NYBG's Plant Studio: Online Classes for Beginner Gardeners at the New York Botanical Garden
If you’re a gardener in the New York City area, you’ve likely toyed with the idea of taking a class at the New York Botanical Garden to stretch yourself in new directions—maybe even towards a new career. But if you’re anything like me, you never enrolled because while the garden is inspirational, it’s a big schlepp from where I live. NYBG’s Continuing Education program has just launched a new series of online classes that they are calling Plant Studio. A classroom at the New York Botanical Garden. Up until 2020, the NYBG had never offered online courses because the institution placed emphasis on hands-on learning. One of the five Plant Studio classes offered is called “Orchid Design.” The Garden will continue to offer their in-person certificate and continuing education courses, as well as online courses that are taught live and synchronously via Zoom. The classes are pre-recorded content and run two, four, or six weeks, but they are not fully self-paced—and that’s intentional, says Chubbuck. The Plant Studio classes are all online. The team at NYBG settled on their first five Plant Studio classes—Plant Science, Landscape Design History for Beginners, Orchid Design, Container Gardening, and Pruning Basics—after surveying existing and potential students. The six-week landscape design course, for example, is an easier and abbreviated version of one of the Garden’s most popular Continuing Education classes. Some Plant Studio classes, like the one on “Pruning Basics,” require completion of at-home projects. Plant Studio also offers gardeners an opportunity to meet key figures in the garden, who don’t have time to teach a conventional class.