Programs for Landscape Professionals

Scheduled for 2024-2025

Ecology-based Landscape Practice: An Intensive Course

Join influential Landscape Designer Larry Weaner and native plant expert Ian Caton as they explore the integration of restoration ecology and garden design.
February-March and repeated July-August | Estimated attendance: 100 total

View the July-August 2024 Intensive Course

Virtual Education Series | Registration now open

A series of virtual sessions of varying topics meant to expand the practice of landscape design and ecological gardening.
March-April and October-November | Estimated attendance: 400 total

View the March - April 2024 Virtual Series

NDAL In the Field In-person Sessions

In these partial outdoor and partial indoor one-day sessions, attendees will observe and analyze the real world results of various ecology-based landscape approaches.
August-October | Estimated attendance: 25-50 per program (3-4 programs)

View the 2024 NDAL In the Field Programs

Landscape, Ecology & Culture: 36th Annual Design Symposium

January | Estimated attendance: 500 total

View the 2025 Annual Symposium

Globalized Vegetation, Knowledge & Wisdom Virtual Conference (Title TBD) (In development)

This virtual, international session will explore globalized grasslands and traditional, indigenous land practices and wisdom.
Date TBD (2025 or 2026) | Estimated attendance: 75-200 total

Garden Ecology for Landscape Professionals (Growers, contractors, designers)

This intensive course will describe specific design, planting, and management techniques for contractors to effectively integrate “wild” landscaping into their repertoire and grow with the burgeoning ecological landscape market. An extensive Field Manual will be provided outlining all described approaches and techniques. Attendees will be provided with digital access to all course materials post-program, including recordings of the sessions.

Contact us to connect with a reference from a past program geared toward landscape contractors, sponsored by the
Massachusetts Nursery & Landscape Association (MNLA). View the brochure from this event here.

Native Meadow Management: An Intensive Workshop (College/institutional campus landscape maintenance staff)

This in-person, half-day program will include indoor & outdoor components and will be geared primarily toward college landscape maintenance staff. Landscape Designer Larry Weaner will discuss meadow management with an emphasis on regional ecology and plant communities.

Contact us to connect with a reference from our college campus staff training program at Colby College in summer 2022.

Community Landscapes (Title TBD) (In development)

During this in-person program a panel of landscape professionals and community leaders will discuss what it takes to work together on neighborhood landscapes. This program may have a particular emphasis on neighborhoods of disinvestment, incorporating a lens of racial justice and economic & ecological equity.
Estimated attendance: 25-50

Ecology-based Landscaping for Contractors and Crew Members (Title TBD) (with Spanish translation) (In development)

This session will explore ecology-based landscaping with contractors and crew members and will include Spanish translation.
Estimated attendance: 25-50

Institutional Training Program (Title TBD)

This in-person session will train the campus landcare staff of such institutions as colleges on landscape installation & maintenance.

Ecology-based Landscaping for Growers (In development)

This session will explore seed and pot-growing plants from an ecology-based landscape perspective.

Landscape Design & Ecological Restoration (Restoration/landscape professionals) (Title TBD) (In development)

This session will explore how the fields of landscape design and ecological restoration intersect, with practical applications for professionals in both industries.

Harmony, Rhythm and Time: Commonalities Between Music Composition and Garden Design

Landscape designer and music composer Larry Weaner will illustrate techniques including rhythmic pattern, repetition, transition, foreshadowing, and the introduction and resolution of harmonic dissonance. He will also illustrate how informed improvisation in response to spontaneous events, techniques common to contemporary classical music and jazz, can have particular relevance to the creation of “wild” landscape gardens.
Note: This presentation can be formulated for relevance to either a landscape design group or a mixed group of landscape designers and music composers/mixed group of landscape design students and music students.