Know Your Plants Courses

Know how to grow Acacias

Growing Acacias in areas outside of their natural conditions can be somewhat unpredictable and variable.

• Some have adapted well as garden plants, or as windbreak or screening plants.
• Others have become weeds when transplanted beyond their indigenous area.
• Some have other uses and a number are even farmed commercially to produce products as diverse as extracts for medicines, oil for the perfume industry, edible food products, and timber products for fencing, furniture and building construction. 

This course attempts to develop your ability to both identify and use different Acacias.

Understand the growing needs of Rhododendrons and Azaleas

Considered by many to be the very best plants a garden can offer, azaleas and rhododendrons are some of the most popular plants grown anywhere. The course shows how to grow them to perfection, and builds your knowledge of varieties available, to give you a long lasting display of colour in the garden. .

Learn to master the art of bonsai

Join the many who are learning the ancient oriental art of bonsai through this practical and comprehensive course. Eight practical lessons cover the selection of plants suited to bonsai, understanding the history and classic shapes which form the basis of the art, techniques of planting, training, pruning, watering and feeding and ways of using bonsai both indoors and outdoors. 

You will create several bonsai of your own during the course and receive constructive criticism from your tutor as they help you develop your own personal bonsai style and techniques.

Save yourself time and money by learning the correct techniques from the beginning.

Included in this comprehensive course are eight lessons each with a set task and eight assignments designed to teach you a range of bonsai styles.

For lovers of cacti and succulents this comprehensive 8 lesson course is a must

The course studies major cacti and succulent groups and the differences in how to treat plants from

Study this course and open your eyes to cultivars and applications you may not have even considered in the past.

Learn how to successfully grow carniverous plants

These fascinating plants provide entertainment and stimulation to the enthusiast.

• Covers a wide range of cultivated carnivorous plants, paying particular attention to the Pitcher Plants (Nepenthes) and Sundews (Drosera).
• Nine lessons each with a set task and nine assignments. 

Conifers are wonderful evergreen plants that add structure to our gardens

Eight lessons provide you with a systematic understanding of the way conifers are classified, show you how to identify the differences between types and develop your understanding of cultural requirements common to the whole group and differences in cultural techniques needed for specific types of conifers.

Sections of this course look in detail at trees (e.g. Pines, Cedrus, Spruce), small shrubs, medium shrubs, native conifers and rarer varieties.

A detailed look at the identification and culture of ferns

You will learn to propagate (spores, division, tissue culture), different groupings (e.g. epiphytes, ground ferns, tree ferns) and both common and uncommon species. Growing techniques (baskets, indoor/outdoor containers, terrariums) and cultural methods (soils, watering, pest and disease control) are also examined.

Fabulous Fuchsias

Great plants for dry gardens

There is more to Geraniums and Pelargoniums than meets the eye! These wonderful plants have been seen on our window boxes for hundreds of years and are a big part of many garden lovers lives. Learn ways to maintain them to optimum performance. Learn how to avoid problems that can be easily cured.

Learn how to take your own cuttings, grow them successfully and discover how many different types there are to choose from. In this course you will also learn this basis of all good horticulture with plant health, understanding soils, plant nutrition, cultural requirements and pest and diesase treatment. Time to get those green thumbs working!

Understand the technical requirements for citrus cultivation and different ways to use them. 

Expand your knowledge on stunning camellias

Beautiful camellias require little attention, once established, and yet there is so much to know about them. This course is a wonderful way of learning about the different groups of camellias (e.g. japonicas, sasanquas, reticulatas), their special characteristics, and their culture. 

Boost your plant knowledge, employability and career potential, in horticulture

Learn to identify, propagate and grow lots of different plants

This course is a natural progression from Horticulture 1, but can be taken as a subject in its own. It concentrates on the identification, care and use of plants in a systematic way. Plant knowledge learnt here is in high demand in the horticulture industry. It is something prioritized by employers, but all too often minimized in modern courses due to financial constraints.

Learn Advanced Plant Identification & Classification

Recognising different plants can be quite tricky but working out which genera or species they are is often much harder. Even being able to group plants into larger ranks such as families can be difficult if you don't know what to look for. People often get frustrated because they cannot do these things, however there are systematic scientific approaches which make these things much easier.     

This course will help you to learn to identify and classify plants through morphology and distinguishing characteristics. You will find out how to use the universal naming system, determine plants ranks and make use of plant keys. 

The course helps you to make sense of the wonderful world of plants whether for your own interest or to help you in a vast range of work roles in horticulture or agriculture. 

EVERYONE who works with plants should enrol in this course

Knowing what we teach here will help you make a lot more sense of plant names.

This is different to our other 100 hour courses, being not only shorter and with a lower fee, but with the assessments at the end of each lesson being fully automated.

Strengthen your knowledge of plants

Better understand how to choose an appropriate plant for any purpose you have in mind.

Learn where and how to grow one of the most stunning groups of plants in the world.

With the right cultural techniques (e.g. proper drainage, soil treatments, irrigation methods, feeding, pruning, weed control), you can achieve top quality, large blooms in what might otherwise be considered poor horticultural conditions.