Is 2023 The Year You Create A Garden With WOW Factor?!
12 Months of LIVE Classes With All The Knowledge You Need To Plant A Garden That Says "WOW"
If you’d like a mentor along the way, there’s no one better than Jimi Blake, plant aficionado and visionary creator of Hunting Brook Gardens.
Coming to you live via Zoom, Jimi will host 12 Masterclasses over the year on his favourite topic - glorious PLANTS.
Clever and creative planting is at the heart of every great garden. Each month you’ll learn everything you need to know about plants to create a beautiful garden haven you can enjoy all year-round.
Over the 12 months, you’ll get an insider’s view of how Hunting Brook develops and see first-hand Jimi’s extensive plant collection.
You’ll come away with lots of ideas, practical know-how, and the confidence to pull it all together to create your own spectacular garden space.
Masterclasses Month by Month
January 26th 2023 @ 7:00pm - 8:30pm (Ireland Time) :
A Beautiful Obsession
Based on his book, Jimi will give one of his most popular Masterclasses - 'A beautiful Obsession: A plantsman journey in his own garden’.
In this Masterclass, Jimi will take you through some of the new and most exciting plants in his collection at Hunting Brook Gardens and show you how he incorporates them into his creative planting schemes. He’ll also share his personal favourites and some of the rare and exotic plants he’s brought back from his travels around the globe.
February 23rd 2023 @ 7:00pm - 8:30pm (Ireland Time) :
Gardening in a Changing Climate
Jimi created an amazing sand garden at Hunting Brook where he grows plants few people thought would thrive on the foothills of the Wicklow mountains! In this Masterclass, Jimi will share his top tips on how you can create a sand garden of your own including design, construction, plant selection, planting, and how to maintain it through the year.
He will also look at the top plants for pollinators and how we can encourage more biodiversity in our gardens
March 23rd 2023 @ 7:00pm - 8:30pm (Ireland Time) :
Early Arrivals to The Party
March is an important time in the garden when Jimi shares some of his exciting plans for the year ahead. He’ll also show you the plants that arrive early in the season and look great for March bringing new life, joy, and colour to every garden.
April 20th 2023 @ 7:00pm - 8:30pm (Ireland Time) :
Full Bloom In The Shade Garden
Every garden has light and shade - and Hunting Brook is no different. In April’s Masterclass, Jimi shares how he creates spectacular shade borders including the best plants to use and how to maintain a garden in shade throughout the year.
You’ll also learn about the best spring bulbs to use to create layers of interest in your garden and some practical jobs Jimi does this time of year such as propagation of the annuals, preparing the exotic plants for planting out, and new plants he’s experimenting with for summer.
May 18th 2023 @ 7:00pm - 8:30pm (Ireland Time) :
Bridging the Gap from Spring into Summer
May’s Masterclass is all about how Jimi creates a dazzling show of colour and foliage in the garden at Hunting Brook with the use of an extensive pallet of plants. He’ll take you through the design process and the plants he uses to spectacular effect.
We’ll also look at the best late spring/early summer flowering bulbs and the practical work that is done during this time of year to create full bloom in July and August.
June 22nd 2023 @ 7:00pm - 8:30pm (Ireland Time) :
Summer Colour and the Wildflower Meadow
In this Masterclass, you’ll learn how Jimi’s unique planting style using exciting plant combinations create the beautiful borders Hunting Brook Gardens is now famous for. He’ll also share how he keeps the show going well into autumn with clever succession planting.
The wildflower meadow at Hunting Brook is breathtaking at this time of year. Jimi will share how he got it started and how he maintains it throughout the year.
July 20th 2023 @ 7:00pm - 8:30pm (Ireland Time) :
A Tapestry of Colour in a Midsummer Garden
Colour plays such an important role in Jimi’s planting design. In July, he’ll share his absolute love of colour and how he plays with it to create bold and unexpected combinations throughout the garden. You’ll learn how to use to a wide-ranging palette of plants for harmony and flow to create that ‘wow’ factor in your garden. Jimi loves to encourage his class to be brave and try something different.
