Description:
Join us as we translate the ecological principles of wild plant communities into planting design tools that will help you create better planting. Functional and ecological plantings, such as rain gardens and meadows, are increasing in popularity but simultaneously face severe challenges. They often fail to wow the public, offer a low level of ecological function, and simply don’t survive on low-budget maintenance. Examples of failed projects are plentiful and hurt the image of the native plant movement. We won’t solve these issues if we continue to compare planting design to painting on canvas and perceive plants as individual objects in space. It is time for a new approach—a plant-community-based method that has evolved in the world of ecological science. This interactive workshop will introduce you to the science behind stable and lasting plant combinations. You will learn the skill of creating plant communities in four hands-on design exercises and practice this technique in a hypothetical planting project at the end of the workshop. Learning objectives:
• Understand scientific foundation of stable plant communities and learn how species fill ecological and spatial niches in successful planting.
• Learn how to translate the principles of wild plant communities into designed plantings.
• Learn to visualize complex planting schemes and prepare installation guides.
This course carries 5 CEUs for ISA certified arborists (S=2, P=2, M=1) and LACES credits for landscape architects.
Registration:
$180 (includes lunch)