But what exactly is horticulture? It’s the technical term that refers to the field and science of plant development, which includes everything from care and manufacture of trees and shrubs to genetic alterations to typical produce to keep it fresh and free from bruising, such as many tomatoes sold in the United States.

The industry has eight subcategories which deal with more specific aspects of horticulture. Arboriculture deals with vines, shrubbery, trees, and other woody plants. This includes areas of research, planting, and care of all these types of foliage. Floriculture similarly deals with flowers and floral crops.

Landscape horticulture deals with the production and maintenance of plants involved in landscaping in all areas and climates. Olericulture and Pomology deal with vegetables and fruits, respectively. Viticulture refers more specifically to the production and marketing of grapes (as to wineries).

Postharvest physiology also at times crosses into the field of food science, as it tries to develop means of preventing spoilage and damage to all of the horticultural crops–including fruits and vegetables.

Fortunately, horticulture is the name of an industry that requires varied talents from many types of people. Engineers, inspectors, business managers, scientists and researchers, geneticists, and teachers are just a few of the workers needed in most areas of horticulture.

The industry is not only a stable one–it is growing. As I mentioned, many who enjoy the study of food science may actually find a rewarding career in horticulture. So how does an individual go on to become a horticulturalist?

Well, while your education is still in process, you can start with basic jobs that may seem menial or unrelated. Check out local floral shops, greenhouses, or gardening departments in hardware stores. You can even get involved in landscape design! All of these will help you begin to build a fundamental, practical knowledge of plants.

Do your research on the education level required for entry-level positions in the field you are most interested. Would you like to be a teacher, or would you prefer getting into advertising and marketing? Contact local firms or institutions; you might even ask about future hiring plans.

Decide which area of horticulture you would like to go into, and begin gearing your own education toward that particular division of the industry. Many institutions offer undergraduate degrees in horticulture, so from there, you should try to take classes which are tailored toward your area of interest.

Whenever there are speakers in your area, go and listen to them so that you might hear any words of wisdom they have to impart. Other than that, good luck–it’s a booming field, and the work is both helpful and rewarding!

Holbee Productions http://www.frederickrice.com/ horticultural speaker and lecturer, garden Designer and consultant. Art Gib is a freelance writer.

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The career outlook for a horticulture career is favorable. They make on average $25-$30 thousand a year. They work to upgrade crop yield, quality, nutritional value, and plant’s resistance to diseases, insects, and environmental stresses.

What’s in Horticulture?

Horticulture differs from agriculture in a sense that it uses as smaller scale of cultivation and uses smaller plots of mixed crops rather than a large field of single crop and the cultivation of a wider variation of crops, which usually includes trees. The study of horticulture includes eight areas that are grouped into two broad sections – the ornamentals and the edibles.

How is it Green?

Arboriculture refers to the study and selection, planting care and removal of individual threes, shrubs and other perennial woody plants. Floriculture includes the production and marketing of floral crops. Landscape horticulture encompasses the production, marketing, and maintenance of landscaping plants. Olericulture is the production and marketing of vegetables, Pomology is the production and marketing of fruits and Viticulture is the production and marketing of grapes. Last is the Postharvest Physiology, which involves maintaining quality and preventing spoilage of horticultural crops.

Horticulture is being practiced in gardens, plant growth centers, and nurseries. Work in nurseries includes preparing seeds and cutting to growing fully mature plants. These are usually sold or transferred to ornamental gardens or market gardens.

People who are interested in horticulture can find work in industry, government or educational institutions as well as private collections. The can work as cropping systems engineer or be a wholesale or retail business manager, propagators and tissue culture specialist for fruits, vegetables, ornamentals and turf; crop inspectors, crop production advisers, extension specialist, plant breeders, researcher and also as teachers.

People with a green thumb and real concern for plants and the flora are the best candidate for this kind of career.

Educational and Training Requirements

A career in horticulture and gardening maybe complemented by a degree in botany, biology, entomology, genetics, garden design, physiology, and plant design. Plant sciences as well as horticulture courses includes study of plant materials, plant propagation, crop production, tissue culture, post-harvest handling, plant breeding, pollination management, crop nutrition, plant pathology, entomology and others. A masters or a doctoral degree many be required in some horticultural science.

