A strong foundation in botany is essential to understanding how to maintain a healthy landscape. This course includes discussions on plant anatomy, plant life cycles and reproduction, taxonomy, and plant physiology. This course requires no previous knowledge of botany and is recommended as a first course in the certificate. Required text for the course: Introductory Plant Biology, by Kingsley Stern.

A strong foundation in botany is essential to understanding how to maintain a healthy landscape. This course includes discussions on plant anatomy, plant life cycles and reproduction, taxonomy, and plant physiology. This course requires no previous knowledge of botany and is recommended as a first course in the certificate. Required text for the course: Introductory Plant Biology, by Kingsley Stern.

The planning that goes into creating a beautiful garden is wasted if the soil is poor. Learn about soil structure, fertility, and water availability to understand what happens underground. Learn to improve the soil with amendments and other techniques. Lectures are supplemented by hands-on lab sessions. Students receive a copy of the BBG handbook Healthy Soils for Sustainable Gardens. Required text: Teaming with Microbes, by Jeff Lowenfels.

To grow and care for landscape plants, it's essential to know how to increase your stock. In this class, you are introduced to a variety of plant propagation techniques, such as hybridization (including an introduction to genetics), grafting, layering, and rooting cuttings. After a lecture and demonstration of each method, practice it in a hands-on lab session. Required text for the course: American Horticultural Society Plant Propagation, by Alan Toogood.

To grow and care for landscape plants, it's essential to know how to increase your stock. In this class, you are introduced to a variety of plant propagation techniques, such as hybridization (including an introduction to genetics), grafting, layering, and rooting cuttings. After a lecture and demonstration of each method, practice it in a hands-on lab session. Required text for the course: American Horticultural Society Plant Propagation, by Alan Toogood.

Using a small space to the best advantage is the aspiration of many urban gardeners. In this class, learn how to complete a thorough site analysis, work with space, become acquainted with many materials and techniques, and then select appropriate plants with which to create a design for an urban garden.

Using a small space to the best advantage is the aspiration of many urban gardeners. In this class, learn how to complete a thorough site analysis, work with space, become acquainted with many materials and techniques, and then select appropriate plants with which to create a design for an urban garden.

As products of natural processes, gardens seem timeless. As designed spaces, however, gardens are historical expressions of changing tastes and styles. Illustrated instructor lectures and student presentations will provide a broad overview of the history of garden and landscape design from its beginnings to recent developments in environmental and sustainable design. The course will provide students with a historical grounding for their own work as gardeners by introducing them to a wide range of design types and styles throughout history.

This class covers the elements of floral design and the tools of the craft through lectures, workshops, and critiques. Get a thorough introduction to basic techniques, including flower and foliage conditioning, greening an arrangement, and making bows. Create arrangements in a variety of styles. Learn to consider color, line, and texture. You will receive a toolbox to keep.

This class covers the elements of floral design and the tools of the craft through lectures, workshops, and critiques. Get a thorough introduction to basic techniques, including flower and foliage conditioning, greening an arrangement, and making bows. Create arrangements in a variety of styles. Learn to consider color, line, and texture. You will receive a toolbox to keep.

Learn advanced styles and complicated design mechanics with a variety of fresh flowers. This class allows you to be more expressive in your designs. You'll master techniques for parallel designs, vase arrangements, and working without floral foam, among other topics. Lectures, hands-on workshops, and critiques are included.

Prerequisite: Basic Flower Arranging. Location: New York Studio of Floral Arts, on West 28th Street in Manhattan. Directions will be mailed with registration confirmation.

Learn advanced styles and complicated design mechanics with a variety of fresh flowers. This class allows you to be more expressive in your designs. You'll master techniques for parallel designs, vase arrangements, and working without floral foam, among other topics. Lectures, hands-on workshops, and critiques are included.

Prerequisite: Basic Flower Arranging.

Arrangements for weddings and other special occasions can make or break the event. Learn to make bouquets, corsages, pew decorations, centerpieces, and headpieces in the styles and flowers that most brides want. Bring your toolbox.

Prerequisites: Basic and Intermediate Flower Arranging.

Arrangements for weddings and other special occasions can make or break the event. Learn to make bouquets, corsages, pew decorations, centerpieces, and headpieces in the styles and flowers that most brides want. Bring your toolbox.

Prerequisites: Basic and Intermediate Flower Arranging.

