Horticulture and Nature

Amateur Landscape and Garden Design

This micro-credential program will help you master landscape and garden design skills in just 16 weeks. You’ll gain the hands-on knowledge and practice you need to create the yard and garden of your dreams.
View program

Explore how to create a sustainable, chemical-free garden that works in harmony with nature. This course will guide you through practical techniques like companion planting, composting and fostering biodiversity to build a thriving, resilient garden.

Creating wildfire-resilient gardens is essential in mitigating the risks posed by increasingly prevalent wildfires due to climate change. By incorporating fire-resistant plants, strategic landscaping and sustainable practices, these gardens not only protect homes and communities but also contribute to environmental conservation and long-term safety.

Juliana McCaig, an avid appreciator of fungi, shares her thoughts and experiences after completing the Introduction to Mycology course with Continuing Studies at UVic. This popular, self-paced community course is open to learners who want to dive deeper into the world of fungi. Here’s what Juliana had to say about her experience: 

Permaculture offers a mindset shift that encourages us to view our relationship with the environment as a partnership rather than a dominance. By aligning our daily practices with the wisdom of nature, we can create sustainable, regenerative systems that provide for our needs while respecting the intricate balance of the natural world. Embracing permaculture means taking a step toward a brighter and more sustainable future.

"Gardening is verk!" At least that is what horticulturalist and Continuing Studies instructor Jeff DeJong grew up hearing from his Dutch immigrant parents.

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

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.

More than half of the earth’s grasslands are degraded from nearly a century of intensive agriculture, resource extraction, and urbanization.

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.

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.

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.

"If we are going to save environmentalism and the environment, we must also save an endangered species: the child in nature." -Richard Louv, 2005