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Learn with Michael King

Gardening with Grasses

Learn how to use ornamental grasses in your landscape designs and planting schemes, taught by grass specialist Michael King.

Course overview

In this lesson Michael will introduce you to the world of ornamental grasses. We will look at their unique characteristics and why you might choose specific species within planting designs. You will learn how they can create associations with the natural countryside or bring new elements to a design by creating focal points, a new leaf pattern and form or to build the three dimensional structure of a garden design.

Meet Michael King

Michael King is a Senior at Kew Gardens botanist, designer and author. For the past twenty years Michael has lived in the Netherlands where he, writes, designs and gardens. Flowering perennials, ornamental grasses and tulips are now Michael’s specialities having written many books on these subjects as well as numerous gardening articles on subjects as diverse as annual flowers, garden design and the life and work of other professional garden designers for many international garden magazines. His first two books, written jointly with Piet Oudolf, revealed how to use ornamental grasses and other perennials in naturalistic gardens, a popular trend in Continental Europe. For more information about Michael see his web blog at www.perennialmeadows.com

Course description

Join grass and garden design expert Michael King as he teaches you how to use ornamental grasses in your garden designs in his online Gardening with Grasses course.

Michael has written books jointly with Piet Oudolf (famous garden designer and plantsman), which looked at using ornamental grasses and other perennials in the new naturalistic garden style.

Ornamental grasses are a core component of a garden designer’s planting palette and work well when planted with other plants. Grass planting can have a huge impact on a garden and this course teaches you how to control and use their bold presence in planting designs.

Grasses can be highly effective as powerful design features, but they can also be disruptive and overpowering if not handled with care.

On this course Michael focuses on the best grasses for a wide range of different growing conditions and situations (including grasses for shade and creating shade) and covers the advantages of unique qualities of this large and diverse group of plants, with examples of specific grasses and inspiring ornamental grass designs.

You'll learn:
  • how to use ornamental grasses in your garden designs confidently
  • including contrast and focus to your garden designs
  • the best grasses to use depending on your location and garden conditions
  • controlling grasses
The course includes:
  • 4 on-demand video lessons - presented by Michael King
  • lifetime access to the videos, notes and interactive class
  • flexible classes - join and learn when and where you like
  • downloadable lesson notes
  • practical gardening with grasses projects (with tutor feedback available)
  • access on your mobile, PC, Mac or laptop
  • small interactive online classroom - chat online to students from around the world and share your creative ideas
Time to complete the planting design course:

Every student is different but in general we think the whole course will take around 13 hours 50 minutes to complete including:

  • Video lessons: 1 hour 50 minutes in total
  • Course notes: 30 minutes per lesson
  • Your planting design projects: at least 2 hours per lesson
  • Interactive classroom time: 15 minutes per lesson
  • Tutor feedback review (Expert level): 15 minutes per lesson
You'll need:

You'll need a sketchbook to make your garden designs and planting sketches for each assignment. This courses is suitable for all levels of gardener - from beginners to experts looking to specialise in the use of grasses in the garden.

Ready to get started?

Just add the course to your basket above - choose the 'Expert' option for personal feedback from Michael on your grass assignments.

If you know someone who'd love this course then give it as a gift - just tick "This is a gift" at the checkout.

Any questions? Contact us by clicking on the orange speech symbol - we'd love to hear from you.