First-Year Horticulture
Two semesters
Mondays, September 9, 2013 – May 19, 2014
8:30 am–4:15 pm

All classes meet once a week in the Arboretum House
57 Lapsley Lane, Merion.

$2,250; members: $2,025.
Register here

Courses include:

Herbaceous Plants
Janet Bly, Owner, Signature Gardens, LLC
28 weeks, 56 hours
Discover common and unusual herbaceous plants, including perennials, annuals, bulbs, ornamental grasses, and ferns. During this review of more than 200 plants, students will learn the growth habits, attributes, and cultural requirements of study plants; characteristics of major plant families; and appropriate selection of plants for landscape designs. In addition, students will learn principles of planting design and approaches for combining plants in garden settings. Through small-scale design exercises that use study plants for maximum effect, students will gain experience in grouping plants with similar cultural characteristics and creating plant compositions.

Soil Science
Scott Guiser, Extension Agent, Pennsylvania State Agricultural Extension Service
8 weeks, 12 hours
By learning how to identify physical, chemical, and biological properties, discover how soil influences the growth of plants. Students will examine the mechanical and chemical processes of soil formation and learn the management techniques that affect those properties.

Art History
Instructor TBA
4 weeks, 7.5 hours
An introduction to the art collection of the Barnes Foundation, this seminar will address the creative process through an exploration of visual art. Students will expand their visual perception through an exploration of visual art through the building blocks employed by artists throughout history- light, line, color, and space.

Taxonomy
8 weeks, 13.5 hours
This course will provide instruction on classifying plants according to their evolutionary relationships and on the procedures for naming, describing, and identifying them. Students will develop skills that will allow them to gain familiarity with major plant groups from all parts of the world. The course will include lectures and hands-on examination of living plants in the Barnes Arboretum and preserved materials in the herbarium of the Barnes Arboretum.

Landscape Sketching
Paul DuSold, artist
6 weeks, 9 hours
Learn to visually communicate using the basic principles of landscape drawing. This course will cover how to sketch outdoors, create interesting compositions, and use perspective and light through drawing exercises designed for the landscape designer.

Garden Appreciation
Gay Kimelman, Horticulturist
28 weeks, 42 hours
By observing habits, colors, textures, shapes, and ornamental features of the plants and gardens in the Barnes Arboretum, students will learn to assess the use of various plants in landscape design throughout the seasons. During the course, students will keep a journal to track the growth, seasonal changes, and landscape value of plants. Students will become familiar with technical nomenclature and will learn to identify plants by their Latin names. The course will focus on the evaluation of seasonal changes and significant characteristics of plants, such as flower, fruit, or other ornamental qualities, and students will analyze the growth habits of plants, including the arrangement, color, and texture of leaves. On completion of this course, students will have a greater understanding of the visual effect that plants have in landscapes.

Botany
Ann Mickle, Professor, LaSalle University
28 weeks, 42 hours
Discover the general structure and function of higher plants through the study of typical morphology and basic physiology at the cell, tissue, organ, and plant levels. Students will explore the processes of cell division, including mitosis and meiosis, and the structure of basic food chains and webs. The course will also provide an overview of the organisms classified as plants and of those organisms that have historically been grouped with plants, the human relevance of plants, and the important evolutionary advances leading to the origin of seed plants.