To work in the industry you must learn the unique styles and techniques of sympathy arrangements. Learn about communication and etiquette with the bereaved family as well as the mechanics and design of arrangements for funerals and memorials. Create funeral baskets, casket sprays, and inside-the-casket designs. Bring your toolbox.

Prerequisites: Basic and Intermediate Flower Arranging.

Please note class dates have changed from the printed course catalog. March 17 session cancelled; April 21 session added.

To work in the industry you must learn the unique styles and techniques of sympathy arrangements. Learn about communication and etiquette with the bereaved family as well as the mechanics and design of arrangements for funerals and memorials. Create funeral baskets, casket sprays, and inside-the-casket designs. Bring your toolbox.

Prerequisites: Basic and Intermediate Flower Arranging.

Discover the wide variety of foliage used in the florist's trade. Learn to create designs in four categories: exotic, hardy, high style, and soft accent. Also learn about the care of foliage plants, which can account for up to 50 percent of a retail florist's business. Bring your toolbox.

Prerequisites: Basic and Intermediate Flower Arranging.

Dried and silk materials offer unique advantages—and challenges—to the designer because of the long life of the arrangements and the materials' light weight. Learn the techniques to design with dried and silk materials alone and in combination with flowers and foliage. Please bring clippers or a floral knife.

Pair this course with the elective Preserving Fresh Flowers and receive a special discount.

A crystal or glass vase is a perfect container for fresh flowers. But the shape, size, or mouth often presents a problem to the arranger. Learn lacing, kubari, and other techniques to help you solve these challenges. The result will be the creation of a single unit that harmoniously joins flowers and container.

Learn to preserve flowers, leaves, and grasses via air, oven, and microwave drying; pressing; skeletonizing; and the use of glycerine and desiccants. Create a small dried wreath and pressed-flower notepaper. Take home fresh plant material and a container of silica gel to conduct the drying process yourself. All materials provided; bring scissors and your lunch.

Students registering for Dried and Silk Arrangements will receive $10 off this course.

If you want to install a rooftop garden and need to know which plants to use, or want to properly care for an existing roof garden, this workshop will give you the tools to get going! Class will cover technical aspects like weight considerations, irrigation, and materials, as well as soil, suitable plants, and design. Note that this class will cover gardens but not green roof systems. Look for more on green roofs at BBG in the future.

Most of our familiar garden vegetables are annuals like tomatoes and cucumbers, but there are dozens of edible perennials that will provide food year after year from just one planting. Many of these, including asparagus and artichokes, are also interesting ornamentals. Learn how to create a low-maintenance perennial garden that will please your palate as well as your eye.

Growing herbs indoors lets you pick fresh, flavorful ingredients year-round, whether or not you have a garden! Learn which herbs do best indoors and how to care for them, as well as how to overwinter outdoor herbs inside.

During World War II, 20 million garden plots were planted, producing 44 percent of the fresh vegetables in the U.S.! In these economically stressed times, the victory garden is making a comeback. Not only can you cut food costs by growing your own vegetables, the food will be fresher and more delicious than what you can buy at the store. This course will focus on planting and cultivation techniques for maximum yield from even small spaces, troubleshooting for insect and disease problems, and succession planting and harvesting techniques for continuous crops. This class is appropriate for both new students and those who took Victory Gardens in the fall.

Tailored especially for urban dwellers, this class focuses on growing edibles in small spaces. Students will learn all the basics: choosing the correct containers, selecting the best plants, making the perfect soil mix, starting seedlings, transplanting, fertilizing, simple irrigation systems, and home composting. Each student will leave this hands-on workshop with a container, seeds, seed plugs, and a soil-mix sample.

Tailored especially for urban dwellers, this class focuses on growing edibles in small spaces. Students will learn all the basics: choosing the correct containers, selecting the best plants, making the perfect soil mix, starting seedlings, transplanting, fertilizing, simple irrigation systems, and home composting. Each student will leave this hands-on workshop with a container, seeds, seed plugs, and a soil-mix sample.

Did you know that many of the "weeds" you've been throwing into the compost are delicious vegetables? Learn how to safely identify your garden's edible volunteers and the tastiest ways to prepare them.

Do you garden by impulse each year without having a long-term garden plan? Here's your chance to learn simple planning techniques from a design pro that will make gardening fun, not frustrating! Learn how to deal with poor soil, excessive shade, and awkward spaces to create a garden that you'll enjoy for years to come.

