struggled to stay focused on self-learning in the past.
Fewer Distractions: Learning in a classroom helps students stay focused, compared to the potential distractions of at-home learning.
Accountability: Regular attendance fosters discipline and accountability, leading to higher completion rates.
Potential Practical Experience: Some in-person courses include drafting plans, using design software, and creating real-life mock-ups, as well as site surveys and garden visits. This can help build experience and confidence with garden design training.
Access to Tools and Resources: On-site learning provides access to professional-grade tools, equipment, and studio spaces, which can often be expensive to license when you're starting out as a garden designer. So, accessing tools like Sketchup, Vector Works, or Adobe Photoshop on a university license can help you determine which tool is best for you without the immediate investment of licensing it yourself.
Networking with Trainee Designer: Garden Design Students can collaborate with peers, exchange ideas, and learn from different perspectives. When I was studying, it was fascinating to look at other new garden designers' ideas, layout suggestions, and artistic flares when designing on the same plot as the same garden design brief!
Team Projects: Group work simulates real-world scenarios where trainee garden designers collaborate with clients and contractors. This can help new designers see the bigger picture and determine what they need to start their own garden design practice.
Specialised Campuses: Institutions like Kew Gardens or RHS Wisley provide access to botanic gardens, design studios, and libraries that enrich the learning experience. To put the learning into practice, when I studied at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh, the classes were often moved outside, where the principles or plant knowledge could be demonstrated first-hand. It was invaluable.
Case Studies: Some courses involve studying existing gardens or working on-site to solve design challenges. Some campuses even have trial beds for flower growing or set a design competition each year, which is then built on-site to demonstrate good garden design principles. It can be a fantastic experience to boost your confidence and real-world applications of your garden designs.
Recognized Qualifications: Many in-person courses offer industry-recognized diplomas or certifications, improving employability. The RHS Level 2, for example, is the industry standard for any 'gardening professional'. So it is a good qualification to have if you want to be employed in the field of gardening or design. Some of these are essential for finding employment. Still, others are less important, in my opinion, when finding clients (I believe a solid work portfolio, reviews, and the odd award are far more appealing to clients than academic certificates).
Preparation for Accreditation: Certain programs prepare students for memberships in professional bodies like the Society of Garden Designers (SGD). These accreditations can help provide customer proof when people are searching for a garden designer, but they can also be incredibly expensive and exclusive to join. More on that later in the article.
While in-person classroom garden design courses offer numerous benefits, they may not be suitable for everyone due to certain drawbacks. Unless you have a near-endless pot of resources at your fingertips, then these courses may prove problematic, if not impossible, for you as a new garden designer. Here are five main disadvantages:
Tuition Fees: In-person courses typically cost significantly more than online alternatives due to the resources, facilities, and staff required. This is the biggest drawback of classroom learning. Most courses will cost anywhere from £3,000 to £13,000 per year, which you then have to weigh up against the amount of work you'll get from it, that is if you even want to become a full-time garden designer.
Additional Expenses: Students often need to pay for travel, accommodation (if the course is far from home), materials, and sometimes field trips or site visits, adding to the overall cost. You'll be amazed at what lunches, coffees, and car fuel can do to your wallet when training. Remember that whilst you're training, you probably won't earn much unless employed part-time elsewhere.
Fixed Schedules: Classes are usually held at set times, making it challenging for individuals with full-time jobs, family commitments, or irregular schedules to attend. This can be difficult for people who still need to work whilst studying as it can limit your options depending on your employer. This is the biggest hurdle for most wanna-be garden designers, and it is the time needed to be in training before you can start to earn. Like any career change, it's a big decision, especially if you need to stop working while you are learning.
Location Dependency: If courses are unavailable nearby, students may have to relocate or commute, which can be inconvenient and expensive. Sadly, most garden design courses are based in London or scattered throughout the UK. So, unless you live in the capital city, you may have to travel a fair distance to study. I travelled to Edinburgh for my studies over two years, which was a considered effort with lots of sacrifices along the way to make it happen!
