Create Your Own Landscape Design This Spring!
Design Together
April 14th – May 23rd, 2025
6 weeks of online help with your project
Live, weekly online workshops + Q&As
Only 40 spots!
Landscape Design for Do-It-Yourselfers
With help from a landscape designer
You are invited to Design Together, 2025! Starting April 14th, join us for 6 weeks of live, online classes with a landscape designer that guide you through the steps to creating your own landscape design plan.
You will learn:
Only 40 spots
“When Eve and I started with landscape design, I wanted minimal maintenance, year-round interest, in a unique garden with color, a wide variety of plants and a natural habitat (no chemicals)… Today my garden is a natural oasis with a wide variety of birds and insects. I am truly thrilled with the results. I have a great sense of joy in my little slice of paradise. I’d do it all over again.”
– Will N.
You'll create a hand-drawn "layout" plan that will act as your installation guide
In this course, you will learn how to create a "layout plan" (a top-down drawing of what goes where… Your vision and goals for the space)
Hiring help with installation? Hand your plan to a landscape contractor and they'll easily understand your vision.
Installing yourself? Having clear goals on paper will make it easier to break your project down into steps, and bring your dream landscape to life.
What we'll cover each week (+ dates)
WEEK 1, Starting April 14th
Class 1: Monday, April 14th, 5pm Pacific Time
Q&A 1: Friday, April 18th, 5pm Pacific Time
Welcome week + introductions! How to survey your site for characteristics that will influence your design, so you can play to the strengths of the space. Collecting inspiration. Clarifying goals and ideas for the space.
WEEK 2, Starting April 21st
Class 2: Monday, April 21st, 5pm Pacific Time
Q&A 2: Date/time TBD, we'll vote on the best times for Q&As
How to take measurements and create a base map (multiple methods, hand-drawn and alternatives). Prioritizing needs and goals. Preparing your map for the design process.
WEEK 3, Starting April 28th
Class 3: Monday, April 28th, 5pm Pacific Time
Q&A 3: Date/time TBD, we'll vote on the best times for Q&As
Design composition. How to take inspiration and turn it into a recipe for composing a design draft. Creative design strategies for beginners. Prioritizing and testing layout options. Design activities to learn about your yard and customize the design to best match the space.
WEEK 4, Starting May 5th
Class 4: Monday, May 5th, 5pm Pacific Time
Q&A 4: Date/time TBD, we'll vote on the best times for Q&As
Testing and refining your design layout. Soil covering materials and their maintenance requirements. Reducing maintenance. Defining irrigation zones, if needed. Breaking the design down into installation phases.
WEEK 5, Starting May 12th
Class 5: Monday, May 12th, 5pm Pacific Time
Q&A 5: Date/time TBD, we'll vote on the best times for Q&As
Creating a design palette (colors, textures, and materials). Landscape design styles. Prioritizing and designing plantings. Researching and selecting the best plants for your space.
WEEK 6, Starting May 19th
Class 6: Monday, May 19th, 5pm Pacific Time
Q&A 6: Date/time TBD, we'll vote on the best times for Q&As
Design refinement. Designing structural and filler plantings. Prioritizing installation phases. Tips for beginning installation.
About Your Teacher
Some landscape designers create design plans and hand them off, but I've always been a landscape design teacher. I helped my landscape design clients come up with the best design for them by asking the right questions, suggesting possibilities, providing expertise. All I did was put it together on paper!
Now, I'm excited to offer the same landscape design guidance in the form of online courses and resources: to guide do-it-yourselfers like you through the landscape design process. Welcome to Garden Project Academy!
Hi! My name is Eve Hanlin, and I'm a certified horticulturist, landscape designer, gardening teacher, and Master Gardener volunteer since 2011. I help do-it-yourselfers who are starting new projects to design their own landscape, have more successful garden projects (big and small), and make the world a better place with the opportunity they have to do some landscaping. I'm based in the beautiful mossy pacific northwest corner of the USA, though I help students all over the globe get their landscape design ideas on paper.
Considerations
What's the difference? Design Together vs. Design-Your-Own Landscape Layout?
Design-Your-Own Landscape Layout is pre-recorded and always available
Design Together is Design-Your-Own Landscape Layout plus extra guidance! You get 6 weeks of live, online classes & Q&As for extra help, starting April 14th.
