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.
New Amateur Landscape and Garden Design program
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 details.
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. View details.
- 4 Seasons X 10 Plants = One Amazing Landscape!
- Bee Friendly! Plant Pollinators this Fall
- Borders that Break the Rules
- Botanical Art and Illustrations Through the Ages
- Bountiful Kitchen Gardens
- Coping with Climate Grief and Anxiety
- Drought Tolerant Gardening
- Explorations in Ecotourism: Coastal Treasures
- Fungal and Plant Ecosystems: System Thinking and the Balance in BC Forests
- Fungi and Forest Ecology
- Garden Border Design
- Gardening for Climate Change
- Gardening for Wildlife
- Gardening with Native Plants
- Gardens in History: Victorian and Edwardian Gardens
- Gardens in History: Japanese Gardens
- Harvesting Mason Bees: Hands on Workshop
- How to Talk about Climate Change Without Overheating
- If You Could Only Have One - A Specimen Tree for your garden
- Introduction to Backyard Beekeeping
- Introduction to Biology and Natural History
- Introduction to Fruit Tree Pruning
- Introduction to Mycology
- Introduction to Permaculture
- Introduction to Winter Pruning of Fruit Trees
- Landscape Design for the Pacific Northwest
- Marine Birds
- Mason Bees: An Incredible Pollinator to Host in your Garden
- Medieval to Renaissance: The Evolution of Botanical Illustration
- More Bulbs for Your Buck
- Mushrooms of Greater Victoria
- Nature Explorations at Yellow Point Lodge
- Permaculture for Ornamental Gardeners
- Plants in the Landscape
- Sea of Watercolours
- Small Wonders
- Success with Honey Bees: Backyard Beekeeping
- Sustainable Ornamental Gardening
- The Earth Laughs in Flowers
- The Six Senses
- Trees of Victoria
- Trees of Victoria I: Conifers
- What does effective climate change action look like?
- Wildfire Resilient Gardening
- Winter Gardens: Designing for Interest and Beauty
Nature Explorations
Nature Explorations are a great chance to connect with nature, recharge your batteries and explore the beauty of Vancouver Island.
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Peninsula Pursuits
Peninsula Pursuits courses generally take place at the Mary Winspear Centre and focus on the interests of the people who live and work in the community.
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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
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:
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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.
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"Gardening is verk!" At least that is what horticulturalist and Continuing Studies instructor Jeff DeJong grew up hearing from his Dutch immigrant parents.
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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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