Prof. Nigel Dunnett, Dr. Noel Kingsbury, Prof. Cassian Schmidt

Prof. Nigel Dunnett, Dr. Noel Kingsbury and Prof. Cassian Schmidt will run a ten session webinar course on naturalistic planting. Nigel and Noel will give a comprehensive overview of the art and science of naturalistic planting, combining their extensive experience in both theory and practice, together with an additional two presentations by leading German researcher Cassian Schmidt.

Naturalistic planting is vibrant, sustainable, low-maintenance and bio-diverse, combining a beautiful aesthetic with multiple human, environmental and social benefits. The course explains how plants and plant communities work in natural and designed environments, and how we can harness these ecological principles to ensure long-term success of garden and landscape plantings in any given situation. Noel, Nigel and Cassian will outline clear and straight-forward principles and methods for designing and setting out naturalistic plantings that can be applied in small and larger spaces, in private and public settings, urban-rural, and using all native or mixed native/non-native species. The course is particularly focused on temperate and dry season climate zones, but the principles have widespread application.

How it works.

We are next running the course between late September and early March, with 10 presentations being delivered live, with recordings being sent out immediately afterwards and three live Q&A sessions; each being approx. one hour at 18.00 London time. There will also be additional studio classes with assignments for a limited number of attendees.

Attendees will have lifetime access to all course material.

The course is £300 (+VAT for UK based). Currently we are selling early bird tickets until August 1st at £250+VAT for UK participants. For non-UK please go here.

Plant Ecology for Designed Landscapes

1.  Why a naturalistic approach? What is it and how does it differ from other forms of planting design?  Overview of where we are now, looking at key strands in contemporary naturalistic planting design – similarities and differences. A very brief history. Some personal influences.

2. Succession. Processes of change over time and the relationship between plants, lifespans, habitat, resources and ongoing development. The roles of native and non-native plants and the debates about this; the relevance of the balance of native/non-native in different situations. NK.

3. Plant community development over time. Basics of Competition/Stress-tolerant/Ruderal theory (CSR). Competition in resource-rich and resource-poor environments. Succession in Mediterranean and other dry habitat climates. Differences in plant use, long-term performance and planting aesthetics from one climate zone to another. NK.

4.  Understanding perennials, shrubs and everything in-between. Plant lifespans, vegetative strategies, clonality, plant architecture, structuring of natural plant communties in cool temperate, warm temperate and Mediterranean climate zones. NK.

Designing Naturalistic Planting

5. Reading Nature. 10 principles for planting design taken from studies of natural plant communities. CSR theory translated for designers. Referencing natural systems:  annuals/ruderals/disturbance; perennial systems, grasslands, tall herb habitats; shrub-rich systems & scrub; woodland and forest systems. ND.

6.  A planting design method 1: making spaces vs filling spaces. Site analysis, planting strategies and planting typologies.  Plant spatial arrangements and plant structural types.  Random planting vs structured planting. ND.

7.  A planting design method II. Dynamics, layering, change over time. The role of form, colour, texture and plant association in naturalistic planting design. Communicating naturalistic design. ND.

8.  Practical considerations and maintenance. Some specific applications: making meadows, roof gardens, rain gardens.  Small-scale, domestic applications. Key trends and insights into future directions. ND.

9. Planning strategies for planting: the implications of different spatial arrangement for aesthetics and management. Mixed and matrix planting, the concept of sociability. with a focus on the design and management of mixed plantings. CS.

10. Patterns within mixed plantings, their maintenance, examples of mixed plantings. CS

Nigel Dunnett is Professor of Planting Design and Vegetation Technology at the University of Sheffield, England, and well~known for his many public planting projects in Britain; Dr. Noel Kingsbury is well-known as a researcher and writer on planting design; he has been promoting naturalistic planting design since the mid 1990s; Cassian Schmidt is Professor of Planting Design at the Technical Univeristy of Ostwestfalen-Lippe in Germany, and until 2023, the Director of the Hermannshof Trials Garden in Weinheim. All three are familiar with North American flora as well as Eurasian.