Graduate students from the George Washington University Sustainable Landscape program plan to study the native plant collection at the Hill School in Middleburg this April.

The Sustainable Landscapes program at GW strives to provide advanced landscape design students and experienced landscape design professionals with a fundamental understanding of best practices in landscape conservation and sustainability, adapted to the small-scale landscape.

The Landscape Design Program includes classes in landscape graphics; design theory; site analysis; site engineering and construction methods; history of garden design; a full year of plant courses with field trips to local public gardens (such as the U.S. National Arboretum, Mt. Cuba and Longwood Gardens), site and planting design classes; and a capstone project in which students design a landscape from start to finish.

Graduate students learn about regional native plants that are essential for sustainable gardening, such as the milkweed family and our native hollies, the design of rain gardens, energy and storm water conservation, green roofs, ecological restoration, green buildings and communities, and edible landscaping.

The program's faculty consists of 30 part-time lecturers, all practicing professionals. "The instructors bring challenges from their practices into the classroom," says Program Director Adele Ashkar. "This keeps our curriculum up to date and, in turn, the instructors find a renewed energy from teaching that feeds them professionally."

The two professors leading the student study at the Hill School are Susan Abraham of Lush Life Landscapes in Waterford, and Betsy Washington who has a private practice in Falls Church. Their professional profiles follow:

Susan Abraham: B.F.A. California State University, Long Beach, M.P.S. Landscape Design, The George Washington University. Principal, Lush Life Landscapes, Waterford, VA

Betsy Washington: B.A., East Carolina University, M.S. Oregon State University, certificate, GW Landscape Design program, independent landscape designer, Falls Church, VA