The course and notes are now
available!
The What(what
it offers, who is Dr. Perry?, some samples)
The Why (how
it differs, why you should consider it)
The How (how
to sign up)
Whether you are a home gardener, or industry professional,
if you’re interested in outdoor flowers, here’s what this course can offer
you:
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Knowledge of some of the more common annual and perennial flowers of temperate
climates, as well as other herbaceous garden plant groups such as ornamental
grasses, roses, aquatics, ferns, bulbs, and wildflowers. In all 200 are
covered extensively, and dozens more in lesser details.
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Lectures covering botany, design, culture, pests and problems—over 90 lectures,
grouped into 32 main topics and 5 modules.
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Quizzes at the end of each module are designed to reinforce the lecture
notes, and even add additional information, in addition to helping you
test your knowledge.
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Plant ID quizzes from photos will help reinforce your recognition of key
plants, and their proper name spellings.
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Exercises, similar to "lab" projects, will give you experience in several
related aspects of garden plants, such as the most common, how to find
information, garden history, plant combinations, current issues, and other.
Many of these results will be shared through the web so all can benefit
from the collective work of the class, in your region and beyond.
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When you sign up you will be placed on a listserver so I can share questions
and answers with the whole class periodically, key results of projects,
course updates and other. You wont be able to post directly to this list,
in order to keep the volume of emails down to those taking the class. If
you want more interaction, you will be directed to specific other lists
and chat rooms.
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Information is available in several formats, depending on your needs, desires
and learning styles—online notes, printed notes, notes on CD-rom, audio
versions of lectures (streaming with Real
Audio), CD-rom audio series, and online outlines to follow while listening
to lectures. You can sign up for, and order, one or more (see sign
up form below). Although there is lots of useful information just in
the notes, they are best used in conjunction with the course for enhanced
learning. There are many aspects of the course designed to reinforce
key points and plants, and give you additional information and exposure
to this whole field of study, not found in just the notes.
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Several videos, varying from 4 to 16 minutes, on various aspects of herbaceous
plants, also streaming with Real Audio.
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Useful list of terms.
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Highly linked pages, and index, in order to navigate easily and quickly.
This course is designed and taught by
Dr. Leonard Perry, Extension Professor at the University of Vermont.
Having first studied landscape design in the southern U.S., then herbaceous
plants at Cornell University, Dr. Perry brings this breadth of experience
to this course. Dr. Perry teaches a similar course to students at
UVM (PSS123 Garden Flowers
and Indoor Plants), works with Extension advising growers on ornamentals,
conducts trials and research on flowers and in particular perennials (see
Perry's Perennial Pages),
and travels the country and world speaking and visiting gardens.
So why take this particular course? What does it
offer unique or different?
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It’s one of the first such courses in distance education, and on
the internet totally online.
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Based on over 18 months of market research, and 6 months of testing with
university students, it has been designed to meet the needs of most--
as simple as possible to work with slow connections and novice computer
users, and priced affordably for the extensive amount and quality
of information offered.
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It is asynchronous—that means you can take it anytime, you’re not
bound by certain semesters, or certain weeks to finish projects. You take
this at your own pace and as time permits, with up to a year from signing
up to complete it.
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It extensively covers both plants and their related aspects such
as design and culture. Often courses and texts just cover one or the other,
and often in much less depth.
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In keeping with our Green Mountain State of Vermont, and environmental
focus at the University of Vermont, the lectures are based on underlying
principles of sustainability, environmentally friendly, and ecologically
sound.
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The lectures and information are widely applicable, not just in
Vermont or the Northeast, with geographic differences in culture and plants
noted as appropriate.
A few representative comments from students about the course:
"Wow, there is so much information in the lecture notes its amazing!"
"Good stuff to know for the gardener!"
"I think the material covered for this quiz was extremely useful
for someone who is interested in either beginning their own garden or improving
a garden they are currently growing."
"This [quiz] was a good representation of what was covered in the
lecture summaries.
Since I am taking the course strictly online that was a nice feature."
"I like the fact that you write in short summaries [ on quizzes]
for the wrong as well as the correct answers. It’s very helpful information
and easy to remember."
Sign up, order notes here
If you're ready to register for this course, or just to order the
lecture notes, click
here (html file)
or click
here (pdf file-- you'll need Adobe
Acrobat Reader for this one) to print out the order form to mail in.
Thanks for your interest, and I hope to be in touch with you soon!
If you have further questions not covered in this description, the above
samples, or order form, please contact me at: leonard.perry@uvm.edu
This site made possible by the Department
of Plant and Soil Science,
with additional support from New
England Grows