Gardening school announces courses and celebrates graduates
There was a chilly wind at the beginning of the week, but we put on an extra layer and were able to get on with lots of jobs.
Having noted last week that the magnolias and cherries were flowering later than a year ago, they have burst into flower this week and are looking stunning.
There isn't any frost forecast so we are hoping they will carry on for at least the next couple of weeks.
John Little teaching the diploma students (Image: Norfolk School of Gardening) We have also spotted the first snake's head fritillary in the garden and so far the lily beetles haven't found it.
The statuesque imperial fritillary are yet to flower, and although they have some slug or snail damage to their leaves, again the lily beetles have left them alone.
We shall be on the look out for the little red creatures this week!
The Certificate in Practical Horticulture students had a sunny day for their assessment and the day went really well.
We look forward to celebrating their success at their graduation picnic in early May. In the meantime, some of them will already have launched their new gardening businesses and others will be more confidently gardening their own patch.
Frog in wildlife pond (Image: Norfolk School of Gardening) It's a great course for anyone interested in gardening and we just have one space left on the next course starting in late April.
We've had a visit from one of our fantastic guest tutors on the Diploma in Garden Design.
John Little is absolutely passionate about biodiversity in gardens and a huge proponent of creating green space on brown field sites.
His ecological approach to garden design is both challenging and really inspiring and we were thrilled to have him back in the classroom.
March is the perfect time to start growing your own vegetables, so it wasn't surprising to have a sell-out Your Veg Patch course this week, with lots of people keen to learn more about setting up their veg garden or allotment.
Certificate in Practical Horticulture assessment (Image: Norfolk School of Gardening) We showed them how to check their soil type, how to sow large and tiny seeds, how to create a fleece tunnel to protect brassicas from pigeons and butterflies, which varieties of veg we rate for ease of growing and taste and so much more. We do run the course again later in the year so you could join us then.
This is the busiest time in the garden, and to help you we have lots of one day courses covering most of what you need to know right now.
These are a few of the upcoming courses which have some spaces available. Let us know if you'd like to join us:
· Dahlia Workshop – 8th April
· Advanced Practical Gardening – 9th April
· Sustainable Cutting Garden – 10th April
· Certificate in Practical Horticulture – 25th April
· Advanced Pruning & Training – 30th April
· Basic Bricklaying – 1st May
· Advanced Practical Gardening - 7th April
· Gardening Under Glass – 14th April
Chaemoneles speciosa 'moerloosei' (Image: Norfolk School of Gardening) Plant of the Week
Chaenomeles speciosa 'moerloosei' is an ornamental quince which is later flowering than other varieties and has cup-shaped, white flowers tinged with shades of pink, from March to May followed by aromatic, greenish-yellow fruit.
It brings a welcome flush of colour to the garden in spring, when the bare twigs are smothered in flowers before the glossy, dark green leaves appear.
This vigorous, deciduous quince makes an attractive informal hedge for a sunny or partly shady site with moderately fertile, well-drained soil, and looks stunning trained against a wall or fence.
It is looking wonderful right now. The fruit can be eaten when cooked. Contact us via www.norfolkschoolofgardening.co.uk or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.
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Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Yahoo
Norfolk gardening school celebrates student graduation
If you have children or grandchildren in their early twenties you won't have failed to notice that it has been graduation week for many across the country. And our diploma students may not be quite as young, but they – and we – are just as proud of their achievements. We celebrated in style this week, with an end of year show of their amazing work and a graduation ceremony, attended by their family and friends as well as graduates from previous years. They have worked so hard and come so far. This time last year they were nervous hopefuls, planning to change their careers and life paths from a RAF officer, jewellery designer, maintenance gardeners, marketing managers, and software sales representatives to garden designer - and now they have done it! Diploma in Garden Design graduation 2025 Pete Forrest (Image: Norfolk School of Gardening) Two of them have won a gold medal at Hampton Court and several of them have already had their first commission to create gardens for clients. Now they are all launched on their new career. It was wonderful to celebrate this milestone with them. One of the best things about the school is that students, alumni and graduates become part of our family network. They stay in touch with each other and with us and there is a growing band of garden lovers and professionals across the region and beyond, which has roots running deep and wide. Diploma in Garden Design graduation 2025 (Image: Norfolk School of Gardening) As well as preparing for the graduation ceremony we have been busy in the garden. There has been a little less watering to do of plants already in the ground, but we still have countless pots which dry out in this weather - even with the bit of rain we have had. It is rare for rainfall alone to be enough for plants in any size pot. And of course the plants in the