Create a natural habitat alive with songbirds, hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies! This course focuses on providing food, water, cover, and places for animals to raise their young. We will discuss garden design, native plant selection, organic garden maintenance, and how to certify your garden as a wildlife habitat. You will survey your garden as it is now, then learn how to add elements that support wildlife. Experience wild nature in your own garden!

If you love horticulture, you'll enjoy this intensive introduction to the botany of geophytes and their natural growing cycles. Learn how to cultivate bulbs successfully by understanding these underground storage organs. Each session begins with a classroom lecture to introduce specific spring bulbs with scientific names and identifying characteristics, followed by a walk in the Garden to study the plants in situ. Dress for the weather. This course is an appropriate follow-up to The Exciting World of Geophytes in the fall. No prerequisites.

Take the NYS DEC-approved 30-hour core curriculum and training in categories 1 to 25, plus recertification courses, right here in Brooklyn! Get ready for the state exam, learn required health and safety issues, handling and use, equipment, record-keeping, fundamentals of integrated pest management, and specific category information.

This intensive class is for people who want to design their own garden with professional assistance and individual attention from seasoned garden coaches. Find out how to analyze your site, avoid mistakes, lay out a hardscape, and choose the right plants. In the first few classes, you will learn to understand a space and design a garden plan, developing your unique vision from concept sketches into a finished hardscape drawing. The second portion of the course covers how to use the right plant in the right place to design a detailed planting plan. Learn how to evaluate plants and combine them successfully to support your vision! No previous experience necessary. Expect to spend time researching, reading, and drawing outside of class. Students receive a design and planning toolkit. A site survey form and letter from the instructors will be sent with the registration receipt.

Spend time outdoors learning to identify birds living in the area or passing through on their spring migrations. Classes meet at the locations specified. Car-pooling is available; when registering, please indicate if you will need a ride. Please bring binoculars and a bird guide. If a trip is postponed due to rain until the following day, you will be notified by phone the evening before the trip. When registering, please provide a phone number where you can be reached on Friday evenings.

Tai chi chuan ("supreme ultimate force") is a Chinese martial art emphasizing how one's yin and yang can be brought to balance. Regular practice of tai chi chuan improves blood circulation, relaxes your mind and body, increases your chi (internal energy), and gives you a good night's sleep. The class is held outside on BBG grounds (except Tai Chi Chuan I), weather permitting. Wear comfortable clothing that allows freedom of movement.

This class includes step-by-step instruction in the principles of this ancient Chinese exercise. No previous experience is necessary.

Tai chi chuan ("supreme ultimate force") is a Chinese martial art emphasizing how one's yin and yang can be brought to balance. Regular practice of tai chi chuan improves blood circulation, relaxes your mind and body, increases your chi (internal energy), and gives you a good night's sleep. The class is held outside on BBG grounds (except Tai Chi Chuan I), weather permitting. Wear comfortable clothing that allows freedom of movement.

This class is appropriate for those who have taken Tai Chi Chuan I or have experience.

Tai chi chuan ("supreme ultimate force") is a Chinese martial art emphasizing how one's yin and yang can be brought to balance. Regular practice of tai chi chuan improves blood circulation, relaxes your mind and body, increases your chi (internal energy), and gives you a good night's sleep. The class is held outside on BBG grounds (except Tai Chi Chuan I), weather permitting. Wear comfortable clothing that allows freedom of movement.

This class offers advanced study of tai chi.Students should have completed Tai Chi I and II or have equivalent experience.

Learn to make, easy, fresh, delicious food in little time—with a bit of planning you can impress yourself and your friends. In this class for novice cooks we will bake, make a pasta pesto, find a new way to serve an old favorite veal dish, and learn to prepare quinoa, polenta, and other vegetarian dishes. Sally and the Palm House staff will demonstrate techniques. Students and teachers will have lunch together and talk about what was learned. Students will leave with a great new kitchen tool and everything they make. Class will stand in the kitchen to work, so please dress casually and wear flat shoes.

Have you made a resolution to live a greener life in 2010? Wondering how to eat local foods in the urban jungle? Join expert locavore Leda Meredith for tips and insights from her 250-mile diet plan (eating only foods grown or raised within a 250-mile radius of her Brooklyn apartment). Learn where to source local ingredients, how to eat local on a budget, how to eat local in the city for the season, and how to handle time and space shortages. Class includes a cooking demo (and tasting!) from Leda's new book, The Locavore's Handbook: The Busy Person's Guide to Eating Local on a Budget.