Full-Time Focus: Many classroom courses require significant time investment, which might be impractical for those juggling other responsibilities. For many people, giving up work and studying full-time for an uncertain career as a garden designer is just too much of a risk. This is why part-time, online and distance courses are proving much more popular, as they are less risky and allow you to carry on working in the interim. Unless you have wealthy parents or are a career changer with some money in the bank, full-time education simply isn't an option for most people. This is a real shame, as garden design is a fantastic skill to acquire in so many ways!
Slower Pace for Independent Learners: Students who can absorb content quickly might find the pace of structured classroom learning slower than self-paced online courses. They may feel stuck or held back by other students.
Restricted Resources: Unlike many online courses that offer lifetime access to lectures, videos, and materials, in-person classes often limit access to learning resources after the course ends. This is a big niggle as with any new subject matter returning to lessons and materials is key for some students to absorb the knowledge fully. Sometimes, online courses with unlimited access (like my courses) are a better alternative if you need more time as a student to absorb and internalise information.
Note-Taking Reliance: Students may need to rely heavily on their notes during lessons, increasing the risk of missing out on key details. I used to spend hours rewriting my notes and condensing my learning into cue cards which can be a good way to check your progress.
Group Dynamics: In larger classes, instructors may not have enough time to focus on students' specific needs or questions. Building rapport with your tutor is also very important, as they will pass on your knowledge and prepare you for any exams or real-life design clients you may have.
Diverse Skill Levels: Classes with mixed abilities can sometimes leave advanced learners unchallenged and beginners struggling to keep up. It depends on your learning style; some students like to be lectured, others want practical examples, and others prefer to be able to read and then digest information.
Classroom courses do obviously have their place, and I learnt a lot studying an in-person course with a distance element as I was training all those years ago. I urge you to find some form of in-person learning, especially for practical gardening skills like pruning, seed sowing, and maintenance. This is especially true if your garden design business will include maintenance. Many do to help with the winter slowdown in design work and to fill gaps if your client book becomes empty!
If you're looking to learn garden design in a classroom setting in the UK, several top-rated courses cater to different levels of experience and career goals. Here are some of the best options for studying garden design here in the UK in no particular order:
Located in London, KLC offers part-time and full-time garden design diplomas. These courses emphasize technical skills (like surveying, CAD software, and construction documentation) and creative design approaches. A unique feature is their collaborative projects with prestigious events like the Hampton Court Garden Festival, which gives students real-world exposure and the chance to create show gardens. The course also includes career workshops and portfolio guidance to help launch your career in garden design.
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) runs highly regarded courses in gardening and horticulture, ideal for aspiring garden designers looking to build foundational knowledge. These classes are available at several RHS gardens, such as Wisley and Harlow Carr, and combine theoretical lessons with hands-on experience in stunning outdoor settings.
I studied my Level 2 RHS exam as the first qualiofication I took and can;t recommend it highly enough. It gives you a solid foundation in plants, soil, garden design layouts and other considerations. In fact, I'm not sure how anyone could study garden design without having Level 2 under their belt as well, given the plant-heavy nature of the course. It will take you from knowing nothing about Latin to becoming comfortable with plant taxonomy in 1-2 years of training. Each module then has an exam to sit to at the end of it. Once you've sat and passed the exams, you know you're fully competent with the subject matter, and it's universally accepted in horticulture.
Myerscough offers a wide range of garden design and horticulture courses, catering to both beginners and professionals seeking to enhance their skills. These programs blend theoretical knowledge with practical applications delivered in a hands-on learning environment. They're a great college and I even had them feature their students on my Northern Star showgarden at RHS Tatton!
