Hopkins Community Education

If you have a place in your backyard that you’ve been thinking about improving, maybe a colorful or peaceful perennial garden is the answer! In this class, novice gardeners and beginners will understand, visualize, and develop their own layout skills. This is not a master gardening class, or a horticultural or planting techniques class.

Three (sequential) garden design class sessions are offered... NOTE: Meeting 1 can be taken as a one-off exploration class, but Meetings 2 and 3 are strongly recommended and they must be taken together.

Meeting 1
Perennial garden design primer. We’ll go over basic garden measurement and layout. We’ll examine various garden styles and examples. Discussion of garden mood boards and scrapbook idea-building. You’ll complete a simple design layout of a perennial garden setting, to scale. 
Meetings 2 & 3 
In Meeting 2, you will complete a hands-on design layout of a more complex perennial garden settings. Starting with a mood board/scrapbook, each student will develop styles, including plant selection favorites and a working palette of materials. We’ll go over measurement techniques and tricks for assessing your own back yard garden setting. In Meeting 3, you will complete a garden design layout using your measurements for your own setting, your plant selections, your material selections. You’ll now have a design guide to begin planting your own backyard beauty spot!
Field Trip on Thursday, June 25 (No additional charge)
Once the students have completed their garden design layout, we will plan a field trip to a local garden center to get expert advice on plant selection, planting and care.