BBG proudly continues this series of classes devoted to the art of making and appreciating wine.The morning session teaches you how to make wine, with an afternoon session about drinking it! Join us for one or both; students must be at least 21 years of age.

Think your dream of having a vineyard means quitting the city for Napa Valley or the hills of Italy? Think again! You can grow grapes right here in Brooklyn, and this class will help get you started. This workshop covers the art of growing grapes and maintaining a backyard or small vineyard, followed by a tasting of homemade wine to complement what we've learned. Specific topics include terms and definitions, biology and anatomy, and varietal growing characteristics. We'll review considerations for establishing a small vineyard, including site selection, layout, size, recommended varieties, equipment needs, trellis designs, rootstocks, cuttings, grafts and propagation, and vine nutrition. Yearly growth cycles and the impact of climate, soil, pruning, pests, and diseases will also be explored.

BBG proudly continues this series of classes devoted to the art of making and appreciating wine.The morning session teaches you how to make wine, with an afternoon session about drinking it! Join us for one or both; students must be at least 21 years of age.

What better way to experience the "flavor" of a region than by tastingthe fruit of its soil? We will explore the wines of fabled grape-growing areas such as Napa, Bordeaux, Austria, Australia, South America, and more. (Returning students can expect new wines this term!) Each landscape leaves a distinct imprint on its grapes as a result of local soil, sunshine, water, and horticultural practices in the vineyard. Take a taste-bud tour around the world! Students will receive a short tutorial on wine evaluation and how to score wine samples.

You can make fabulous beads from remarkable and nutritional potatoes! Solanum tuberosum is naturally durable and resilient and an ideal medium for creating botanical jewels. Transform an ordinary spud into beads for stringing jewelry that makes a statement. The course covers preparation, basic construction, tools, and materials to design and create a stylish, unique necklace and/or bracelet.

Develop your understanding of color and composition using pastel, an opaque medium that allows layering and building of color much like oil paint. Integrate live plant material from the Steinhardt Conservatory into still-life portraits. This class is suitable for all skill levels. A supply list will be sent to you upon registration; all other materials are provided.

Please note class dates have changed from the printed course catalog. January 12 session cancelled.

Enjoy nature in the midst of winter by painting conservatory plants, mounted insects, fruits, berries, and more in watercolor, pencil, or line and wash. Heighten observational skills and develop your own style while exploring drawing, color, composition, and watercolor techniques like wet-on-wet and layering. This class is appropriate for all experience levels. Bring your own materials; a supply list will be sent to you upon registration.

Enjoy nature in the midst of winter by painting conservatory plants, mounted insects, fruits, berries, and more in watercolor, pencil, or line and wash. Heighten observational skills and develop your own style while exploring drawing, color, composition, and watercolor techniques like wet-on-wet and layering. This class is appropriate for all experience levels. Bring your own materials; a supply list will be sent to you upon registration.

Still life is an excellent genre for exploring relationships between objects and space. This class combines botanical study with still life painting by incorporating plants and other objects, background, and illumination into the total composition. The class will explore techniques for creating visual depth, making images "pop," and indicating relative positions in a composition. Plants and props are provided in class, but you can bring in favorite objects for a personal touch.

Explore writing poetry at the Garden—and beat the winter blues. In this two-part workshop, we'll draw inspiration from the tropical flowers and waterfalls of the Steinhardt Conservatory and the wintry Garden outdoors. This class is ideal for beginning poets as well as more experienced ones—and for those who simply want to jump-start their writing. We'll be reading and discussing poems by contemporary American masters and works in translation. Students' work will be critiqued in a supportive atmosphere, and creative assignments will be given.

Starting off with simple contour exercises, this class will teach you how to use line to delineate shapes—from still life to landscape. With each drawing you do, you will build skill and confidence to make finished drawings or as a foundation for painting. Subjects include art reproductions, still life, and of course, this beautiful garden landscape. A supply list will be available at the first class.

Nature is the theme. Simplicity is the key. With a bamboo brush, Chinese ink, and rice paper, learn the picturesque origins of Chinese characters. Get individual instruction in this ancient art form, and develop your own style. All levels welcome. Materials fee includes ink, brushes, and rice paper.