The Level 3 Diploma in Horticulture (Garden Design Focus) is an excellent starting point for those new to the field. This course typically takes 1–2 years to complete, depending on the intensity of the study. It is free for students aged 16–18, while adult learners can expect fees ranging from £1,500 to £3,000, with Advanced Learner Loans available. The program provides a strong foundation in horticulture, including essential garden design principles, plant care, and sustainable landscaping practices.
For those pursuing a professional path, the Foundation Degree (FdSc) in Landscape Design and Management offers an ideal blend of landscape theory, practical design skills, and management training. This program can be completed in 2 years full-time or 4 years part-time, with tuition fees of approximately £9,000 per year for UK students. Financial assistance through tuition loans is available.
The BSc (Hons) in Landscape Design and Management (Top-up) is designed for individuals with prior qualifications who wish to advance their expertise. This program is available as a 1-year full-time or 2-year part-time course and costs around £9,000 for UK students. It emphasizes advanced design concepts, environmental sustainability, and project management, equipping students with the skills needed to excel as professional garden designers.
These programs are taught at Myerscough’s Preston campus, which boasts excellent facilities, including ornamental gardens, greenhouses, and modern studios, ensuring a comprehensive and immersive learning experience.
The SGD maintains a list of accredited garden design programs across the UK. These courses, which meet high professional standards, are offered at universities and specialized design schools. Programs often include modules on professional practice, sustainable landscaping, and client engagement, setting you on the path to becoming a Registered Member of the Society.
The London College of Garden Design provides intensive diplomas for those with a serious interest in garden design. Courses focus on landscape design, planting schemes, and integrating environmental practices, with support from industry professionals to help graduates find work opportunities. Andrew Fisher Tomlin is an excellent chap who has been championing new designers for decades and is a brilliant tutor on this course.
All the above garden design courses vary in duration, cost, and specialization, so choosing one that aligns with your career goals and learning preferences is essential. Whether you're starting fresh or upskilling, these programs are an excellent investment in your future as a garden designer and offer a stepping stone you may need to become a fabulous, well-respected garden designer. But if you can't attend a classroom garden design course, what are your options?
Let's take a look at alternatives.
Online courses are one of the most flexible and cost-effective ways to learn garden design without giving up years of your life to a classroom schedule or risking leaving employment. They often provide in-depth tutorials, downloadable resources, and step-by-step guidance—all without the high costs of in-person workshops or private consultations. By learning garden design online, you can cut down on the high costs of classroom courses and study at your own pace. In my view, it can be a more measured and risk-free way to retrain as a garden designer at your own pace.
I'm not saying you can learn everything you need to be an amazing and competent garden designer online. However, there is a huge section of theory that you can become familiar with and then spend your resources on any gaps you may have, such as shorter courses or on-the-job work experience.
Online garden design courses are a cost-effective alternative to traditional design schools or in-person professional consultations. They typically cost a fraction of the price of formal education, making them an accessible choice for aspiring garden designers on a budget. Many online courses allow learners to pay for instalments through flexible payment solutions like Klarna or other similar services that Garden Ninja offers in his shop to make learning as affordable as possible.
For instance, with payment spread over several months, you can invest in your education without a significant upfront financial commitment. This flexibility enables you to focus on learning without the stress of immediate financial strain. Additionally, online courses often eliminate extra travel, accommodation, and materials costs, further enhancing their value.
Online garden design courses combine affordability with practical payment options, making them ideal for learners seeking high-quality, budget-friendly, and flexible education.
Studying garden design online provides unmatched flexibility, allowing you to learn at your own pace and schedule. Whether you’re balancing a busy career, family commitments, or personal projects, online courses enable you to fit lessons into your lifestyle. This means you can dive into modules in the evenings, during weekends, or even in short bursts throughout the day—whatever suits your rhythm.
Many online platforms provide pre-recorded video tutorials, downloadable resources, and live Q&A sessions, giving you control over how and when you engage with the material. This flexibility is ideal for those who may not have the time or ability to commit to fixed classroom hours. Additionally, you can revisit course content as often as needed, reinforcing your learning without pressure or deadlines.
