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Fees & Application

Duration

3-Month Diploma Course

Schedule

In Person every Wednesday & Thursday
2 days a week additional homework

Times

10:30am - 3:15pm

Next Course

January 2027 - March 2027

Essential Garden Design Diploma

Essential Garden Design Diploma

Sale price £7,800.00

Tax included

Course highlights

  • Understand the key principles of spatial design
  • Survey and analyse a site with accuracy
  • Develop a complete garden design to a client's brief
  • Produce professional hand-drawn plans, sections, details and mood boards
  • Create planting plans and specify plants with confidence
  • Understand hard landscaping, project costing and client relationships

Next Course

January 2027 - March 2027

Overview

Learn how to create successful and thriving outside spaces with the experts in garden design education.

Course content

Working with a real garden and client brief, students are guided step-by-step through the complete design process. Begin by surveying and appraising the site before developing an effective layout plan and exploring hard landscaping, lighting and water features.

The course then moves into planting design, from selecting plants for structure to creating detailed border plans. With site visits to nurseries and input from leading garden designers, students are also guided on the commercial considerations of establishing a garden design practice. By the end, students will have produced a complete set of hand-drawn plans, elevations and mood boards, which they will present to the clients before a winning design is selected.

Teaching is based at Chelsea Physic Garden led by course director Catriona Rowbotham with specialist lectures from leading industry professionals including Sarah Eberle, Richard Miers and Barbara Samatier. Visits are undertaken to trade nurseries, key suppliers and inspirational gardens.

What you will learn
  • Practical survey techniques
  • How to appraise and analyse a site
  • How to assess soil and growing conditions
  • The principles of spatial design including use of the grid
  • How to create a professional hand-drawn plan
  • Drawing cross-sections and elevations
  • Selecting trees and structural plants
  • Drawing up detailed planting plans
  • The use of lighting and water to enhance a garden
  • How to detail hard landscaping
  • Careers advice on establishing a garden design business and next steps

Gallery

IMG 2125
Plan

Who is this course for?

It is designed for aspiring garden design professionals and anyone who wants the confidence to transform their own garden. Students come from a wide range of backgrounds, including landscaping, professional gardening, graduates of other EGS courses and passionate amateur gardeners.

No prior design experience is required—just a strong interest in understanding the principles of garden design and developing practical new skills.

Student outcomes

Many graduates move directly into garden design or other areas of the horticultural profession, while others pursue further study to develop their knowledge in a particular field of interest. We are proud that many of our diploma students have gone on to establish successful businesses and exhibit their work at prestigious RHS Flower Shows.

Course Tutors

Catriona Rowbotham

Catriona Rowbotham

Catriona Rowbotham is Course Director of the Essential Garden Design Diploma and has taught at EGS since 2018. A former architect with more than 30 years' design experience, she now leads her own successful garden design practice, bringing a wealth of professional expertise and practical insight to her teaching.
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Eliot Barden

Eliot Barden

Eliot Barden is Operations Director at Majestic Trees and an award-winning horticulturist specialising in specimen tree production. He helps Garden Design Diploma students develop a deeper understanding of tree selection, climate resilience and how thoughtful specification and nursery practice underpin the success of every landscape.
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Kate Coulson

Kate Coulson

Kate Coulson is a garden designer and plantswoman renowned for her beautifully crafted, plant-led gardens. A graduate of The English Gardening School, she brings decades of experience in garden design and horticulture to the Garden Design Diploma, inspiring students with her thoughtful approach to planting, place and enduring garden making.
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Sarah Eberle

Sarah Eberle

Sarah Eberle is one of the world's most celebrated garden designers and the most decorated designer in RHS Chelsea Flower Show history, with 20 Gold Medals to her name. Tutoring on both the Good Gardening and Garden Design Diplomas, Sarah brings unparalleled expertise in planting design and horticulture to EGS students.
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Thomas Eno

Thomas Eno

Thomas Eno is an award-winning garden designer and founder of The Marylebone Garden Co. With more than 20 years' experience delivering high-end residential landscapes, he teaches the practical realities of garden construction, helping students understand hard landscaping, materials and how successful designs are translated from paper into beautifully built gardens.
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Patricia Fox