Even in the winter, the Garden provides a beautiful, mysterious backdrop for learning the basics of digital garden photography. This class will help you use your camera confidently and creatively. Learn camera handling and basic techniques, then venture into the Garden to practice! Each session begins with a review of student work, followed by instruction, before students head out to photograph the changing scenery. This class is for beginners or those who need a refresher.

Develop your understanding of color by focusing on the concept of value—dark and light, warm and cool—within an artwork. Starting with black-and-white media, we will move into color progressively, building on the ideas covered each week as the Garden's colors emerge with the spring season. Media will include ink, charcoal, conte crayons, pastels, and gouache/watercolors. A supply list will be mailed to you upon registration.

Brighten your winter days! Draw and paint water-lilies, orchids, and other plants in the botanically diverse climates of the Steinhardt Conservatory. The class focuses on drawing skills, composition, color, and watercolor techniques. Appropriate for students of all levels. Bring your own materials; a supply list will be sent to you upon registration.

Michelangelo said, "Everything is drawing." Explore the versatile medium of pen and ink using a broad spectrum of materials and drawing techniques, including the use of quill and bamboo pens. Investigate different ways to look and think about three-dimensional forms and spaces to create solid, believable images, while experimenting with pattern and composition. As a plus, color will be introduced using colored pencils and water-based media. Papers, inks, and quill pens will be available for the use in the class. A supply list will be mailed to you upon registration.

After the dismal winter, welcome spring by acquiring the skills to see, draw, and paint exquisite flowers from aster to bromeliad to sorrel. Study composition using the details of botanical forms, and receive guidance on techniques to upgrade your drawing skills and artistic abilities. Suitable for all levels. Bring your own materials; a supply list will be sent to you upon registration.

Every spring, thousands of people flock to the Garden to view the cherry blossom trees. Hanami means "flower viewing"—and that is what we will do. This class will explore the countless ways of capturing with a camera the beauty of the cherry blossoms at their height, using a variety of photographic techniques Each week student work will be reviewed and techniques discussed, while allowing plenty of time to view and photograph outdoors.

Learn how to accurately depict the clear, luminous colors of flowers in a variety of containers and with fruit and other still-life objects. In this hands-on class, learn to render the most difficult florals with a few simple tips and techniques. Demonstrations are given throughout the day, with an emphasis on expressive brushstrokes and bold application of color.

Capture nature's moments as you explore spring in the Garden and observe and record your impressions in your own inventive sketchbook journal. Our tools will be pencil, pen, and watercolor pencils; easy drawing and writing techniques will be discussed, as well as page design and lettering. This workshop is suitable for all levels. A supply list will be sent to you upon registration.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden is a glorious collection of gardens. In this series, each course is dedicated to studying and sketching one treasure of BBG. Acquaint yourself intimately with the beauty and botany of each garden within the Garden as you sharpen your observational and technical drawing skills by keeping a detailed sketchbook. Returning students should bring all supplies from past classes in this series. Newcomers to the series may purchase a sketchbook and basic drawing supplies in class.

Tucked within BBG's Steinhardt Conservatory are some wild and wonderful oddities of the plant world. In this workshop, they are yours to discover! With the expert help of BBG's foreman of the conservatory, Leonard Paul, we will study some very unusual specimens, and then start drawing. The second day's session is devoted to drawing, painting, refining, and finishing work and includes a demonstration of the dry-brush technique, which is often used in botanical renderings.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden is a glorious collection of gardens. In this series, each course is dedicated to studying and sketching one treasure of BBG. Acquaint yourself intimately with the beauty and botany of each garden within the Garden as you sharpen your observational and technical drawing skills by keeping a detailed sketchbook. Returning students should bring all supplies from past classes in this series. Newcomers to the series may purchase a sketchbook and basic drawing supplies in class.

Botanical taxonomy, as initiated by Linnaeus, is the science of plant description and classification. This class will focus on plants, but students are also encouraged to study insects, shells, and other natural objects. Using their artist's eye, each student will gather individual collections of nature's bits and pieces and arrange them by commonalities. They will then create illustrated designs based on their collections. BBG's Dr. Kerry Berringer will be our scientific advisor during the first session. The second session will be devoted to drawing and watercolor painting. We should have much on hand for inspiration!