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There may be some variation in degrees from one institution to another, but usually the students of horticulture courses will be made to learn all about horticulture for which classes would be conducted and also will be subjected for practical’s where students will be required to get personally involved in the work.

The horticulture programs are designed in such a way so that it prepares the student who are graduates or event students who have just received the degree (high school or college or university). They are well prepared to pursue their careers as a landscaper which involves designing as well the up keeping of the gardening pursuits. This means, the maintenance and improvement of the new and already existing landscapes.

Here in both the situations the person can make money by taking it as a job or doing it as a business on contract basis.

Landscapes can also be re improved or the design can also be changed from time to time to match the present trend and contemporary designs.

There are different programs extended by horticulture courses. Amongst them are an associate’s degree, a common degree and a certificate course in producing an associate degree, a universal certificate, a certificate in production and installation and care.

Most of the horticulture courses place an important and special importance and significance on plant extension and breeding, the plant recognition, nursery, conservation culture, surface layer of ground containing a mat of grass and grass roots management, illness of plants and infections, the cultivation of trees for the production of timber and the designing, building and upkeep of landscapes.

Other classes may contain practice of woodwork, designing of gardens, scientific study of soil, scientific study of plants, and that studies of the principles of transmitting information and the methods by which it is delivered (as print or radio or television etc. and data processing.

Students who graduate may even be called for a chemical applicator’s examination:

If you are expecting diploma which is something more than the level of education that college students are assumed to have attained; some educational institutions extend classes in the branch of architecture, dealing with the arrangement of land and buildings for human use and enjoyment, for which there is a Bachelor’s degree. Graduates will also able to work towards a Graduate level, certificate course of study in designing of Landscape.

There are landscape gardening courses for study that are planned for both a person who pursues an activity in their spare time for pleasure and also for the experts.

Night classes are often Obtainable or accessible by means of a program of instructions designed primarily for adult students who participate part-time. A learner who is enrolled in an educational institution or university for horticulture are commonly individuals who have expressed a concern and he quality of having great facility and competence in field related with The cultivation of plants and all the plant life in particular.

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The tree is excellent for horticulture as it is tolerant to pollution and salt. The tree is widely used as a garden tree in both trained and untrained forms. The trunk and branches of the tree undergo training from the young age of the plant to make it more elegant and attractive to view. It is one of the popular subjects of bonsai, which requires patience in training the tree for many years. One can find many Korean Black Pine bonsai in the leading nurseries.

The tree is evergreen and does not change or have a leaf fall during winters. The leaf of the tree gives fragrance. The female cones of the tree are 4-7 cm in length and scaled. Male cones are 1-2 cm long and formed in bunches during spring. The color of the flower is yellow which blooms in spring. However, the flower is not too noticeable. The bark of the young plants is brown and it gradually changes to black as the trunk develops and the tree turns older. The tree also bears fruits, which are oval, 1-3 inches long and brown in color. The fruits are not attractive for the wild life, and the foliage creates significant litter.

Korean black pine droops as it grows. Hence, it requires pruning to support the vehicular or pedestrian clearance beneath the canopy. The tree can grow either in full sunlight or even in sunshade. It can tolerate clay, loan, sand, acidic, alkaline, soils. There should be a well-drained system of water to help the growth of the plant. The propagation is through the seed and they germinate readily.

Though any serious pests do not affect the Korean black pine, there are few like bark beetles, caterpillar, adelgids, and pine shoot moth, which do affect. Bark beetles can attack the trees, drilling holes into the trunk and are scattered almost on the whole trunk. The stress in the trees makes them more easily prone attacks. Hence, one has to keep the Korean Black pine always healthy. The pine shot moths will cause the fall of young shoots and the infected shoots may give off resin. Insects affect the shoots generally during the month of May. Use of pesticides should start from April to avoid them to cause damage.

It would be a rewarding experience in growing the Korean black pines. You need to prune, do a good gardening, and watch the needle cast. You can bear the satisfaction of raising it ones it spreads across giving the beautiful view to the entire place.

