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Detailed List of Retreats

Gardening For Happiness: The Basics of Gardening

Teacher: Chris Dalzell
Cost: 2 days accommodation + surcharge
Dates: Friday 05 December 2025 - Sunday 07 December 2025

chris dalzell pChris Is Back!

They say that 'your life begins the day you start a garden'. If you are looking for some green thumb inspiration and motivation,  join Chris for an uplifting weekend of basic gardening tips where you will learn the practice and art of gardening. The weekend will entail plant identification and plant selection of trees, shrubs, ground covers and bulbs. He will show you how to prepare a flower bed and how to lay out your plants, and how to plant trees and other plants and their maintenance. He will also advise on plant propagation showing the different forms of cuttings, seed sowing and dividing large plants and the pruning of shrubs and trees and highlight the importance of soil and how to rejuvenate a nutrient-depleted soil and deal with pest and diseases all this. Experience this – and more. Celebrate the BRC's gardens and its green spaces and listen to Chris’ latest fascinating experiences at Gardens On The Bay in Singapore.

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 Chris Dalzell was Curator of the Durban Botanic Gardens where he was in charge of special collections. He has studied, lectured and travelled internationally, collecting plant specimens from USA, Canada, Brazil, S.E. Asia, Australia and New Zealand.  For many years he guided the South African exhibition at the international Chelsea Flower Show where his stall was consistently awarded Gold and Silver-Gilt Medals. He was appointed Assistant Director for the development of Gardens by the Bay in Singapore from 2010-2012 and recently as Director of Conservatories from 2023-2025. He currently runs his own landscaping business Chris Dalzell Landscapes.