SMCE4030 W27 Explore, Create and Succeed: Container Gardening for All

• Duration: Half-Day
• Day of the Week: Saturday
• Date: April 24, 2027
• Time: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
• Location: On campus at the University of St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto
• Cost: $113 (includes HST, and a planter and plants to take home)

Course Overview

Wish you could create the garden of your dreams but aren’t sure where to start? Feeling overwhelmed by the choices, plant care, and ongoing maintenance? In this hands-on workshop, gardening educator Claudia De Simone will break it all down using a simple, practical framework designed to make gardening feel approachable, creative, and sustainable. You’ll learn how to make thoughtful choices, build a container garden that works for you, and develop a process you can return to season after season.

No previous gardening experience is necessary. Whether you’re a complete beginner or looking to refresh your approach, you’ll leave with practical tools and inspiration to create and care for your own container garden, as well as your own new creative planter and plants.

Learning Outcomes

In this workshop you will:

• Learn the basic principles of successful container gardening, including how to choose plants and create combinations that thrive.
• Experiment with designing and planting their own take-home container.
• Explore the University of Toronto grounds on a leisurely garden walk, time permitting, and draw inspiration from the campus landscape.
• Develop a simple, repeatable process for planning, creating, and maintaining a container garden.
• Leave with practical strategies and a clear framework to help anchor and sustain their own gardening practice beyond the workshop–and your own creative planter & plants!

Method of Instruction

In this hands-on workshop, Claudia will introduce concepts and strategies for successful container gardening, and participants will get their hands dirty making their own small planters. Wear comfortable clothing that you can get dirty in.

Claudia De Simone

Claudia De Simone has been gardening for more than 20 years. It was through periods of exhaustion and loss that she discovered herself retreating to her garden more often. Gardening became a way to slow down, reconnect, and regulate her nervous system: weeding, working the soil, breaking a sweat, and creating with plants helped her process stress and reconnect with her creativity. Arranging plants was the easy part, and she’s excited to share the approach she has developed along the way.

Trained as a journalist, Claudia brings the 5 Ws and How framework to her gardening practice, using a structured approach to help gardeners make decisions without becoming overwhelmed. She holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Studies from York University and a diploma in Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Her research explored how women community health workers in São Paulo engaged their communities and local governments to revitalize community spaces.

Claudia speaks Portuguese and some Italian. A Level 2 Tai Chi/QiGong instructor, she may also incorporate gentle movement into the workshop.

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