Garden design courses

We are now offering dynamic garden design courses here at the house to suit complete beginners . The 3 courses listed below will give you a taste of what is on offer and how much you can learn. We will also be adding new topics and types of courses in the coming months. Teaching is normally 1 to 1 or 1 to 2 if friends or couples wish to complete a course together.

Garden Design for beginners:1day 10.30-6pm

150 euros including coffee,lunch & a garden tour.

1. What is the course about?

This 1 day taster course is designed to inspire and excite you by demonstrating how good design and careful planning can transform the most unexciting spaces into beautiful gardens. The course is ideal for anyone who has a general interest in garden design, planting or gardening and should inspire you to think about how you can apply things that you have learned on the course to enhance your own gardens.

2. What topics will we cover?

The course provides an overview of the various things that need to be considered when you start to design a garden and how to overcome issues like privacy and shade etc. There will also be an opportunity to see what we are planning here and to have a tour of the garden as it is now.

Transforming a garden

What do I have? (analysing the existing garden, positives & negatives)

What do I want?( thinking about the brief)

Exploring ideas

Overcoming challenges in the garden

Garden Transformations

drought tolerant planting: 1 day

150 euros including coffee, lunch and a garden tour

Explore the basic principles of low maintenance & drought tolerant Mediterranean planting and how it can be used to create dynamic sustainable gardens suitable for our changing climate and busy lifestyles.

 1. What is the course about?

 The course will demonstrate how the essential factors of good preparation, clever design, and careful selection of planting can be combined to create an interesting garden providing all year round interest requiring minimal maintenance.

 2. What topics will we cover?

 Why plant a low maintenance garden?

Awareness of existing conditions and how they can be improved.

Essential components of a low maintenance garden.

Contemporary, drought tolerant, & low maintenance planting

introduction to Garden Design: 5days

Courses start at 650 euros.

The course is designed to provide you with the necessary skills and confidence to enable you to design an average small garden, illustrating that even the most uninspiring space can be turned into a relaxing sanctuary.

This course is suitable for beginners with an interest in garden design.

 1. What is the course about?

 The course will cover the fundamental principals of garden design, demonstrating some of the stages in the design process necessary to create simple contemporary designs.

 2. What topics will we cover?

Basic Survey Techniques & Analysis of existing site conditions.

Developing a Design Brief.

Proportion, Illusions and effective use of space.

Inspiration, Concept Ideas & Mood boards.

Drawing a Scale Plan

Surfaces, Materials & Practicality.

Planting Principles.

teaching garden design in London & Andalucia

Whilst we were running our design practice in London I was also a garden design tutor at City Lit adult education college in Covent Garden for several years.

I loved teaching the students on these courses and the quality of the work that was produced was fantastic. Many students enrolled on multiple courses and used what they had learned on the courses to design their own gardens.

The courses were predominantly taught in the classroom with occasional visits to nearby parks and gardens to enhance their plant knowledge.

The opportunity to be able to teach small groups of students here at the house with the resource of a new garden undergoing development has greatly enhanced the learning experience. The students here are able to see many aspects of the design process in full flow and can also access our library of design & planting books.

All of the courses here are tailored to suit individual students, so whether you are a complete beginner, or an experienced gardener who wants to learn more about creating sustainable drought tolerant gardens we can offer you a course that is perfect for you. The courses are a combination of classroom teaching, practical exercises, workshops, & demonstrations in our beautiful mountain environment in the Sierra de Las Nieves National Park.

our mediterranean dry gardens

We moved to Andalucia in the summer of 2016 after spending the last 20 years running a garden design practice in London.  We specialised in designing and building Mediterranean, drought tolerant gardens for clients in and around the South East of England and it was always our dream to create a true Mediterranean garden here in Spain.

The spectacular mountain environment and the adjacent Sierra de las Nieves National Park combined with the site & aspect of the property convinced us that this was the ideal location for our most ambitious project yet and the perfect place to welcome guests & students on our garden design courses.

At Las Morenas we are in the process of creating a truly drought tolerant Mediterranean garden in the Sierra de Las Nieves National Park in Southern Spain. as you can see in the photograph we are surrounded by mountains and beautiful scenery so it is important to respond sensitively to this natural environment.

All of the plants we are using in the garden have been carefully selected to cope with the conditions and long periods of drought The environment here is very typical of the Mediterranean basin with long hot summers with no rainfall followed by cool winter winds. The garden is a work in progress and is slowly evolving as we experiment with different plants and techniques to see what thrives here in such extreme conditions with long periods of drought.

The last few years have seen minimal rain and with climate change this will continue to be the pattern. We believe that it is possible to create a sustainable and beautiful garden, where with careful choices of plants and good practice, things can develop & mature slowly as they would in nature with minimal water & minimal input from us.

We have a wide experience of creating drought tolerant gardens in the south east of England, ironically with almost unlimited access to water in the initial months as the planting becomes established. We know all of the theory but the reality of actually creating a new dry garden in a location where you literally have no water is extremely challenging and very different from the UK!

We collect all of our rainwater from the roof of the property to use in the house, however we have no irrigation anywhere in the garden and all of the plants are selected for their ability to tolerate long periods of drought.

Slowly but surely we are seeing the results of our efforts as tiny plants survive against all of the odds and as time passes more of the ground will be covered and the amount of time we spend weeding should be reduced.