Classes organized by the Kittery Adult Education Program:

use this link http://www.kitteryschools.org/Adult%20Education and then click on "Adult Education Brochure" to get more information and to register.

September 30, 2008, from 6:30 to 8:30 PM: Improving Curb Appeal

bring photos and dimensions of your property, pencil and paper. We will be focusing on the entrance area, driveway and the view from the road, and we will work on solutions that are efficient and economically.

March 18, 2008, from 6:30 to 8:30: Oriental Stonework Design in New England Gardens

In this slide show, Thomas presents examples of oriental garden and stonework principles and shows ways how these beautiful and efficient designs can be adopted to our New England Gardens. Many Japanese and Chinese design ideas can be easily applied to our landscapes and gardens without looking alien or exotic. The results are refreshingly natural.

This class is followed one week later by a hands-on design workshop focusing on stonework – oriental or not.

March 25, 2008, from 6:30 to 8:00: Designing walkways, patios, retaining walls

Bring photos, sketches, ideas, paper and pencil to plan your stonework projects. Under Thomas guidance, the class will discuss the different projects and find ideas and solutions that will work and look beautiful. The most problematic design challenges and the wildest garden ideas are welcome. We want to be creative!

Thomas designs gardens since 15 years. He uses natural stone and his work is oriented on integration into the surrounding environment.

Please call (207) 439-5896 (Kittery Adult Education Program) for registration.

Former Classes:

Low Maintenance Gardening

A survey of what your high-maintenance gardening problems are will be followed by an overlook of important low-maintenance gardening strategies and suggestions of plants that are reliable and rewarding without asking for your attention all the time.

Stone in the Garden

Join landscape designer and sculptor, Thomas Berger, to discuss the use of stone in your landscaping projects. Natural stone has many uses in the garden both as a building material as well as an element of beauty. In this class Thomas will advise you on how to work with stone in your specific garden setting. Bring photos, plans, sketches and ideas! Thomas will show slides of good and not so good stonework. He will also help with plant choices to combine with stonework.

Designing the Entrance Area to your House or Property

Thomas will assist you to improve these most visible and representative areas of your garden. Bring photos, unfinished landscape plans, sketches of all kind, and some measurements, and unleash your artistic green thumb. Professional plant lists and other design tools will be provided.

Miniature Oriental Gardens

Oriental gardens have a spiritual quality that help us to feel one with nature. We will apply principles of oriental gardening to miniature gardens. In this class, we will use containers in which we will install landscapes of stone, gravel and plants.

Every participant could bring one or more containers to choose from for his own designs, as well as some beautiful stones that can fit into these containers. The stones can look like little mountains and should have dark colors. The container should be broader than tall. A pan-like terracotta dish would work well. Gravel, potting soil and some plants will be provided by the teacher.

The Overall Layout

Get started on a landscape design for your new property or renew your old one. This class focuses on the big picture - layout of driveway and walkways, grading, terracing, drainage, outlining garden areas, finding ideas for the general layout, etc.

Please do not come empty-handed to this class. We want to work on real things, so bring photos, property maps, your own sketches, photos from journals, soil samples and anything helpful for the design process.

Problem Areas

Bring photos, plans, sketches and soil samples, even your dead plants from your problem garden areas where nothing grows at all, or where you just don't know what to do. It could be a very shade place, a strongly draining slope, a swamp, or ledge outcroppings - whatever it is, we will try to find some solutions and at least gather some ideas.

Tufa Troughs were invented in England as a substitute for stone troughs, when the fashion of creating these charming miniature gardens depleted the supply of old farm troughs. These trough gardens will remind you of a Bonsai display, but they are sturdier, require less maintenance, and are very versatile in design and use. In this class, we will focus in the casting process (a very special concrete mix containing peat moss) and then learn about soil mixes and do a sample planting.

Fee: $ 15 plus $ 10 materials; bring your own molds (specifications will be handed out to students before the class starts)