August 24th 2023 @ 7:00pm - 8:30pm (Ireland Time) :
Full Bloom Borders
This is when Hunting Brook Gardens is at its best – in full bloom and looking fabulous. August is an opportunity to examine the main borders in more detail. Jimi will discuss how he uses light, colour, form and texture and repetition to create balance and link areas of the garden together. He’ll also share his growing and maintenance techniques, and how he keeps it interesting - even into winter. The class includes lots of practical tips on propagation, plant selection, deadheading, feeding, and extending the seasons.
September 21st 2023 @ 7:00pm - 8:30pm (Ireland Time) :
The Exotic Garden and Salvias and Dahlias
The Exotic Garden in Hunting Brook is a highlight. In September, Jimi tells us how to create an exotic style garden from design to plant selection. With Ireland’s largest collection of Salvia, Jimi gives us an in-depth look at the best Salvias (and Dahlias) – how to grow them and what to grow them with
October 19th 2023 @ 7:00pm - 8:30pm (Ireland Time) :
Late Arrivals to the Party
October is a time to look at the latest flowering plants that bridge that gap from autumn into winter. Jimi will talk us through the latest flowering perennials to use in sunny and shady areas of the garden, and the best flowering bulbs for this time of year.
November 23rd 2023 @ 7:00pm - 8:30pm (Ireland Time) :
Autumn Glory
This is the time of year when the woody plants take centre stage. This Masterclass focusses on Jimi’s favourite evergreen trees and shrubs in Hunting Brook. Together, we’ll celebrate Autumn’s rich and vibrant colours in leaves, bark, and berries that all carry the garden through the winter months.
December 7th 2023 @ 7:00pm - 8:30pm (Ireland Time) :
Jimi’s Favourite Gardens from Around the World
Over the past 35 years, Jimi has travelled the globe visiting gardens, nurseries, and natural habitats. It’s been an important part of his gardening journey where he continues to learn, be inspired, and gets to meet a diverse community of like-minded garden and plants enthusiasts. In December’s Masterclass, Jimi will share his favourite gardens and nurseries - what makes them special, the people who care for them, and the plant highlights.
Meet Your Trainer
Jimi Blake on his 'Beautiful Obsession'
Jimi Blake is a self-confessed ‘plantaholic', international lecturer, columnist, author of ‘A Beautiful Obsession’, and co-host of Ireland’s Garden Heroes. Jimi is also the custodian and visionary creator of Hunting Brook Gardens in Co. Wicklow where he grows the largest and most exciting private plant collection in Ireland.
He developed his passion for plants at a young age gardening alongside his mother and went on to formally train as a horticulturist in National Botanic Gardens of Ireland, Dublin. Jimi's first big break came at the tender age of 21 when he was appointed Head Gardener at Airfield, a 38 acre estate farm in south county Dublin. There, he gained notoriety in reviving this large Victorian garden back to its former glory for the public to enjoy once again.
After 12 years at Airfield, Jimi secured 20 acres to create his very own dream garden at Hunting Brook Gardens, Co. Wicklow, which opened to the public in May 2002.
Visiting Hunting Brook, it’s easy to see why it’s earned the reputation as Ireland’s most exciting garden. This is Jimi’s living canvas where he experiments and innovates - always pushing boundaries, never standing still and, most certainly, never boring. His planting style is creative and unconventional. Playing with colour, shapes, forms and textures, he loves repetition – particularly of strong colours and forms. And, he always thinks about year ‘round interest as every season brings something to the party!
When he’s not creating in the gardens, he’s working on his other great passion - teaching and sharing his knowledge through his online courses, workshops, lectures and tours.
As seen on
1. Jimi teaching in the greenhouse
2. Jimi and Co-Hosts of TV Show Ireland's Garden Heroes
What Gardening Legends Say About Jimi & Hunting Brook
"Hunting Brook is a garden that is endlessly beguiling and however many times you visit it, you always find something new."
Monty Don OBE | Presenter, Gardeners' World | Best-Selling Author | Editor
“What a real joy to discover both a treasure where the individual exotic plants excite and a collection that is both sensitively and imaginatively composed. All sculpted and tended by a gardener who positively overflows with enthusiasm.”