Many online garden design courses are crafted and taught by award-winning garden designers (like myself!) who bring firsthand expertise and unique perspectives to the table. These instructors often share technical knowledge, real-world insights, and industry secrets that are difficult to find in textbooks or generic tutorials.
Learning directly from expert garden designers with proven success gives you access to creative approaches, problem-solving strategies, and tips honed through years of their practical experience in horticulture and design. Award-winning designers frequently incorporate examples from their own projects, illustrating concepts with case studies and behind-the-scenes narratives that add depth to your understanding.
This direct connection to a garden design expert ensures you gain foundational skills and the inspiration needed to approach design with a professional mindset. They have walked the walk and dealt with a myriad of garden design issues, so you can fast-track your knowledge by learning from them.
Many online garden design platforms offer lifetime access to their course materials, an invaluable benefit for learners at any stage of their journey. This flexibility allows you to revisit lessons, tutorials and design exercises as often as needed. Ensuring that key concepts are reinforced over time. Unlike traditional classroom settings where access to lectures and resources is limited to the course duration, lifetime access allows you to learn and grow at your own pace.
I offer lifetime access to my courses because I find it beneficial that you can revisit both lessons and the example designs. To this day, I still go back to some of my old notes on design from classes. I wanted to make sure my online garden design courses had this opportunity, too!
As your skills and confidence improve, revisiting these materials can help solidify foundational knowledge, refresh advanced techniques, and inspire new ideas. This feature is particularly beneficial for those who may need to pause their studies due to other commitments, as it eliminates pressure to complete everything in a set timeframe. Lifetime access essentially transforms an online course into a long-term investment, ensuring that you can continually refine and expand your garden design expertise without additional costs.
There is nothing more heartbreaking than hearing from aspiring designers who have paid £13,000 for a year of classroom training to find out after a few lectures that it may not be the career for them. Sometimes, the giddiness of change means we overlook the practicalities of career changes. No judgment here, Ninjas. This is where an online course can really save money. If you realise you actually don't want to commit to the career change, all you have lost is maybe a few hundred pounds and have learned a few things that you can use in your own garden. Rather than an educational loan or being in debt for a course you know will never repay its costs.
It's also worthwhile looking for bundles that combine multiple courses for a discounted rate. For example, my 3-Course Garden Design Online Bundle is a comprehensive, budget-friendly option for those wanting to master garden design at an affordable price.
Another often under-utilised way to learn garden design is through online video guides and tutorials. Platforms like YouTube also offer a treasure trove of free garden design tutorials if you know where to look and check the accreditations or qualifications of the designers on there. There’s no shortage of content to explore, from basic concepts to advanced techniques.
Free content is always the most 'cost-conscious' method of learning garden design, but it is also the most hit-and-miss. Finding the right videos, with the correct design principles and qualified instructors, can be a bit of a minefield. If you do want to learn garden design via YouTube, then here are some tips.
Search for beginner-friendly videos on topics like garden layout, plant selection, and soil preparation. Use the chapters in garden design books to hep give some structure to your learning as you will soon get lost in the world of horticulture down plant and design rabbit holes!
Stick to reputable channels with expertise in garden design (like my Garden Ninja YouTube channel!) to ensure you’re getting accurate and practical advice.
Use free tutorials to complement paid courses, filling in gaps or reinforcing what you’ve learned, but I would urge caution that any well-structured course will help keep you on the right track of learning the right concepts in the correct order. The risk with YouTube is you end up down a rabbit hole of content, learning bits and bobs but never being able to fully connect the learnings into true design.
While free resources are invaluable, they often lack structure. Combining them with a more organized learning method can help you progress faster.
Books remain one of the best ways to dive deep into garden design theory and techniques. Whether you prefer physical copies or e-books, there’s a wealth of affordable options to choose from, which, unlike online videos, have a solid structure in the table of contents to follow.
