The Plant School - Nurturing and developing a deep understanding of plants

The Advanced Tree Course

An in-depth study on trees

The senior lecturer for the course is Ben Jones, Arboretum Curator, The Harcourt Arboretum. Other lecturers are Dr John Grimshw and Dr Glynn Percival. The course concentrates on new trees as defined by recent tree introductions and is based at the National Arboretum at Westonbirt with days at The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The course runs on Thursdays from February through the year to the end of October

The Syllabus

The course covers the following subjects over a total of 7 days 

• Winter twig and bud identification in a range of trees
• Specific tree group identification including conifers
• Tree flowers and pollintion mechanisms
• Hardiness ratings as specified by The Royal Horticultural Society
• Recent pest and diseases and their control mesures
• Fruit typology
• Autumn colour and the mechanisms for colour change

There is no homework for this course but  series of informl sheets to help students back up their tree knowledge are handed out at the end of each course day. Students wishing to enrol on this course must have already completed The Tree Course or be able to demonstrate a good working knowledge of trees

Course Dates

The course runs on the following Thursdays:-

• 21st February  2013
• 21st March
• 25th April
• 17th May
• 20th June
• 26th September
• 24th October

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Course Fees

The fees for the course are £1150.00 and are payable in full before the beginning of the autumn term. A place is confirmed on the course by sending a non-refundable deposit for £100.00 together with the completed Plant School course application form.

Brochure

The latest Plant School brochure is available to download in PDF format. Adobe Reader is required.

Download the 2012-2013 Plant School Brochure.

Application Form

Application forms can be completed online or by post. Adobe Reader is required for the download version.