36 Years of Educational Programming
Featured program!
Join us where science meets practice
Photo by Kim Sokoloff
July - August 2025
Ecology-based Landscape Practice:
7-Part Intensive Virtual Course
Join Landscape Designer Larry Weaner and native plant expert Ian Caton on a deep dive into the integration of restoration ecology and garden design. From technical instruction to personal anecdotes, Larry and Ian will share over 70 years of combined experience on the fine points of designing, planting, and managing ecology-based landscapes. Participants will have the opportunity to compare notes and interact with instructors during two post-program conversational sessions.
Photo by Mark Weaner
Native Landscaping 101
with Larry Weaner
You’ll never look at gardening the same way once you’ve learned about ecology-based landscaping.
Video produced by NDAL’s Institutional Ally, Wild Ones, and accompanies their free Native Garden Designs resource.
About NDAL
New Directions in the American Landscape (NDAL) is an educational organization dedicated to the art, culture, and science of ecology-based landscape design and practice. Put simply: we are passionate about stewarding the land with the natural and social world in mind.
Photo by Max Touhey
Scheduled Programs
Browse our upcoming virtual and in-person educational programs, and register to view recordings.
We’re in The New York Times!
Author Margaret Roach explores how Sara Weaner Cooper and Evan Cooper used an unconventional, organic method to transition from lawn to native meadow.
NDAL receives the 2024 AHS award in Horticultural Innovation!
We are thrilled and honored to announce that NDAL has received the 2024 Horticultural Innovation Award by American Horticultural Society (AHS). This award is part of AHS’s annual Great American Gardeners Awards, in which six individuals/organizations are recognized. The Horticultural Innovation Award is presented to an individual/organization “whose innovations have made the field of horticulture more sustainable and accessible to all.”
What program participants are saying:
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Totally fantastic! No other presentations come close to NDAL events in terms of quality and richness of information.
—Ben O.
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My mind has been opened to think differently about landscapes - how to view them, evaluate them and manage them.
—Amy G.
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If you want to know about ecological design, NDAL classes are a must. Larry and all his partner teachers are uniquely generous with their information.
—Barbera B.
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It was very helpful to walk through the thought process and understand step-by-step how you approach planting or restoring a native field or shrubland habitat. Beautiful photos!
—Rebecca K.
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I'm feeling much more confident that I will be able to design more intentionally biodiverse and/or weed suppressive landscapes that will evolve into stable communities over the long term. I am so inspired and feeling much more empowered with knowledge.
—Alyson T.
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Larry Weaner shared information that was new to me after 30+ years of gardening. He is literally teaching home gardeners from the ground up by sharing HOW plants grow and what we can do to achieve a beautiful garden while minimizing the nemesis of all gardeners, unwanted weeds. Knowing the behavior of plants is crucial to growing them and Larry Weaner understands this to be the Holy Grail of gardening.
—Joanne S.
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I can't believe how much I learned in the first class alone!
—Melanie P.
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Every time I listen to a webinar with NDAL, I learn something new or that I can change in the landscape. Thank you!
—Carolyn M.
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