Beginner garden design books can help you learn the basics of design by providing solid examples of design work and planting. The big difference between books and garden design courses is that the books simply inform you of the principles without checking your knowledge. Classroom or online garden design courses have assessments and quizzes to ensure you have fully learnt the fundamentals.
These assessments or quizzes can show you gaps in your knowledge where you need to go back and learn more. Books will never give you this feedback and can leave you feeling like you know what you're doing, only to come unstuck when you hit the design board or try to hold your first client consultation! There are a number of fantastic beginner garden design books that can supplement your learning in a classroom or online course. Here are a few that I have used over the years (links are affiliate, so if you choose to buy them, I receive a small kickback).
Below are some of the books that I still lean on in times of creative drought or when I need a bit of reassurance with a garden design problem or pickle that's keeping me awake at night. I'd highly recommend you ready them or even try and reserve them from a library if you're on a tight budget.
In no particular order has each of these books proven invaluable for my students and me over the years.
Learning garden design from social media influencers can seem appealing—they’re relatable, accessible, and often present beautifully crafted gardens that inspire creativity. However, this is where garden design learning can come quickly unstuck as influencers and content creators are often pushing content for engagement rather than true education. The biggest risk is that you take their words or examples as gospel, and they simply don't work in the real world of garden design, so they need to be taken with a pinch of salt. I've included the following detail below to make you aware of the pitfalls.
Relying solely on influencers for education, whether that be on TikTok or Instagram, can come with several challenges. This approach may not always be the best path to mastering garden design, and in my experience, I wouldn't use social media influencers to build your garden design knowledge in the first instance unless they have a credible garden design CV to back it up. Always watch the guides or reels with a pinch of salt due to the following niggles with influencer learning in garden design.
Influencers often focus on aesthetic appeal rather than the in-depth principles of garden design. While they might share tips and trends, their content is typically curated for entertainment or inspiration, not for teaching. This can leave you without a strong foundation in essential skills like site analysis, sustainable practices, and plant science.
Most influencers cater to a broad audience, meaning their advice may lack the specificity needed for your garden’s unique conditions. What works for their climate, soil, or style may not be practical for your own garden. They also may base their 'advice' on their learned experience but do not have the scope for the fundamental principles of garden design or horticulture. I.e. trial and error gardening, which, whilst important, should not be the basis for your design training at a professional level. The end result is that influencer garden design short guides may not give a positive result when you try to replicate them, or worse, they may simply be made-up tips for clicks.
Social media platforms are saturated with differing opinions and advice, making it hard to discern which tips are credible or compelling. Influencers might prioritize popular trends over timeless design principles, potentially leading to poor long-term results.
Unlike structured courses, influencer content usually doesn’t offer personalized feedback or one-on-one guidance. This can hinder your progress, as there is no expert available to correct mistakes or answer specific questions.
While social media posts can inspire quick ideas, they often lack the depth needed for real skill-building. True garden design requires understanding concepts like proportion and symmetry and how to create a garden that evolves beautifully over time. Many influencers are paid to promote products, which can skew their recommendations. This might lead you to invest in tools, plants, or materials that aren’t the best fit for your project.
Volunteering with professional garden designers is a fantastic way to complement your formal training and gain real-world experience in garden design. I can't speak highly enough about my time with multiple expert garden designers on jobs or on their show gardens at RHS shows. You will learn far more on the job than you ever will in a course, and this is where you can place your formal knowledge from courses in action in the real world. Here’s why this approach is invaluable for knowing how to learn garden design:
Volunteering puts you directly into the world of garden design, where you can observe how professional designers plan, execute, and manage projects. Unlike theoretical lessons, you'll experience challenges such as unpredictable weather, client expectations, and site-specific issues, giving you a practical understanding of the industry. These experiences enrich your classroom learning by showing how concepts like spatial planning and planting design work in practice. They can also give you a real-world idea of what having your own garden design business is like.