greenhouses are still just as thirsty. The recent Hampton Court garden was dug up a couple of weeks ago, and the plan was always to relocate the plants to the school's garden. We've not been involved in a show garden before, so we didn't appreciate that in order to create a stunning display you need to have at least three times (yes really) the number of plants you will actually use. So it's safe to say that we were a little astonished at the dozens and dozens of plants which arrived here. Hampton Court arrives at Bixley (Image: Norfolk School of Gardening) We have been very busy getting them into the ground and watered! These are some of the first courses next term which have spaces available. Let us know if you'd like to join us: · Introduction to Garden Design – September 11 · Certificate in Practical Horticulture – September 12 · Advanced Practical Gardening – September 17 · Plants for Free – September 24 · Border Renovation – October 1 echinacea purpurea (Image: Norfolk School of Gardening) PLANT OF THE WEEK Echinacea purpurea, also known as purple coneflower, has pink flowers and a large, orange-brown cone in the centre. It's perfect for growing in drifts towards the middle or back of a cottage-style or herbaceous border, or among grasses and rudbeckias in a prairie-style planting scheme. It is easy to grow - resistant to adverse weather, doesn't need staking and will come back, year after year. Echinacea purpurea flowers for months on end and the flowers are long-lived, excellent for cutting and extremely attractive to pollinators. Grow in well-drained soil in full sun. Deadhead the flowers as they fade to encourage more to form, but in autumn leave the seedheads for the birds. Cut them back the following spring, when the new foliage emerges. There are many cultivars available, ranging in height, flower colour and size of cone. For more information, contact us via or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.
Forbes
14-07-2025
- Forbes
Prudence Is A Gateway Virtue For K-12 Education
Prudence as practical wisdom combines foresight, judgment, and discretion. Prudence as practical wisdom in the classroom. "We need to offer the coming generations an education in morals as rigorous as their technical and career education,' writes political and cultural commentator David Brooks in The Atlantic. What might be the foundation for the main elements of this rigorous education in morals? As I thought about this question, I kept returning to two of my parents go to maxims, directed to me—and my siblings—on a regular basis. They offered me a springboard to answer this question. The first maxim was, "Use your common sense." The second maxim, meant to reinforce the first, was one of the worst things they could say about someone: "That person doesn't have any common sense." As a young person, I was attracted to the simplicity of these maxims, though not always sure how to apply them as I navigated my way around Collinwood, our Italian-American neighborhood in Cleveland, Ohio. They have been with me for over 70 years, shaping my perspective on life. As with simple truisms, it has taken me years to understand the complexity and insight behind them. I now realize that my parents' guidance was grounded in the virtue of prudence, or practical wisdom, which I'd learned about during my Catholic school education. Moreover, I came to a deeper understanding of how prudence is the gateway to other virtues that are important to a young person's K-12 education. This motivated me to re-educate myself on the meaning of these virtues. It led me to conclude that in today's fast-paced, often chaotic environment, the need for prudence—a virtue that combines foresight, wisdom, and discretion—has never been more critical, especially in our divided politics. As the gateway virtue, prudence offers a pathway to three other virtues--justice, fortitude, and temperance. Taken together, they offer a framework for a rigorous education in morals that complement technical and career education. And in fact, a growing number of K-12 schools are seeking to integrate them into their approach to teaching and learning. The Cardinal Virtues Aristotle, in his Nicomachean Ethics, outlines the foundation for the classical understanding of prudence. He views it as an intellectual virtue that enables us to consider different options and then choose the most suitable means to achieve a good end. This practical wisdom links knowing what is right and acting on that knowledge to attain human happiness or flourishing. It guides the other virtues by helping us choose the right means to an end. The Catholic tradition describes prudence as one of the four human or 'moral virtues acquired by human effort,' along with justice, fortitude (or courage), and temperance. They are the cardinal virtues, derived from the Latin word cardo or hinge. Prudence, or practical wisdom, is the foremost among the cardinal virtues. In The Four Cardinal Virtues, Josef Pieper says it is "the cause of the other virtues being virtues at all." Without prudence, justice is misapplied, courageous actions are harmful, and temperance is misguided. Prudence requires us to make the right decisions, considering immediate benefits and long-term impacts on ourselves and others. 