Looking for a new approach to gardening?

Conservation Gardening 101: Landscaping with Native Plants is a certificate series designed to provide home gardeners and emerging landscape professionals with foundational concepts of landscape design, native species selection, implementation, and maintenance of compellingly beautiful and ecologically productive native plant gardens based on conservation principles.

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Program Topics

Landscape Design Principles
Introduces the first steps of the landscape design process for planning a conservation garden using native plants.

Native Plant Selection – Perennials
Introduces a variety of perennial native plants and their characteristics so you can select plants that will bring beauty and ecological function (e.g. support birds, attract pollinators) to your landscape.

Native Plant Selection – Shrubs and Trees
Introduces a variety of woody native plants and their characteristics so you can select plants that will bring beauty and ecological function (e.g. support birds, attract pollinators) to your landscape.

Weeding, Mulching, and Seasonal Maintenance
Introduces best practice techniques for caring for your garden to keep it beautiful, thriving, and a benefit to the surrounding ecosystem. Learn about what to remove (weed or not a weed) and the ins and outs of mulching. Management practices described will include time-tested approaches and some new techniques we employ at the North Carolina Botanical Garden, with an emphasis on environmentally responsible gardening.

Landscape Installation
Introduces how to install a native plant garden. This class covers soil-building, bed preparation, irrigation and planting best practices (best times and techniques) as well as some important considerations related to garden path design, material choice, and installation.

Maintenance Considerations for Native Plant Gardens
Introduces conservation-minded approaches to management of diseases and insects, as well as what to prune and when. Management practices include time-tested approaches and some new techniques we employ at the North Carolina Botanical Garden, with an emphasis on environmentally responsible gardening.