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TN nursery is a state certified tree nursery specializing in native plants and trees,shrubs,fern and perennials as well as pond plants and wetland mitigation species.

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The Importance of Carbon Air Filters

Although “hydroponics” literally means “water gardening,” air purification is an important component. One of the challenges maintaining indoor hydroponic systems and indoor gardens is eliminating the many airborne contaminants that can cause your plants to sicken and even die. It’s a good idea to have a blower of some kind that brings in plenty of fresh air to the space, but carbon filters are necessary in order to remove various potential toxins from the environment as well.

There’s another important reason why when engaging in activities related to indoor horticulture, carbon filters are important, and that is to keep odors at a minimum.

Types of Carbon Air Filters

There are several types of carbon filters available:

• Powdered activated carbon (PAC)

• Granulated activated carbon (GAC)

• Extruded activated carbon (EAC)

• Impregnated carbon

• Polymers coated carbon

• Activated carbon fiber

Each of these has a specific use, not all of which are appropriate for hydroponic systems and indoor gardens. Indoor air filters are of the GAC type. Used on U.S. Navy submarines, granulated activated carbon filters contain a form of that element of which the granules are relatively larger than that found in powdered activated carbon air filters.

How Do Carbon Filters Work?

It is not possible to see the process by which activated carbon purifies air and water, nor even under any but the most powerful electron microscope. Carbon is activated by treating charcoal with oxygen, which opens up millions of “micropores” in the surface of the granules on the atomic level. This provides a relatively huge surface in relation to size – up to 2,000 square meters per gram! Because of this surface area, organic chemicals that have a tendency to bond to carbon are virtually unable to pass through and are trapped.

By the way, carbon air filters are not effective when it comes to inorganic chemicals (the exception being chlorine, which is why activated carbon is good for water treatment). However, chances are that your plants won’t be producing sodium or any nitrates, and it’s unlikely to enter your indoor garden from the outside.

Replace Your Carbon Air Filters as Recommended

There is a limit to how much in the way of organic contaminants activated carbon filters can absorb; therefore, they need to be changed regularly. You can extend the life of your carbon filters by using them in combination with HEPA filters.

Susan Slobac has a great deal of experience with indoor gardening. Hydroponic gardening is the way of the future. Known to some as “soil less gardening”, hydroponics are proven to grow plants 20-30% faster than their soil grown counterparts.

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How To Become A Horticulturist?

Many universities and colleges offer certificates in horticulture. A certificate makes a business operation more credible. To be a horticulturist, you need to be knowledgeable in Chemistry, Botany, soil types, written and oral communication, plant pests and diseases and business management. The courses provide information on health benefits, food safety, gardening-techniques and ecologically sound lawns.

Job Opportunities

Professional Horticulturists can work in different areas such as:

Production – Managing a landscape service, greenhouse, vegetable farm, orchard, flower or plant shop, garden center, nursery or processing firm.

Landscape Design, installation and maintenance – Designing and planting plans with shrubs, trees, ground cover, turf grass and herbaceous ornaments.

Marketing – Wholesale or retail sale of gardening supplies, seeds, processed or fresh vegetables, floral arrangements and house plants. You can manage the marketing for a government, private companies, chain stores or wholesale distributors.

Research – You can work as a researcher to improve the yield and quality of vegetables, fruits, flowers and ornamental plants and develop methods for storing, handling and marketing them. You can specialize in plant nutrition, plant breeding, plant growth regulation with chemicals and similar interesting areas of plant research.

Pest Management – After training, you can work with central and state regulatory agencies, processing corporations, large farm organizations, agricultural agents and even agricultural suppliers.

Industry services and growing Horticultural Crops – Trained Horticulturists are employed in Seed Firms, pesticide material manufacturing, manufacturing of fertilizers, freezing and canning companies and landscape or farm equipment management.

Inspection – Trainedhorticulturists are usually employed in government or private agencies as inspectors and to manage uniformity in the production and quality.

Communication – Written collateral for agricultural or gardening magazines, television and radio and newspapers can be a rewarding field too.

Job Of A Horticulturist

· Plant preparation for retail and wholesale nurseries.