By assisting a professional garden designer, you'll likely encounter a range of garden styles and scales, from small urban spaces to sprawling country landscapes. This variety broadens your perspective and helps you identify the types of projects you enjoy most. You'll also see how professionals tailor their designs to suit different clients and settings—an essential skill for success.
Volunteering allows you to build relationships with industry professionals and other volunteers, which can lead to future job opportunities or mentorship. I have met so many people through helping garden designers show gardens, and it really is a fast track to building this essential business network. These connections often open doors that courses alone cannot, especially when you're just starting in the field. Building a reputation for being reliable and enthusiastic can help establish you as a promising talent and get your face seen (having a mohawk can help, too!).
Professional garden designers juggle more than just creativity—they handle client relations, budgeting, and project management, too. Volunteering gives you a glimpse into these aspects, rarely covered in depth in training courses. Understanding the business behind the design prepares you to run your own practice one day or to work out whether you would prefer to be employed by a larger garden design consultancy as an employee rather than the risk of self-employment.
From planting techniques to material sourcing, volunteering allows you to get your hands dirty and refine practical skills. I learnt a lot about plant combinations from gold-medal winning garden designers and show gardens. It helped me bulk up my plant knowledge when I first started out. I acted like a sponge for all this new learning while volunteering. Watching experienced designers problem-solve on the spot provides valuable lessons in decision-making and adaptability, ensuring you’re better prepared for real-world challenges.
While free resources such as online free garden design templates are valuable, investing in a well-structured course or book can save you money in the long run. Poor planning or lack of knowledge can lead to costly mistakes, such as:
My final thoughts are that you need a mix of some classroom and then some online training to give you a well rounded knowledge of garden design. In my experience this is the perfect blend without you needing to run into potential debt, give up years of your life or take risks. By learning the fundamentals of garden design affordably, you’ll gain the skills to create a stunning garden without the trial-and-error expense.
In addition to this starting with an online course in garden design could allow you to temperture check whether this is the career for you. It may even lead you to other areas of horticulture such as garden maintenance, arbourism (tree management), floristry or even becoming a garden tutor yourself!
If you want to start your journey to learn to train as a garden designer as a career, then my Garden Design for Beginners Course is here to help!
This course offers step-by-step guidance from me, Lee Burkhill—award-winning garden designer and presenter on BBC1’s Garden Rescue. In this course, you’ll go from a garden design novice to a confident designer equipped to tackle any green space.
Enrol now for just £199 and start your journey toward garden design mastery!
Garden Design Examples for Small Gardens: 30 Design Templates & Planting Plans: In this online gardening course, I'll walk you through 30 fantastic garden designs, explaining the logic behind the layout, the plant choices, and take-home tips for applying them in your own garden.
Learn how to transform and design your own garden with Lee Burkhills crash course in garden design. Over 5 hours Lee will teach you how to design your own dream garden. Featuring practical design examples, planting ideas and video guides. Learn how to design your garden in one weekend!
Garden Design for Beginners Online Course: If you want to make the career jump to becoming a garden designer or to learn how to design your own garden, this is the beginner course for you. Join me, Lee Burkhill, an award-winning garden designer, as I train you in the art of beautiful garden design.
Hopefully, This article has given you plenty of food for thought when learning garden design. Whether through a classroom-based course or online resources, choosing the learning method that best suits you is most important. Whether this is due to time constraints, budget, or personal preference, take your learning slow and steady. You can't rush the garden design experience, so try to enjoy the study process. You will also find many gems along the way when training to become a garden designer that will pique your interest.
Lastly, you will never learn everything about garden design or plants, and that is the beauty. Everyone specialises; the gardening community is a fantastic resource for sharing its combined knowledge. So if you don't know something, find someone who does, and most of the time, they will be willing to help share that gardening knowledge.
If you liked this article, why not check out my social media, where you can Tweet, Facebook, or Instagram me? Why not visit my YouTube channel for garden design hints and tips? I'd love to hear from you!
Happy Gardening!
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