Planting What Where

Increase your plant knowledge and learn what plants are suitable for planting where. 

• Get better results - fewer sick or dead plants
• Simply make better choices about what you choose to plant where

A self guided short course includes sections on the essentials of plant selection and planting placement including plant selection, plant establishment methods, identifying problems, solutions for wet areas, gardening in the shade, designing windbreaks, hedges and screens in the garden, plants for dry gardens, plants ideal for coastal regions, trees and shrub selection, small garden design, plants for other situations, lawns and living garden art.

Lesson Structure

There are 13 lessons in this course:

1. PLANT SELECTION
   • Introduction - criteria for plant use
   • Planting strategies
   • Inspecting plants before purchase
   • Know your plants -Annuals
2. PLANT ESTABLISHMENT METHODS
   • Ways to help plants get established
   • Trickle irrigation
   • Mulches
   • Tree guards
   • Techniques for planting sloped areas -pocket planting, slope serration, wattling
   • Planting arid sites -direct seeding, spray seeding
   • Rehabilitating damaged soils in the home garden
   • What can go wrong
   • Improving soil in a new garden
   • Lime loving plants
   • Fertilisers
   • Salinity, pH, etc
   • Problems with dogs and cats
   • Know your plants - Fruit trees
3. DETECTING PROBLEMS
   • Pests
   • Diseases
   • First: conduct an inspection
   • Second: take note of the environment
   • Third: identify the problem
   • Fourth: treat the problem
   • Review what you have been learning
   • Solutions for wet areas
   • What can cause wet areas in your garden?
   • Problems with wet areas
   • Overcoming problems with boggy or wet areas
   • Know your plants - orchids
4. PLANTS FOR WET/ BOGGY SITES
   • How to keep the soil wet all year
   • Plants that grow in permanently wet soil
   • Plants that tolerate wet in winter and drier soil in summer
   • Creating a bog garden
   • Construction of water gardens
   • Plants for water gardens
   • Gardening in the Shade
   • Ferns
5. SHADE
   • Considering shad problems
   • Plants suited to full shade
   • Ferns for varied levels of shade
   • Shade trees
   • Where to plant the shade tree
   • Deciduous or semi deciduous trees
   • Evergreen shade trees
   • Know your plants - perennials
6. WINDBREAKS HEDGES AND SCREENS
   • Why use screening plants
   • Hedges
   • Hedge plants for different situations
   • Windbreaks
   • Know your plants - ornamental trees
7. LESSON 7 PLANTS FOR DRY GARDENS
   • Introduction
   • Gardening in dry conditions
   • Overcoming dryness
   • Dry pots
   • Growing dry loving plants in moist soil
   • Selecting drought tolerant trees
   • Drought tolerant trees for various situations
   • Design and planting a fire break
   • How to arrange plants
   • Distances from buildings
   • Considerations - winds, vehicular access, fire resistant plants
   • Fire resistant plants
   • Know your plants -succulents
8. COASTAL GARDENS
   • Dealing with salt
   • Creating wind breaks
   • Hardy seaside plants
   • Know your plants - palms
9. TREES AND SHRUBS
   • Evergreen trees
   • Cool conifers
   • Deciduous trees for autumn colour
   • Shrubs in the landscape
   • Examples of long flowering plants
   • Shrubs that flower in autumn
   • What flowers in winter
   • Living Christmas trees
   • Know your plants - shrubs
10. FITTING MORE IN A SMALL GARDEN
    • How to fit more in a small garden
    • Small trouble free plants
    • Space-saving decoration
    • Go up
    • Expand your garden
    • Colours
    • Design your garden to appear bigger
    • Know your plants -climbers
11. PLANTS FOR VARIOUS SITUATIONS
    • Frost hardy plants
    • Hardy plants for inner city gardens
    • Plants for pets
    • Long narrow areas
    • Know your plants - indoor plants
12. LAWNS
    • Choosing the right lawn
    • Turf varieties
    • Lawn mixes
    • What turf to grow where
    • Know your plants - grasses and grass like plants
13. LIVING GARDEN ART
    • Living art
    • How to make a hedge
    • Miniature/table top gardens
    • Using junk in living gardens
    • Know your plants - bulbs and rhizomes

HOW THE COURSE WORKS

This is a self paced, 20 hour study program; with everything from your enrolment through to awarding of your certificate of completion, controlled by computer software developed by our programmers.

Utilizing cutting edge technology all the way; you can

1. Enrol, pay course fees into pay pal; your payment approval then triggers an email explaining how to proceed, and access to the course.
2. You are then given instructions (options to read or listen to an audio).
3. Next you proceed to work through lessons as fast or slow as you wish; undertaking automated self assessment tests at the end of each lesson, choosing practical/additional learning tasks to undertake as you go.
4. On concluding the final lesson; you undertake a major online exam; and on achieving a 60% pass rate, you are given a "Certificate of Completion" carrying your name and date, to download as a pdf, to save or print as you wish

NOTE:

Unlike our other 100 hour courses, there is no additional exam fee charged for the exam in this or any of the 20 hour short courses.