Chris Beardshaw | Garden Designer | Speaker | Author | Presenter
"To lovely Jimi, words fail me for once. Thank you for being such a huge inspiration and such a giggle. You make me love plants twice as much and all over again"
Carol Ann Klein VMH | Gardening Expert, Author, Presenter
“Hunting Brook the best teaching venue in the country”
Denis Cotter | Celebrity Chef | Author | Owner, Café Paradiso
“A taste for the exotic, a sense of adventure and a willingness to experiment has inspired a devoted plant-hunter to transform 20 acres of Irish farmland into lush garden to showcase his impressive collection. His approach is adventurous, exotic, naturalistic and experimental.”
Paula McWaters | Country Living Magazine
Sign Up For Our 2023 Masterclass Series
Included In Every Masterclass:
- A month-to-month focus on gardening and planting
- Plant Design and Plant Selection
- Plant Combining & Succession Planting
- Colour usage, propagation, cultivation techniques, and more
- Learn about the incredible range of plants growing in Hunting Brook
- The philosophy, techniques, and skills behind Hunting Brook
- What goes on behind the scenes in Hunting Brook Nursery
- Time to put your questions to Jimi In our Q&A session
- A recording of the session in case you miss it
What Students Say
"Jimi is a great teacher"
Jimi is a great teacher, enthusiastic and generous with his immense knowledge of plants and how to grow them. He’s a restless and experimental gardener, always pushing boundaries and looking for new ideas to try and to share, you are introduced to the best in plant varieties and creative ideas on how to use them. In and above the plants, there's time to enjoy new gardening friends who have continued to meet up long after the course finished.
Philip Holoway | Student & Garden Designer
"I can honestly say Jimi's course was the best thing I did"
I did Jimis plants person course in 2018, and I can honestly say it’s the best thing I ever did. He taught me so much about plants, combinations of plants, how to keep the colour going in my garden all year long, how to look at the planting with a critical eye and then be brave enough to change where change is needed. His enthusiasm is infectious, you can see the passion he has for gardening…and he passes that on to his students. It was a marvellous course…I learned so much from him. I’d definitely recommend to others.
Marie Arnold | Student
"Full of information and great fun"
I attended Jimi Blake’s Masterclasses over the past two years and found them very helpful, full of information and great fun.
The seasonal approach that Jimi brings in helped me to have a continuous display in my garden, and excellent colour choices.
Tips on planting combinations, propagation and where to access unusual plants was what I needed and the sharing of information from other gardeners enriched the experience too.
I would recommend Jimi ‘s Masterclass to beginners and more experienced gardeners while heartedly, as he has much knowledge and shares it in a easy to access way. Hunting Brook Gardens is my favourite place in the world to relax, as it has an atmosphere unlike anyplace else, with native and exotic plants living in the same valley with a stream running through and moss encrusted logs throughout.
Joyce Fitzpatrick | Student
"If you are looking to do an online gardening course, I can ONLY recommend doing Jimi's. Whether you are a beginner gardener or a gardening professional - this course really is for everyone."
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I purchase the masterclasses separately?
Why did you decide to stop selling each course separately?
If I choose monthly, can I swap to yearly and vice-versa?
More Student Success Stories
"No matter what level of gardener, you never stop learning"
I wondered would the online course be as good as being in the garden in person. Jimi’s videos are so good the only thing missing is the wonderful scent in the garden and meeting Doris and Billy. The content is huge, being able to access the course for a few months afterwards means you can watch at your own pace and on a wet evening! The list of plants included is great to have for future reference and to create a shopping list. No matter what level of gardener, you never stop learning and with so many varieties (species) arriving in Hunting Brook on a regular basis, it is always exciting. Watching him open box’s on Instagram is pure magic! Jimi’s enthusiasm is infectious and adds to the feeling of positivity generated, even online.
Yvonne Leavy | Student
"Jimi changed my life"
Everyone has a teacher who inspired them - for me it is Jimi Blake - he changed my life !
Ripping up the rule book, Jimi challenges conventional horticultural thinking with his unique, adventurous approach. Jimi has a wide range of experience and in-depth knowledge. He makes design, propagation, planting and pruning interesting, accessible - and most of all FUN !
You won’t find another course like it.
Petra Sturgon | Student & Garden Designer