Starting in January each of the Postgrad students led a group discussion - topic was of the individual's choice. There are 6 of us and we just recently finished with the series. I absolutely loved these discussions and always looked forward to the hour we had to explore ideas, thoughts and opinions.

These were the topics:

Gardens Are For People vs. People Are For Gardens (I did a blog post on this)
It Takes A Place To Create A Community And A Community To Create A Place
The Importance Of Having Garden Space And How It Changes As You Grow Older
Is It Possible And Helpful to Establish Personal General Guidelines To Use When Designing Gardens
Approaching The Garden As A Plantsman vs. A Designer
What Are The Ethics Of A Garden Designer: Innovation and Sustainability

The discussions were lively - and sometimes quite lively. I found myself doing a lot of introspective searching during and more so, after the discussions. I have spent days re-thinking what I had contributed, what others had said, and what I really think about each topic we covered.

Discussions are helpful tools for me - as one who used to be so nervous to share my opinion, it's good to have opportunities to express my thoughts, without necessarily being held to them. Sometimes you don't know what you think until maybe you say what you don't think out loud or what you do think and you just confirm that you agree with yourself. Simply having someone else there to bend the angle of the light a little so that you can understand an idea differently, or more clearly, is very helpful.

I will miss these discussions for the rest of the year - and hope there is room for more. MORE MORE MORE!! I could talk about gardens and design ideas and philosophies 'til the cows go mad.

Moo.