Michael King

Perennial Meadow Gardening

  • Recommended

    $200

    Includes personal feedback and tuition. More

  • $75

    Learn in an online classroom with no more than 20 classmates. More

Course Description

Perennial and grasses expert Michael King teaches you how to grow and design a perennial meadow garden.

Michael wrote The Perennial Garden book and co-wrote Gardening with Grasses with garden designer Piet Oudolf.

Perennial meadows can be adapted to any scale from a single garden border, to the replacement of lawns and can be used in wide parkland landscapes. Perennial meadows are inspired by open countryside, fields, meadows and prairies. Michael will also cover the New Perennial Planting design movement, which brings naturalistic planting within the scope of the private garden.

You'll learn Michael's perennial meadow planting design system, which combines planting to fit a range of different settings, and includes bold planting mixtures combining key theme plants with complementary plants. You'll also learn about the ideas underpinning naturalistic plant associations.

Michael will explain the characteristics of effective plants and the role played by complimentary plants to be able to start creating perennial meadow planting schemes of your own. As you learn you'll be selecting plants, planning site design and calculating how many plants are needed, and how to planting and maintaining new schemes.

You'll learn:

  • how to define and use a perennial meadow garden design
  • which plants to include in your designs as theme plants and complementary plants
  • designing your landscape for seasonal interest
  • creating structural garden designs

Absolutely fantastic! With just four sessions i learned so much! Expert comments were helpful and personalized. I especially appreciate learning about new plants and of course the cutting-edge way to design a bed of perennials! - LT

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 perennial meadow design 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 perennial meadow garden design course:

Every student is different but in general we think the whole course will take around 13 hours 55 minutes to complete including:

  • Video lessons: 1 hours 55 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 don't need ay special equipment, but you will be making lists of plants and sketches of garden designs. This course is suitable for all levels of gardeners from beginners to professional gardeners who want to learn more about the specialist horticulture and garden design skills to create a perennial meadow.

Ready to get started?

Just add the course to your basket above - choose the 'Expert' option for personal feedback from Michael on your planting design project and plant choices.

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.

    CPD Accreditation

    Course activity has been accredited by the CPD Standards Office (CPDSO). The course equates to 13 hours, 55 minutes of CPD learning.
    The CPD Standards Office. CPD Provider: 50276.

    Course outline

    • What Are Perennial Meadows

      In this lesson we will define the perennial meadow and it's place it within the history of the use of perennials in gardens over the last hundred years. Naturalistic planting will be explained and contrasted with the alternatives available to contemporary gardeners and designers. The New Perennial Movement and the manner in which perennial meadows can bring the same aims within the confines of a domestic garden will be illuminated.

    • Theme Plants

      We will focus entirely on theme plants, the fundamental building blocks of the perennial meadow. You will learn what characteristics are important when selecting plants to use in your schemes and understand the very best perennials for seasonal interest.

    • Complementary Plants

      We will look at complementary plants and illustrate how important they are in adding variety, local interest and extending the effective season of planting schemes. We look at how to calculate the number of plants needed to realize a scheme and conclude by reviewing a scheme in detail to fully understand how the system works as a whole.

    • Designing Garden Spaces Using Perennial Meadows

      In this lesson we will look at how to design garden spaces using perennial meadows. We learn how to place discrete units of planting to help organize the outdoor space, and how to introduce structure to the planting schemes themselves. Lastly, we cover all of the practical aspects of creating such a garden feature: site preparation; propagation of plants; planting up methodology; mulching; watering; maintenance and the long term development of schemes.

    Choose how you want to learn

    • The Expert option

      Recommended

      Develop your learning further with marked assignments and personal tuition from Michael King

      • Start course whenever you like
      • 4 weeks tutor access for personalised assignment feedback & coaching
      • 4 assignments marked by Michael King
      • Certificate of completion and CPD hours
      • Online classroom with up to 20 classmates
      • 4 lessons with expert videos & notes
      • Group chat & direct message with tutor & classmates
      • Lifetime access to videos, notes & classroom
      Learn more
      $200
    • The Peer option

      Discover the benefits of group learning in an online interactive classroom of no more than 20 people. Get the most from shared knowledge and community study

      • Start course whenever you like
      • Practise what you learn with your peers
      • Online classroom with up to 20 classmates
      • 4 lessons with expert videos & notes
      • 4 course assignments
      • Group chat & direct message classmates
      • Lifetime access to videos, notes & classroom
      Learn more
      $75

    New
    Buy this course for a business or group

    You can now buy this course through your business or organisation for individuals and groups up to 20

    Gardening classroom - how it works

    • Start anytime

      Watch video tutorials led by expert tutors

      Watch video tutorials led by expert tutors
    • Test yourself

      Practice what you learn with inspiring assignments

      Practice what you learn with inspiring assignments
    • Personal tuition

      Get assignment feedback from expert tutors

      Get assignment feedback from expert tutors
    • Share ideas

      Collaborate and chat directly to classmates

      Collaborate and chat directly to classmates

    Meet Michael King

    Michael King - Gardening
    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

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    Awards & Accreditations

    • CPD Accredited (provider 50276)
    • Good Web Guide
    • Red Herring Winner
    • Education Investor Awards 2021 - Finalist
    • Royal Horticultural Society
    • Digital Education Awards 2023 Winner for Digital Health and Wellbeing Learning Product of the Year
    • Digital Education Awards 2023 Winner for Adult Home Learning Product of the Year