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01995 642222

RHS Level 2 Principles of Plant Growth and Development (Part-time course for Adults)

About the course

A fun way to learn about the basics of horticulture in this RHS approved course. You will learn in a suitable environment, with excellent gardens for use as a learning resource.

The course runs for 30 weeks, on Fridays from 10.00am - 3.30pm.

A theory course with a small amount of practical activity to underpin some areas of the syllabus, along with weekly plant identifications.

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Course modules

Certificate

Plant Science I

Provides underpinning knowledge of the plant, its structure and function.

Plant Health

Provides underpinning knowledge and understanding of the effect of a range of factors on plant health.

Plant Specification

Provides horticultural knowledge to make recommendations for planting based on matching plant need and site requirements.

Plant Nutrition

Provides horticultural knowledge of plant nutrition and growing media.

Plant Science II

Provides an understanding of the range and role of plant adaptations.

Planting Styles

Provides horticultural knowledge of the factors involved in creating a wide range of different horticultural plantings.

Horticulture and Society

Allows learners to develop their knowledge and understanding of horticulture’s contribution to society, including social, environmental and economic.

Biodiversity

Provides an applied knowledge of the roles of plants in creating habitats to encourage biodiversity.

Entry requirements & additional information

Entry requirements

A keen interest in horticulture with a level of enquiry into plants and gardens. It is suitable for the beginner or some more experienced.

Learning and assessment

The course runs for 30 weeks, on Fridays from 10.00am - 3.30pm.

Progression

The Royal Horticultural Society's Advanced Certificate, the entry requirement for which is a pass on the RHS Level 2 Certificate. Alternatively, some students progress to the Myerscough Certificate in Garden Design.

Careers

Most people want to learn and improve their own gardens. The qualification does though open a door to further progression or to employment in the industry. Some have progressed to full-time horticultural courses, some have developed a business, and others have gained employment in garden centres or nurseries.

Special requirements

Weatherproof clothing and suitable footwear to allow you to venture out in inclement weather! Secateurs and a knife are tools which are a valuable addition to a gardeners toolkit.

Myerscough College Horticulture
Myerscough College Horticulture

Horticulture

Horticulture is a rapidly growing area of the economy thanks to a strong public interest in gardening, plants, sustainability and food security. According to the Royal Horticultural Society, the horticulture industry is the largest employer in the UK, supplying 18 million gardeners.

The number of garden centres continues to increase and the public demand for attractive horticultural landscapes remains strong. This means that plant growers, suppliers and managers are constantly looking for ways to improve their businesses.

Landscaping involves the design, construction and maintenance of urban and rural environments – to develop ‘greener living’ in these areas. It’s a real government focus and includes everything from gardens, parks, streets, waterways, leisure facilities and open spaces through to large urban redevelopments. There are fantastic career opportunities as the landscape industry is made up of nearly 8,000 businesses employing around 140,000 people, including local authority departments, heritage garden attractions and commercial landscape companies.

Our Gold Medal winning garden at Southport Flower Show
Our Gold Medal winning garden at Southport Flower Show

Show Garden Success

Work experience doesn’t get much better than here at Myerscough. Our learners have helped build award-winning gardens across the country - from a Gold-Medal entry at Chelsea Flower Show to Gold and Silver Medals at Southport Flower Show! They’ve also been involved with garden builds for the BBC DIY SOS project in Blackpool and show gardens at the RHS Tatton Flower Show and Chorley Flower Show.

PlantWorld
PlantWorld

PlantWorld

Myerscough’s award-winning gardens are laid out across much of the western edge of the Myerscough campus. As part of our garden kingdom, horticulture students are spoilt for choice in our Plant World display glasshouses! There are bananas growing in the Tropical Zone, coffee plants and pineapples in the Edible Zone, a Mediterranean atmosphere in the Temperate Zone as well as beautiful specimen plants in the Flowering and Foliage Zones.

Myerscough College - Horticulture Glasshouses
Myerscough College - Horticulture Glasshouses

Superb Facilities

Our horticulture students have access to some of the best facilities available. There are brand new commercial glasshouses, an extensive plant collection, fully-equipped landscape and construction workshops, a new Sportsturf education facility, a CAD suite and drawing studio and dedicated garden plots for project work.

Scholarship Programme

Every year there’s the chance for students to apply for funding to undertake overseas trips as part of their studies thanks to travel scholarships. The annual fund, from the Lancaster and Morecambe Agriculture & Horticulture Society Scholarship programme, pays significant bursaries to encourage young horticulturalists to study or explore business ideas abroad. This year, Bronwyn Jones, 19, went to Singapore to be involved as a volunteer on the ‘Gardens by the Bay’ project looking at increasing public accessibility to gardens and using innovation and technology in creating a city in the garden.

Latest news, Horticulture

Myerscough College Fellow - Christine Walkden
Myerscough College Fellow - Christine Walkden

Christine Walkden: Honorary Fellow

"My passion for gardening was nurtured at Myerscough College and I've been getting my hands dirty ever since." Celebrity plantswoman and horticulturalist Christine was awarded an honorary fellowship and regularly works with the College and our Horticultural department.

Myerscough College, St Michael's Road, Bilsborrow, Preston, PR3 0RY

For all enquiries please see our contact page or call 01995 642222.

UK Provider Registration Number: 10004478