News & Events
Filter by
Designing with Plants Course
Location - Holehird Gardens, Patterdale Road, Windermere, LA23 1NP
Tutors - Louise Stoddart and Shelagh Todd from the NRT School of Horticulture and Garden Design based at Lowther Castle & Gardens. They are both very familiar with the wonderful gardens at Holehird as they have taught a wide variety of courses at Holehird over the last 30 years.
Course Description- It’s all too easy to have a garden full of wonderful plants that feels more like a restless collection than a well thought out design. Discover how to create a garden with a sense of year-round unity and well-being. Learn to select plants for their visual, aesthetic, and structural properties, how to assess your site conditions and the process of creating a planting plan on paper.
Course Content will include Plant Knowledge and Identification, Plant Form, Habit, Colour & Texture, The Role of Plants in the Planting Scheme, Seasonal Colour and Excitement, Considering Plant Selection and using the mantra of “the right plant for the right place”, Drawing up Planting Plans and Exploring & Discussing Different Plants and Themed Borders in the glorious gardens at Holehird.
Course Dates
Spring and Summer 2024: 4 days teaching (10.30am - 4.00pm)
Dates: Thursday 25th April, Thursday 16th May, Thursday 20th June and Thursday 11th July
Autumn and Winter 2024: 4 days teaching (10.30am - 4.00pm)
Dates: Thursday 19th September, Thursday 17th October, Thursday 21st November and Thursday 19th December
Tea/coffee/biscuits provided – please bring your own lunch.
Wear suitable outdoor clothing and stout shoes. You may wish to bring a notepad, pen and camera.
For more information and to book your place, please visit
or phone 07940 151563
Holehird Gardens has been voted RHS Partner Garden of the Year Regional Winner 2023 for North of England and Northern Ireland.
Visitors were asked to vote for their favourite 'Feel Good' garden among the 221 RHS Partner Gardens and Holehird repeated its success of last year in topping the poll for the North of England and Northern Ireland.
Visitors to the garden said:
“Fabulous location, very peaceful and wide selection of plants. Looked great even on a soggy day!”
“Every path you take there is so much beauty and variety with the amazing backdrop of the Lakeland views."
Holehird Gardens is unique in being run entirely by volunteers of the Lakeland Horticultural Society and this is a brilliant recognition of the efforts of all our dedicated volunteers, whether gardening or contributing in another way.
To mark the 50th anniversary of the LHS, our volunteer gardeners were asked to select their favourite plants amongst all those to be found at Holehird. Their 50 favourites are shown in this book. The book is illustrated with photographs taken at Holehird by our volunteers and the description of each plant includes growing information. Gold labels mark the “Gardeners’ Choice” in the garden. Many of the plants have also been grown for sale at Holehird - look out for same gold label on the pots in the plant sales area.
Price: £5.50.