The accountability of working alongside other do-it-yourselfers over 6 weeks will help you finish your design, so you can begin installation this spring
Should I take this course or hire a designer?
Hiring a landscape designer is a time and money trade off. The average cost of a landscape design in the USA is $4,565, with designers typically charging $50-$150 per hour for consultations. If you want to delegate, tap into experience and expertise, have someone else store all the details in their brain, or if you have a complex space... Then hiring help is the way to go.
Keep in mind that good designers are often busy. Especially in the spring, when waitlists can be weeks before beginning the design process. Some choose to DIY their design when they find out there will be a wait to hire help.
Whether you create your own design or hire a designer, do not rush this process! A good plan will save time, energy, money and increase the quality of the overall design by clarifying the vision and preventing mistakes.
Please wait for that good designer, or take time to create your own design. It's much cheaper to make mistakes on paper!
If you are someone who wants to be more hands-on, learn new things about plants and design, and create something yourself, then this course is a good fit for you. I'm not promising it's the fastest or easiest way to get a design done. It will take a few weeks of spare time brainstorming, learning, and sketching, but...
...you'll develop a new skill and learn a lot about your yard in the process
...you'll get to know a lot of plants
...you can spend the extra money you otherwise would have spent on a designer on... more plants!
...you'll spend less time communicating needs/preferences to a designer, since you already know them
...you'll be capable of making revisions during installation, if needed (they often are)
...and at the end of the process, you'll be able to take pride in your design creation.
Please remember a combination approach is also a possibility: you can create your own landscape design, take this course, and hire a local designer for a consultation to get a few hours of regional expertise. Perhaps ask them for recommended plants, regional resources, and feedback on your choices.
Don't forget to look into free resources offered by Master Gardener programs, University Extension Agencies, local environmental nonprofits and programs, and garden clubs.
How much time does this course take?
Design Together is 6 weeks long from April 14th until the end of May.
You have the option to attend live events twice per week, or watch the replays.
I recommend sitting aside an evening or so each week (1-5 hours) to work on your design. Especially in the first two weeks, plan to spend time outside. This is when you'll be exploring your space and taking measurements to draw your base map.
The pre-recorded part of the course resources includes about 10 hours of video content (some content is optional + bonus material). It’s like watching a movie per week for 5 weeks. You'll have access to this for 3 years, so go as fast or as slow as you'd like.
Do I need tech skills, software, or artistic skills?
Short answer is... no! ☺️🎉
If you can draw lines and circles, you'll do great.
Feeling extra fancy? Add in some colored pencil.
You will need access to a copier on a few occasions (this can be done at a local library or printing center if you do not own a printer/scanner).
I'll be sharing spreadsheets as a part of the homework and activities, so being comfortable typing into these will help. You'll need either a Google account (free) or Microsoft Excel. I'll share tips, of course!
We will not be learning landscape design software in the primary curriculum of this course. We'll be hand-drawing a landscape design plan.
If you DO have artistic skills, relevant software experience, or even graphic design skills, you can level-up your hand drawn map on your own time: but that's totally optional!
I'm already in Design-Your-Own Landscape Layout... Can I join Design Together?
Absolutely! And since you already paid $249 for Design-Your-Own Landscape Layout, please reach out to me at orders@gardenprojectacademy.com and I'll send you a coupon code to get this amount deducted off the full price.
Don't wait, there are only 40 spots available!
“Beginners through seasoned gardeners are benefitting from Eve's course. She imparts basic information to those just starting out but is willing to brainstorm with more experienced folks who have encountered unique problems in their landscapes."
– Constance M.
“My only concern was that it would actually provide me with enough information to create a landscaping plan....it turned out to above and beyond what I expected. I would say that it is a lifesaving course if you are unsure about designing your own landscape. It saved me a ton of time and money (both extremely precious nowadays).”
– Brenda S.
“Before I felt like I had to spend a lot of money to get the outdoor space of my dreams, but now I feel like I can create it myself for a fraction of the cost and use professional expertise more effectively, and not as a crutch.”
– Paige E.
Get help with your project this spring!
Design-Your-Own
Landscape Layout+
Design Together
$447.00
Join by midnight April 13th!
