A year of practical, plant-focused learning

Are you looking to deepen your horticultural knowledge, gain the confidence to transform your own garden, or take the first step towards a career in horticulture? This course gives you a thorough, practical grounding across the full gardening year, aimed at passionate amateurs and those considering a career change alike.

Most weeks are spent in the classroom at the historic Chelsea Physic Garden, where you’re taught among four acres of plants at the heart of London. Throughout the year, we also head out and about, with working visits to private and specialist gardens across the south of England, giving you the chance to see and handle what you’ve learned beyond the classroom.

You’ll start with the fundamentals, from taxonomy and the Latin names behind them, to soil testing, bulb planting and the basics of garden design. Term by term, the course builds in depth and complexity: the first term covers pruning, hedging and specialist perennials alongside working visits to Sandhill Farm House and Sissinghurst Castle Garden; the second term takes you through propagation, wildflower meadows and the kitchen garden, with a working visit to the garden of Course Director B Brooks for rose pruning and bare-root planting, and a practical propagation session with Ben Pope at the Alitex glasshouses in Hampshire; and the final term focuses on the world of roses and garden management, planting design, with visits to Arundel Castle, Great Dixter, Knepp and Woolbeding, culminating in a graduation lunch and presentation.

Our course places a strong emphasis on plants and plantsmanship. You’ll be taught by leading horticulturists such as Nick Bailey, Ed Flint, Caroline Jackson, Ben Pope and Troy Scott Smith. Between them, they cover the fundamentals of gardening, propagation and planting across the year, while you build your own personal plant portfolio and garden log.

Specialist lecturers contribute expert sessions of their own: Lucy Bellamy, Sarah Eberle MBE, Rose Hardy of Hardy’s Cottage Plants, Jim Hillier of Hillier Nurseries, Darren Lerigo of Modern Mint, Michael Marriott of David Austin Roses, Ann-Marie Powell and Peter Skeggs-Gooch of Thorncroft Clematis all bring their own specialisms to herbaceous perennials, bulbs, trees, topiary, roses and planting design. Also included in your year is a day of garden history with Tim Richardson, garden and landscape historian, critic and author of more than twenty books, including The English Landscape Garden and Sissinghurst: The Dream Garden.

Working visits to Sandhill Farm House, Sissinghurst, Arundel Castle, Knepp and Great Dixter, amongst others, give you the chance to see all these principles at work in some of the country’s most admired gardens.

Working across all three terms with a real garden log and plant portfolio to build, Course Director B Brooks, Principal of The English Gardening School and a practising garden designer, will be with you step by step through the gardening year, from your first taxonomy class to your final assessment.

This course is an adaptation of ‘Plants and Plantsmanship’ now enhanced with a greater emphasis on practical experience. Previous alumni include Tania Compton, Kate Coulson, Rachel de Thame and Polly Nicholson.

We expect a high degree of commitment from our students. Work is graded on regular ongoing assessment and provided the required standard is reached, the final marks are graded Distinction, Credit or Pass.  Our Diploma is highly regarded internationally and is an asset in securing future work.

The woodland Garden at Sandhill Farm House

Prospective students are advised to arrange a video call or an in person INFORMATION SESSION help at the Chelsea Physic Garden to learn more on the work involved and the required level of commitment. Both options are being held regularly so please email to inquire or click ‘Apply For This Course’ and await our confirmation.