World first in horticulture & design - Piet Oudolf, the most influential garden designer of the past 25 years, launches MyGardenSchool online global course with co-author & acclaimed horticulturist Dr Noel Kingsbury.

In an unprecedented move in global online learning, two of the world’s biggest brains in horticulture have teamed up to teach students worldwide

PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT FROM MYGARDENSCHOOL
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ON 18TH, AUGUST 2016

For more information or to speak to a spokesperson from MyGardenSchool, please contact elspeth@my-online-school.co.uk / +44 7884267306

World first in horticulture & design - Piet Oudolf, the most influential garden designer of the past 25 years, launches MyGardenSchool online global course with co-author & acclaimed horticulturist Dr Noel Kingsbury

LONDON, August 18th, 2016 Piet Oudolf is the most influential garden designer of the past 25 years. An internationally-renowned landscape designer from the Netherlands he is a leading figure of the ‘New Perennial’ or ‘New Wave Planting’ movement, using bold blends of perennials and grasses to dramatic effect. In an unprecedented move in global online learning, two of the world’s biggest brains in horticulture have teamed up to teach students worldwide through the world’s first online horticulture and design school - MyGardenSchool.

Piet Oudolf's work as a planting designer, for private and public gardens and landscapes, is a unique body of work. His work is highly intuitive, but based very much on knowing plants over time – for design there are no rules, simple tricks, patterns or easy 'lessons'. The palette of plants which he uses is very much one for continental Northern Hemisphere climates. So how can designers and gardeners learn from his approach? Especially those working in different regions and climates. Or those seeking to use more locally-native plants, or to re-evaluate traditional planting palettes.

The teaching video lectures at the heart of these online gardening courses, takes Dr Noel Kingsbury, who has known and has helped interpret Piet’s work for over twenty years on a tour of the Oudolf family garden at Hummelo, with Piet. They discuss plants and plant combinations, before going inside to Piet's studio to look at planting plans and some pictures of the garden at Hummelo at different times of year. Shot in September, the high point of the garden year at Hummelo, viewing concentrates on identifying those elements of structure, texture, form and colour which are so characteristic of Oudolf planting style.

The video is accompanied by four assignments which are aimed at encouraging viewers to go out and look at the plants that grow around them, to help them look at plants and planting “the Oudolf way” . The idea is that wherever you are in the world, nature has beautiful and long-lasting plants which are potential garden and landscape plants - it is up to you to identify, seek them out and use them. Evaluation of assignments will be done by Noel, whose links with garden people across the world give him a uniquely global perspective.

Piet Oudolf stated: “I know that many people across the world who I can’t reach would like to understand more about my planting philosophy and have personal recommendations. I maintain that structure is the most important component in a successful planting; colour is important too but it is a secondary consideration. To work with Noel and MyGardenSchool I hope means that we can share our planting philosophy with you, and give you a deeper understanding, wherever you are.

Dr Noel Kingsbury added: “MyGardenSchool is an exciting concept as it means that Piet and I can actually reach out to students, and give you feedback in the unique MyGardenSchool virtual classroom. I’m already an established tutor with MyGardenSchool and have enjoyed being part of its new movement to unite horticulture and design enthusiasts on a global scale”

Elspeth Briscoe, Founder, MyGardenSchool commented: “We released information about this course on the site, and within 12 hours it became the fastest selling online course we’ve ever released. We’re clearly seeing pent up demand for online courses from experts in horticulture who many people can't usually access like Piet Oudolf and Noel Kingsbury. MyGardenSchool solves an important problem for globally disparate enthusiasts in fragmented industries like horticulture and landscape design (ie there are millions of us foraging for information from a relatively few experts – but we are widely scattered!).”

Briscoe continues: “The landscape design industry has literally millions of people passionate about niche topics, but who can’t easily get access to experts like Piet Oudolf and Noel Kingsbury nor unite with one another in a single sharing community . We are giving enthusiasts a thriving place to connect, wherever they are in the world. A place where not only can they share questions and answers on a peer to peer basis, but also connect with world-class experts who they’d never normally meet. I’ve always been passionate that the internet could be used more effectively to unite people who are driven by a shared interest or cause. MyGardenSchool is the perfect place for these niche communities to aggregate, as we have the best experts in the world, a unique classroom, and now an area where everyone can share questions and answers. We even have a virtual café so please do pop by and have a chat – you never know you might bump into a world expert in there!”

This course focusses on Piet’s design style. Complimentary courses are ‘Planting Design with Perennials' taught by Noel Kingsbury where you will learn the more technical detail of Piet’s signature style, using plants that are predictable and long-lived; Perennial Meadow Planting, a detailed, practical course covering all aspects of this planting style taught by Michael King and Gardening with Grasses which takes a detailed look at this critical element of the Oudolf-look planting palette. To perfect

Piet’s overall planting style all of these courses are recommended. To get a place you can book your new online course with Piet and Noel from today, and can start it from October. Book Here.

About MyGardenSchool

MyGardenSchool is the world's first online gardening school where students can learn from gardening experts about how to do absolutely everything in the garden from keeping bees, landscaping, design, growing vegetables and herbs, building treehouses or growing the perfect roses. And everything in between. All of our tutors are outstanding in their field (and gardens), being accomplished horticulturists, designers and acclaimed gardening writers. Gardening courses can be started at any time, and video tutorials are delivered weekly, together with course notes and assignments assessed personally by your tutor. You also get to chat to your expert tutor online, as well as your classmates, in the "virtual classroom."

MyGardenSchool was a winner of the Good Web Guide Awards (2015) and is a finalist in the Edtech Investor Awards as a content provider (2016). It is owned by parent company MyOnlineSchool and has two sister schools: www.my-photo-school.com and www.my-antique-school.com. MyOnlineSchool is funded by established VCs and angel investors and is currently raising a seed investment round. For investment opportunities please contact elspeth@my-online-school.co.uk.

More MyGardenSchool courses are listed here: http://www.my-garden-school.com/courses/