Landscaping Courses in Johannesburg

Lots of people like to potter around in the garden, & it can be very rewarding to watch your garden be transformed into a thing of beauty through hard work & creativity. If you have a passion for gardening & a flair for creativity & design, then you might want to consider doing a landscaping course.

Landscaping courses cater for every type of student: from the complete novice to is looking to gain a little know-how for personal benefit, to the serious enthusiast who seeks to make a career out of their green thumbs.

Lifestyle Garden Centre in Randburg is home to the Lifestyle College, which offers a number of different landscaping courses for part-time & full time students.
The college is set in Johannesburg's most well-known nursery, which is a perfect place to learn about landscaping when you're surrounded by plants while you study.

Their first course on offer is the International Certificate in Landscape Design. This course is aimed at the novice who is either starting on the landscaping career path or wanting to learn how to design their own garden. It's a great course to consider if you're looking to test the waters of garden design & see if it's something you'll like to focus on.

The course is divided into 2 sections, starting with the Introduction Programme to Landscape Design. This includes 4 parts, introducing you to the principles of landscaping design, horticulture, design drawing & plant identification.

The second section is more advanced, aimed at those who have the basic skills of landscaping design. Here you'll go into far more detail in terms of landscape planning, design drawing & horticulture, leaning how to design formal, informal & ecological landscapes. You'll also be taught how to build scale models of your designs with model building lessons.
The course also teaches you the principles of oriental design & then delves into the practicalities of executing your designs in a garden. You'll learn about paving, surveying, water features, brick & concrete work to name a few.

After that you'll be tasked with designing & executing a show garden, which is usually displayed at the Lifestyle Nursery's seasonal Show Gardens display.

For your final qualification, learners are required to do 6 months in-service training at a qualified landscape company, as well as 1 month at a retail nursery. The 6 month practical does not have to be full-time employment, or a paid position & the aim is to ensure that the student gains the necessary work experience required by the course.

If you chose to do the Lifestyle College Landscaping course, check the prices section of their website for pricing details. Their courses can be done full time, or part time, section by section. This is a better option for those who work during the week.

To study the courses full-time will take you a year, at a cost of R30,000. The college does offer you the option of a payment plan, whereby you can pay a set fee each month over the course of the year.
The part time option requires you to pay for each module up front & the costs of each module are available on their website. Modules are divided up into 3 hour sessions over a period of time, while some modules are full-day affairs on weekends. This is far more of an affordable option as you can pay as you go, though it might take longer for you to get through all the modules.

For more information you can contact Lifestyle College on 011 792 5054 or email them on college@lifeimp.co.za.

For other articles on garden-related courses, don't forget to visit our gardening courses site.

Living & working in Johannesburg, South Africa