Gardening for Watershed Conservation

Discover the changes you can make to help build a resilient garden in a changing climate while improving the water quality in the local watershed. Learn how to implement various sustainable gardening and landscaping techniques that manage and conserve water. Reduce the demands of water management infrastructure by capturing the rain and keeping it onsite.

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Enhancing Life in the Soil

Native plant communities are supported by healthy, balanced soils that contain a vast array of living organisms including microbes, insects, and other fauna. Learn the basics of soil science, the value of organic matter and its role in soil structure and nutrition, and the importance of soil organisms. Explore how to make and use compost

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Ecological Landscape Design

Ecologically sound landscapes are designed to fit the local environmental conditions and require fewer inputs to achieve success. Learn how to assess, inventory, and analyze a site, then make a conceptual design and planting plan selecting plants ideal for the site conditions and desired functions. Broaden your design perspective, increase biodiversity in the landscape with

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Ecological Arboriculture

Learn the methods Mt. Cuba’s arborists use to apply ecologically sound maintenance strategies and retain dead trees for wildlife while maintaining landscapes and built spaces. Develop a deeper connection to trees by understanding their outsized role in natural ecosystems and how they contribute, in both life and death, to forest ecology. Students will be trained

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Hybrid Native Plants of Fall

Our highly popular Native Plants Series is available in a new course format. View the prerecorded lectures at your own pace prior to joining Mt. Cuba staff for scheduled onsite 2-hour garden tours. Tours include walking over rolling terrain and mulched paths. Dress for the weather. Classes are rain or shine. Six prerecorded online lectures

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Native Plants of Fall

Native plants of the Eastern Temperate Forest are beautiful, inspiring, and critically important for healthy landscapes. From the subdued colors and fragrances of spring wildflowers to the exuberance of summer perennials and the captivating hues of fall foliage, discover a wealth of plants to satisfy your gardening needs throughout the seasons. Using Mt. Cuba’s stunning

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