Program students learning about the Haney Hillside Garden (Amity Beane photo)

In this three-day course – Thursday through Saturday, April 4-6, 9:30-1:00 p.m. each day – you’ll learn ways to follow environmentally sound landscape design practices using native plant materials that are appropriate for Maine. You’ll learn how to plot and analyze a site, determine priorities the site needs for usage, and create and install an eco-friendly design featuring Maine natives.

We’ll emphasize sustainable design considerations such as understanding and anticipating runoff in Maine’s frequently shallow-to-bedrock soils, minimizing erosion and siltation, and conserving and protecting the site’s natural features (such as existing trees) during construction. We’ll consider low-input designs, such as those incorporating drought-tolerant and nitrogen-fixing native plants.

Instruction will take place both in the classroom and out on the grounds using the ecological designs surrounding the Bosarge Family Education Center as a living example of low-impact landscape design using native plants.

Irene Brady Barber is currently both a landscape designer for Cosmic Stone & Garden Supply and a seasonal horticultural educator at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens.  With an academic and professional background in both communications (human behavior) and horticulture studies, Irene is working to complete a professional certification in the field of horticultural therapy, which is the focus of much of her teaching at the Gardens. 

Lisa Cowan, PLA, principal of Studioverde, with offices in Cumberland, Maine, and Austin, Texas, is a nationally recognized landscape architect with expertise in ecology-based planning, landscape design and land management.  Lisa is an officer in the American Society of Landscape Architects Sustainable Design and Development Professional Practice Network and has been writing and lecturing on the design of beautiful, high-performance landscapes and the new Sustainable Sites Initiative rating system.   Lisa’s work includes the design of the landscape art feature at the Margaret Chase Smith Federal Building in Bangor, Maine; a LEED Gold residential landscape in Falmouth, Maine; a scenic overlook in Trenton, Maine; and an extensive portfolio of ecological design and construction methodologies for wetland, riparian and upland restoration.

Where:      Bosarge Family Education Center, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens
Price:         $120 members, $150 nonmembers (preregistration required)