New York Botanical Garden Classes, New York

Perfume can be traced back thousands of years to an Ancient Egyptian tradition, beloved by Cleopatra. Discover the history of perfume and the therapeutic benefits of essential oils in this hands-on workshop. Learn scent-blending techniques and how to identify and keep perfume notes. Formulate three unique signature scents using wax, carrier oils, and...

Create your own professional-looking arrangements with economical, store-bought bouquets. Using simple design principles and fresh flowers from European-style displays in your grocery store, learn how to design and create your own elegant arrangements. Please bring: Pruners and a bag/box to take your arrangement home. 

Fifteen minutes is all it takes for a stylish arrangement that will transform your table! Working with a variety of seasonal flowers, you'll learn how to execute simple yet impactful designs that are versatile, sophisticated, and eco-friendly.  Take home one finished arrangement—and plenty of easy design ideas.  Please bring: Pruners...

Freshen your home while experiencing the soothing benefits of essential oils. Create custom-scented aromatherapy soy candles using essential oils to invigorate, calm, or heal. Learn the differences between petroleum-based paraffin candles and synthetic essential oil candles commonly sold in stores. Create and take home two 4 oz. container candles and...

Colors—like flowers themselves—evoke feeling and sentiment, and set the mood. Explore the role of color in floral design using a spectrum of flowers. This course gives you a solid grounding in color theory, while highlighting the latest hues and color combinations.  Please bring:  Florist knife wire cutter scissors pruners ...

Mushrooms have been utilized for thousands of years for medicinal and edible purposes. John Michelotti, owner of Catskill Fungi, will show you how to cultivate gourmet mushrooms at home using safe and simple techniques.  Using cardboard and coffee grounds, create your own oyster mushroom starter (Pleurotus ostreatus) to take home, while learning...

Gather your friends, sisters, or mom for a night of fun at our Midtown Center. Get creative as you put together your own professional-looking floral arrangement while enjoying hors d'oeuvres, music, and the company of other women. One part class, one part party, Girls' Night Out is a wonderful way to unwind while learning something new. Go home with...

Bring the beauty and bouquet of the summer garden into your home this winter with handmade, naturally moisturizing glycerin soaps.  You'll learn the traditional melt and pour process and combine fragrances of various dried herbs and essential oils—lavender, rosemary, mint, and more—to make four bars to take home.  Note: All the needed...

Learn the keys to successful floral design and master the mechanics needed to create round, triangular, parallel, and crescent arrangements. Experiment with shape, line, and symmetry, while composing beautiful, balanced creations.  Materials List: Florist knife wire cutter scissors pruners a camera box or bag to carry home your work Required...

Explore the basic principles underlying successful, environmentally friendly gardening, including the structure and physiological processes of plants and their relationships to the settings in which they grow. Students learn not only what to do, but why.  Topics include  soils and their improvement,  seed sowing,  vegetative...

Do you ever wish you could capture the details of a plant long after you've seen it? This intro class teaches you how to make realistic drawings of plants using a variety of techniques. Learn to draw a selection of plant parts, including branches, stems, leaves, and flowers, for pleasure or to expand your drawing skills. Recommended Textbooks: ...

Dive in to using low-budget table-top lighting equipment and techniques to make compelling photos of botanical subjects and floral arrangements. Photographer David Samuel Stern will discuss the basic principles of still-life lighting design and walk you through manual camera controls to achieve optimal effect, and get the foundation on which to craft...

Gain an introduction to the terminology, concepts, and basic principles of landscape design through lectures and simple two-dimensional exercises.  This course is recommended for students with little or no background in design who want to design for their own home or who are considering a Certificate.

Designed for students who want a user–friendly introduction to plant science, this course surveys the major groups of plants—flowering plants, conifers, ferns, and bryophytes—focusing on plant form and structure.  Learn about the relationships between appearance and function, ecology, systematics, and evolution, and become botanically literate....

Graphics are essential in developing and communicating your design ideas. Practice various graphic techniques and learn how to organize and render landscape plans on paper for optimal presentation to clients. Work with a range of drawing materials and drafting equipment.  Homework is required. This course is a requirement for the NYBG Adult...