Patricia Fox

After a career in fashion design, Patricia Fox founded the award-winning landscape practice Aralia, creating elegant gardens that balance creativity with practical design. A tutor on the Essential Garden Design Diploma, she draws on more than two decades in practice to guide students through marketing, building a successful studio and developing confidence as a designer.
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Rosy Hardy

Rosy Hardy

Rosy Hardy is the founder of Hardy's Cottage Garden Plants, one of Britain's leading specialist perennial nurseries. An RHS Master Grower with 24 Chelsea Gold Medals and Honorary Vice President of the RHS, she brings unrivalled expertise in herbaceous perennials, propagation and plant selection to the Good Gardening and Garden Design Diplomas.
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Caroline Jackson

Caroline Jackson

Caroline Jackson combines more than 30 years of teaching experience with extensive practical horticultural expertise. Alongside tutoring on the Good Gardening Diploma and Advanced Practical Horticulture course at EGS, she works as a roving Head Gardener for Marian Boswall Landscape Architects and teaches professional horticulture at the RHS School of Horticulture, Wisley.
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Andy McIndoe

Andy McIndoe

Andy McIndoe is one of Britain's most respected horticulturists, with more than 40 years' experience in nursery production, planting design and garden management. Formerly Managing Director of Hillier Nurseries and Garden Centres, he shares his exceptional plant knowledge and practical expertise, helping students create beautiful, resilient gardens with confidence.
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Richard Miers

Richard Miers

Richard Miers is one of Britain's leading contemporary garden designers, with 30 years of experience creating award-winning gardens across the UK and internationally. A tutor on the Garden Design Diploma, his work has been recognised worldwide, including in World's Best: 50 Gardens from Around the Globe, celebrating the finest private gardens internationally.
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Liz Rentsch

Liz Rentsch

Liz studied Garden Design at EGS in 2011 after a career in the fashion and jewellery industry, and has run her own garden design practice ever since, creating gardens with a strong emphasis on beautiful, considered planting and a sensitivity to their natural surroundings.
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Barbara Samitier

Barbara Samitier

Barbara Samitier is founder of Moss Studio and an award-winning garden designer known for creating elegant, naturalistic landscapes. Originally from the South of France, having spent her childhood roaming in the Mediterranean hills, she got a taste for immersive, layered and tactile landscapes with a strong sense of place.
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Penelope Hill Smith

Penelope Hill Smith

Penelope Hill Smith is an award-winning garden designer whose work is informed by a deep understanding of landscape history, cultural influences and contemporary design. Combining professional practice with academic research, she helps students develop thoughtful, timeless gardens that respond sensitively to architecture, place and the people who use them.
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Nick Tripp

Nick Tripp

Nick Tripp is Managing Director and co-founder of the award-winning landscape design practice Taylor Tripp. A graduate of The English Gardening School, he has spent almost three decades creating timeless private gardens, bringing a deep understanding of landscape, architecture and classical design principles to every course he teaches at EGS.
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Paul Willavoys

Paul Willavoys

Paul is Customer Development Director of Landscapeplus and a specialist in garden lighting, irrigation and water features. Drawing on decades of industry experience, he helps Garden Design Diploma students understand how thoughtful technical design enhances both the beauty and functionality of a garden, ensuring schemes are practical, sustainable and buildable.
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Our Alumni

Notable recent alumni of the course include: Pollyanna Wilkinson, founder of the multi-award winning Studio Pollyanna; Manoj Maldé, RHS Chelsea medallist in 2017 and 2025 and broadcaster; and Frederic Whyte, another RHS Chelsea Gold Medallist. Other established names that began their careers at the EGS include: Jo Thompson, winner of multiple gold medals at RHS Chelsea and one of the country's leading garden designers working today; Adolfo Harrison, who has been creating award-winning gardens and landscapes for two decades; Tania Compton garden designer and journalist; Joe Swift, garden designer and broadcaster.

Learn more

Why The English Gardening School

Studying at EGS means learning from leading figures at the forefront of horticulture today. Course tutors include Troy Scott Smith, the head gardener of world renowned Sissinghurst Castle Garden, multi-gold medal winner Sarah Eberle and the award-winning designer Ann Marie Powell. Other specialist lecturers will cover topics including seed-sowing, botany, pruning and topiary supplemented by visits to exceptional gardens, including Sissinghurst.

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Talk to us

Get in touch to find out more, discuss your goals and begin your journey with The English Gardening School

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