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The Fundamentals of Landscape Planting Design
Rating: 4.3 out of 5(3 ratings)
19 students
Created byRob Littlepage
Last updated 7/2025
English

What you'll learn

  • How to develop a landscape planting plan
  • How to use proper graphics to create a professional design
  • Create a professional legend identifying the selected plant species
  • Steps to preparing a cost estimate for the planting plan for yourself or a client

Course content

2 sections • 13 lectures • 1h 28m total length

  • Introduction3:31

    Welcome!  This Introduction will give you an overview of the course and a taste for how I'm structuring it.  Just like any other component that we choose, plants are a design element with the one exception that they are alive!  Plants have a direct impact on how our friends and clients interact with the landscape we've created.  The proper selection and placement can make or break our design.  Let's have a brief introduction to plants in the landscape.

  • Plants are Living Things - Get to Know Them6:16

    To design successfully with plants you need to know the nature of the plant you're working with.  All of our plants have a natural habitat - an ecological home where they have evolved.  When choosing plants for our landscapes, whether natives to our region, or ornamentals (natives of another region) we need to be aware of their needs in order for them to, not just survive, but to thrive.

    This lecture will delve into the general ecology of plants and how we can use this knowledge to design more successful gardens.

  • Planting Design Objectives7:15

    Before we can do any design, we have to know what the end goal should be.  This course is focused on creating a Planting Plan based on a pre-existing Conceptual Plan showing the overall layout of the garden.

    If creating a Concept Plan is new to you, I suggest you consider taking my course, The New Fundamentals of Garden Design 2025. 

    Starting a planting plan before having the functional aspects of the landscape drawn up and approved by the client will lead to multiple revisions and additional work by you, the designer.  And you probably won't be paid for any additional time you invest.

    This lecture will cover the necessary steps and process for gathering the information you should have for developing the Planting Plan. 

  • The Conceptual Planting Plan - A Review10:13

    At this stage we should have a clear idea of the design objectives of our planting plan.  These objectives include the desires of the client as well as our creative input to achieve those goals.  This lesson will discuss the role of a Conceptual Planting Plan and how it helps to streamline the process of selecting plants for a working drawing.

  • Section Wrap-Up2:48

    Let's have a quick review of what we've covered in this Section and take on our first assignment.

Requirements

  • The student should be familiar with basic garden design technique and procedure, including developing a Conceptual Garden Plan. The student should also be comfortable with hand drafting or using CAD in planting design

Description

This is a continuation of my Fundamentals of Garden Design 2025 course.  In this course we'll be looking at the Conceptual Garden Plan and how this design leads to the strong and efficient creation of a working planting plan that can be priced for yourself or for a client. 

While the conceptual plan gives direction and offers opportunity for discussion and modification, the working planting plan becomes the actual design to be installed.  Plants will be identified, including their quantity and container size.  Proper symbols and labeling will be emphasized for identification on the plan.

This course is a practical and straight-forward application of developing a professional landscape planting plan. 

Within the course I will demonstrate how to create this plan using plants common to where I live and work in California.  While these same plants may not be either appropriate or available where you live, the principles of planting design are universal.  It will be up to the student to know what plants are available and their cultural requirements where you live and work in order to satisfy the design intentions of the garden plan.

A sample planting plan will be provided for the student to refer to when creating their own working drawings.  Using plants available where you live and work and that are culturally compatible will give you the chance to develop a planting plan for review; I will critique of offer suggestions for improvement.

I will provide a conceptual plan as well as a blank plan of the site for you to use in selecting plants, or you can use a design of your own.


Who this course is for:

  • This course is for beginning and intermeadiate garden designers, landscape contractors offering design services and for homeowners wishing to develop their own garden plan.

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