I would like to go back to school to be a Landscape Designer but can't find a course that is a year or less.

Does anyone know of a course in Ontario that offers Landscape Design in less than a year and is a recognized course? I don't want to do the manual work (getting to old for that). I would like to design gardens with the computer.

I would like to go back to school to be a Landscape Designer but can't find a course that is a year or less.
hogwash cloothe. You get out there and pound the ground and you will find small jobs, some one who will take a chance on your personality and great ideas. There are places on the net to get what you need. Buy a landscaping software program and learn it inside and out. Go to the library and read everything you can get your hands on. Those small jobs will turn into references for bigger jobs and bigger jobs. Believe me, a buddy and me did the same thing with stone working and landscaping, and begged, borrowed and stole to get jobs and now my partner is doing VERY well. Our first job, we lost money on cause we had to go home every night and read up on the new mistakes we ran into that day, but we finished the job and it was award winning quality. We lost money on THAT job but the experience we gained gave us all kinds of exposure and confidence. You can do it and great luck to you! Do NOT give up and do NOT listen to downers like cloothe who think the only way to make it in this world is to give your money away to learn when you can learn for free. You will learn in the same time and in the end you will be making the big bucks just as fast if not sooner. You are an artist I can tell, Put your ideas on paper. That's all you're doing is drawing a yard. You rock on little one. The dragon knows what he is talking about, I promise you.
Reply:Now you have it, he doesn't know your story and can't pass judgement. Nobody ever gave the dragon anything but a chance and THAT'S all you can ask for. You will do well I know. Good luck! Report Abuse

Reply:The problem here is that you want the impossible. You want a *recognized* degree without putting in the time that a reputable institution would require.





I think you need to look ahead to how you will work as a landscape designer once you have learned what you need to know. If you do not want to do the manual work, someone else will have to do that. This means one of two things. Either you will have to form your own company and hire workers to do all the manual jobs, or you will have to go to work for a company that already has these employees and needs someone to do the designing on computer.





Starting a business means paying employees from the day you start, even before you have any customers. Unless you have a whole lot of start-up capital, you won't be able to pull that off right away, so you will probably work for a landscaping company, at least at first.





And there's your answer on how to get training. Go to the biggest landscapers around, and see if they will take you on as an intern for no pay. Yes, I said *no* pay. If you went to a regular school, you would have to pay the school, so a free insternship is actually cheap. Then, if you are good at this, work hard and learn fast, they might offer you a paying job. And even if they don't, you would learn how the business is run (how to get customers, where to buy supplies, and so forth) just by hanging around. That way, you could consider going out on your own at some point.





But you are not going to get a diploma or degree that means anything from a recognizable school in less than one year.