We believe that an understanding of basic Botany and in particular, the way in which plants grow, is fundamental to your practice of landscape design.
Preliminary work
Here is a link to an online course which seeks to expand your knowledge of plant naming systems, plant structure and plant physiology: http://www.landscapetutor.net/course/view.php?id=28 A user name and password is not required, simply enter as a guest. We are in the early stages of developing that course, but as a minimum, you need to complete the module on how plants are classified.
Assignment
After learning something about plant nomenclature, you are asked to use the spreadsheet tool in Google Docs to create a short plant list of the type that you would use in a plant schedule. Make it a list of plants from your local area and divide it up into Tal trees, Small trees, Large Shrubs, Medium Shrubs, Small Shrubs, Ground Covers and Climbers.
Learning sample
The figures below are taken from the Basic Botany course. We have added some internet links to Basic Biology under those figures.
Cell structure and function: All plants consist of cells. Here is a link to a short video from the Khan Academy that tells you something about the cell and explains how cells function.
Diffusion and Osmosis: Here is a link to an explanation of the role that osmosis plays in sustaining living cells.