'Prudence means practical common sense, taking the trouble to think out what you are doing and what is likely to come of it,' writes C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity. The philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre in After Virtue sees prudence as central to his attempt to revive the field of virtue ethics. He, too, considers prudence not just one virtue among many. It is that intellectual virtue that helps people deliberate well about the means to achieve an end within a tradition. It also enables us to integrate actions over time in a coherent way. He contrasts this ability for moral deliberation with the actions of a bureaucratic manager who is transactional and focused on technical ends rather than human flourishing. The Bourgeois Virtues Nor is prudence merely a Catholic virtue. Deirdre McCloskey, in The Bourgeois Virtues, calls prudence 'the executive function . . . the grammar of the virtues.' Prudence is not only about judicious wisdom. It is also an entrepreneurial virtue. It involves the courage to take calculated risks and the wisdom to foresee the benefits of temperate actions in the economic sphere. Prudence is a balancing act between daring and restraint—a quality indispensable in our current political climate. McCloskey also suggests that prudence plays a role in economic development, arguing that it underpins progress in capitalist societies. "The prudent use of resources, the weighing of costs against benefits, and the careful assessment of risk and reward are all essential to the entrepreneurial spirit that drives growth," she writes. Her view challenges the often negative perception of capitalist virtues, highlighting how prudence is pivotal in achieving ethical and economic outcomes that benefit society. McCloskey further explores how prudence functions in everyday life. Prudence is not merely about avoiding risk but about cultivating reflective habits that allow people to flourish personally and contribute to the well-being of others. "To be prudent is to be mindful of the practical implications of one's actions,' she notes, 'to foster a habit of reflective and deliberative engagement with the world." How K-12 Schools Are Responding Prudence, as practical wisdom, has much to say to America's ongoing discussion about young people, schools, and jobs and careers. The Purpose of Education Index, produced by the nonprofit Populus, is a multi-year, nationally representative study examining what Americans perceive as the primary purpose of education, including K-12 schools. While there are differences on some hot-button issues, two top priorities cut across every demographic group. First, Americans want schools to be places where young people learn how to solve problems and make good decisions. Second, Americans want schools to equip young people with practical skills that prepare them for life. According to the information gathered from the survey respondents, these priorities encompass ensuring that young people can read, write, and perform arithmetic, are ready for a career, and learn how to plan for and achieve their goals. The late psychologist and senior Gallup scientist Shane Lopez, in his book Making Hope Happen describes how this occurs. He identified three strategies that young people should develop to prepare themselves for life in general and their future career in particular. The first is 'future casting' or 'goals thinking', which helps them define and set achievable future outcomes. The second is 'triggering action' or 'pathways thinking', which creates a specific route to those actions. The third is 'agency thinking', which produces the mental energy and self-reliance needed to pursue goals along defined pathways. Pathways and agency thinking work together to foster the pursuit of goals. This framework implies that mastering a discipline is more than just acquiring a marketable skill. It also shapes our thinking in ways that allow us to set and achieve goals for our lives together, which is the basis for '…a theory of hope [that helps] to explain how to arrive at successful aspirations,' write the authors of a paper on youth aspirations. One example of how this virtues-based approach is being integrated in the classroom is the growth of K-12 classical education schools. These schools are 'a recovery of liberal arts education [that] place character…at the center of students' formative years,' according to Rob Jackson, founder of Classical Commons. a web-based social network that provides information and other resources to those interested in these schools. Classical schools now enroll around 677,521 students in 1,551 schools, according to Arcadia Education, a market analysis firm. Around 39% of these students receive their education through home schooling, co-op schooling, or microschools, with 34% enrolled in Christina evangelical classical schools, 18% in public charter schools, and 9% in Catholic classical schools. Enrollment is projected to reach 1.4 million K-12 students by 2035. I recently visited Vertex Partnership Academies in the Bronx, New York, an International Baccalaureate (IB) high school whose educational program is based on the four cardinal virtues. All students pursue the IB Middle Years program in ninth and tenth grade. They then choose between the IB Diploma or IB Careers pathway for their junior and senior years. Ian Rowe, CEO and cofounder of Vertex says, 'The four cardinal virtues shape every aspect of our school, We seek to develop virtuous high school graduates. There are no victims in our school, only architects of their own lives.' Anchoring Technical And Career Education Recovering the roots of common sense in prudence—practical wisdom—has much to contribute to today's debates over education, citizenship, and character. In an era of complexity, division, and distraction, prudence offers clarity, coherence, and hope. It helps us think critically, act wisely, and live responsibly. As the gateway virtue, it supports justice, fortitude, and temperance and help today's young people thrive not only in careers but in life. My parents' simple advice, 'Use your common sense,' echoes with deeper meaning now. It is, I believe, a call to revive the virtue of prudence as a gateway virtue in how we educate, live, and shape the future together.
