Immerse yourself in nature.
If you're interested in nature, Vancouver Island is rich in learning opportunities. Develop an appreciation for nature as you explore your surroundings with a horticulture course or nature tour.
Horticulture courses
Whether you already have a green thumb or are looking to develop one, you’ll find inspiration in our horticulture courses. These courses are designed to help you learn about horticultural science and how it's related to many horticultural practices in the garden, nursery and greenhouse.
Nature explorations on Vancouver Island
Immerse yourself in nature and enjoy a memorable learning experience as you explore Vancouver Island. Each year we offer tours to exciting destinations, including Yellow Point Lodge, Middle Beach Lodge and Wickaninnish Inn. You’ll enjoy the pleasures of nature alongside a team of naturalists, biologists, artists and historians.
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Archaeology and Plants
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Digging Art
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Discover Burns Bog
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Explorations in Ecotourism: Coastal Treasures
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Field Trip - Strange Partnerships of Fungi and Plants
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Fungal and Plant Ecosystems: System Thinking and the Balance in BC Forests
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Fungi and Forest Ecology
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Garden Photography
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Gardens in History: Victorian and Edwardian Gardens
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Gardens in History: History, Art and Design of Kitchen Gardens
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Gardens in History: Japanese Gardens
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Gardens in History: Ecological Gardens that Engage with Nature
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Introduction to Biology and Natural History
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Introduction to Mycology
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Landscape Design for the Pacific Northwest
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Medieval to Renaissance: The Evolution of Botanical Illustration
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Mushrooms of Greater Victoria
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Nature Explorations at Yellow Point Lodge
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Parasites and Companions: The Strange Life of Mycoheterotrophic Plants
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Shop Your Garden
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The Garden Takes Shape
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The Six Senses
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Trees of Victoria
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Trees of Victoria I: Conifers
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What Does It Mean?: Mycorrhizas, Mushrooms and Plants
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Wildlife Trees and Danger Trees
with instructor James Clowater By Therese Eley, Marketing Services We all grew up with nature shows showing animals from Africa and other countries, but so little do people realise what’s right here," says James C
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Inspired by her work with the RNS program, Tamara Batory has initiated a pollinator garden project for her neighborhood block in the Oaklands community of Victoria, BC.
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More than half of the earth’s grasslands are degraded from nearly a century of intensive agriculture, resource extraction, and urbanization.
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Our relationship with nature is complex. We usually think in terms of taking from nature. It provides us with our needs and wants. But to be a part of nature we also need to give back. There needs to be reciprocity.
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Julian enrolled in the RNS program in 2002 thinking he’d learn better ways to pull broom, but instead he learned much about planning, and especially the importance of community involvement in ecological restoration. Whenever the courses allowed, he would do his studies and reports about Cuthbert Holmes Park.
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Bringing together ecological restoration and permaculture while also incorporating traditional ecological knowledge held by the Penelakut Tribe is the goal of Adam Huggins’ final project for his RNS Diploma.
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"If we are going to save environmentalism and the environment, we must also save an endangered species: the child in nature." -Richard Louv, 2005
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