Buzz Feed
12-05-2025
- Buzz Feed
23 Home Splurges That Homeowners Swear By
Being a homeowner comes with a lot of decisions, and that includes betting on whether a big splurge will be worth it or not. Well, recently, homeowners of the Reddit community shared the best things they bought that really improved their living, and I'm taking some serious notes. Here are some of the big purchases people made that they don't regret: "Turning one of my rooms into a gym. The whole setup cost me $1,500 — about the same as a gym membership for two people." —epapi169 "A giant air purifier — like, it's basically industrial grade. I feel so much healthier." "Almost 10 years ago, we installed a pond in our backyard. We get so much joy from it and can hear the waterfall from our bedroom. Water lilies and lotuses bloom, and we watch the fish, frogs, and birds. It isn't for everyone, but if you've been considering getting one for a good while, I say give it a go." —Buttonwood63 "Solar power. My power bill is low in the fall and winter, and in the spring and summer, my power is free. The power I sell back to the city pays for my water, too. I caught so much crap for installing that system, but it's literally behaved perfectly for the three years I've had it, and it pays for itself. I haven't had any issues with the roof, either, like the haters promised I would have. And if power exports from Canada go through the roof in price, I will be largely unaffected. I cannot express how happy I am that I made the choice to get solar." "A robot vacuum and mop combo. It even self-empties and washes its own mop." —Practical-Ant7330 "Smart light bulbs and switches." "Screening in the back patio. You get all the best things about sitting outside without the bugs." —DescriptionOne8197 "A bidet. It was the greatest birthday gift I've ever received from my spouse!" "An in-ground swimming pool and spa." —CreateYourUserhandle "Outdoor string lights with solar batteries. I love the ambiance and that I don't have to think about them at all." "I got a big ass toaster oven. Now, I never have to use the real oven!" —Changeofscenery65 "Paying for yard service and a house cleaning service. The gift to myself of time. We still work in the yard and the house, but instead of mowing, weeding, or scrubbing out grime from the sinks, we can focus on more interesting projects. Also, a walk-in shower for the master bedroom. Showering in a tub now seems weird and slightly dangerous." "A hot tub! We got it ONE WEEK before Hurricane Helene hit our area, so having it First, it was nice having extra flushing water on hand. It was pretty apocalyptic here, and no one could get water or get out of their homes with the roads washed away and the trees all down. Then, even with the power back on, the water was still bad, so it was nice to have our hot tub. I still can't believe the timing. It's nothing too fancy, but it's been nice and warm under the winter stars, and our kiddos love hanging in it. I constantly feel so uplifted because of the hot tub. It's the best purchase I've made, and it never gets old." —Teepeaparty "For the yard, an electric chainsaw was a huge improvement over a gas chainsaw. It's lighter in weight, easier to start, and there's no need to store gas for it." "Getting a six-foot fence around our backyard was worth every penny. I love our neighborhood, but it is so nice to have a more secluded feeling in our backyard. I go out to read and will do yoga or just hang out." —No_Photo_6126 "A generator. We live in a heavily forested area, so windstorms are a big issue. We used to lose power four or six times a year, and now we don't. It's awesome!" "A rice cooker. I went for a slightly more expensive Korean brand. There is so much I love about it. It takes the guesswork out of cooking rice, it has a timer function, it has a slow cooker function, and more. It's saved me so much time and effort." —My_Clandestine_Grave "A washing machine that dispenses soap. I only have to refill it once every three months or so. It's such a small thing, but it's been a game-changer for my family and me." "I am older and work a very physical job. I tore a tendon in my leg three years ago because of work. So, I bought myself an electric recliner that fits me perfectly and takes the pressure off my foot and legs in the evening. It's made my life, job, and attitude much better." —DasderdlyD4 "Central air conditioning. I'm in New England, and only very new houses have it. I had hot water heat, so I had to have all the ductwork installed and everything. When I felt the cold air falling from the ceiling for the first time, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. It was worth every penny." "A litter robot. We have four cats, so it is the absolute best thing. It keeps the house from smelling terrible, and we only ever have to worry about emptying the bin and topping it off with more litter once a week. They're expensive, but 100% worth it." —Squintz_ATB "A power sander! I'm very DIY-oriented, so I didn't want to spend the money when I could just sand things by hand. It made repairing drywall and more SO much faster." Lastly: "This one might be silly, but we got a nice fridge with French doors, a produce drawer in the middle, and a big freezer on the bottom. We cook at home for 95% of our meals, and it's definitely a treat after having shitty, old fridges in the past." —rg2404 OK, fine, now I want a pond. If you're a homeowner, what is the one big purchase you made that ultimately improved your living? Let us know in the comments, or you can anonymously submit your thoughts using the form below!