· Specialized plant production.

· Develop and manage outdoor spaces like resorts, hotels and sports complexes.

· Work for the park departments under the local authorities.

· Administer large department stores or businesses associated with the agriculture industry.

Horticulturists often work with town planners, landscape architects, engineers, and environmental conservationists. The horticulturist works towards building a better and beautiful environment and a higher quality of life through improvement, beautification and conservation.

Horticultural scientists or people with a university degree in Horticulture work for various agricultural research institutes, where they conduct research on vegetables, fruits, flowers and the grape and wine preparations in different rainfall regions. They are also involved in the marketing of horticultural products and agricultural extensions.

Job Market For The Horticulturist

With the emergence of a number of environmental issues, the job market has expanded for fruit, vegetable and environmental horticulturists, as extension specialists, research workers, teachers, scientists and professors. Horticulturists are employed as marketing managers, production superintendents, inventory controllers, landscape maintenance specialists, buyers, landscape supervisors, bedding plant producers, education coordinators and research assistants.

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solutions – Six Sigma Online – http://www.sixsigmaonline.org, offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.

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As a charity, they depend on the support and generosity of others to make a difference. Their charitable work is funded through members’ subscriptions along with donations, sponsorship and income from their garden operations, flower shows, shops and plant centres.
RHS Enterprises Limited works with carefully selected companies who share the high standards of quality and design granting licenses under contract to use the RHS name and works of art on their products in return for royalty income.

The Turtle Mat Company was invited to view the world famous archives at the Lindley Library and then the designers personally selected the prints to incorporate into an exclusive new range of Turtle® Mats. The Lindley Library holds some 22,000 original botanical illustrations and a number of portraits of eminent figures from the horticultural world. In addition to these there are some paintings of garden scenes and an extensive historic collection of photographs from the Chelsea Flower Show and RHS London Shows.

Tulipa is taken from the oldest volume in the Lindley Library’s possession – a collection of works by the seventeenth century Dutch artist Pieter van Kouwenhoorn. Agapanthus has been selected from an eighteenth century illustration by Belgian artist Pierre-Joseph Redouté. Both Tulipa and Agapanthus co-ordinate with other successful RHS licensed products.

Idalia Luczak – the a budding artist

Turtle® Mats’ winning cotton pile has been teamed with a unique precision dyed technique which leaves floors wonderfully clean and all mats are fully washable. The ‘Tulipa’ floor mat, was even nominated for ‘Gift of the Year’ by the Gift Association.
See more of their doormats

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Here’s a shallow example of HT at work in my superficial life: Many moons ago, I worked with the actor James Woods on a film shoot. Let’s just say he was “high maintenance.” I came home on Friday nights in tears, mumbling obscenities as I rehashed “another week at the office” to my kind, patient boyfriend. Saturday mornings, I couldn’t speak till I’d cleansed the demons. I would spend two hours sitting in my garden, alone, meticulously and fiercely pulling weeds, in a silent ethereal trance. Monday morning I’d be ready to face the egos again . . .

Last week I visited the wondrous garden at The Cedars Textile Art Center to see horticultural therapy at work, right here in Marin County. Since 1919, the Cedars has provided a special community for more than 2500 individuals with developmental disabilities. In 1981, the Cedars Textile Art Center was created by founder and Director Connie Pelissero. Her dream was to combine her interests in textiles and special education. With the help of longtime Co-Director, Denise Colwell, over 70 clients a day are provided with training and employment in textile weaving, organic gardening and animal husbandry on 21 spectacular rural acres.
And it all looks so organized, peaceful and healthy! (Nothing like a film set . . .)

I met with Amy Whelan, the Garden Coordinator/Queen Bee, who has been teaching and working at the garden for over sixteen years. She refers to the land as a “mini-garden of Eden.” When you first enter the Cedar’s garden, traveling along the winding path down the hillside, you know you have just crossed the threshold to a sacred place. Fruit trees, wild roses, hollyhocks, iris, lavender, penstemon and various tall, climbing beans and peas surround you. A painted sign reads “The Earth Laughs in Flowers.” Here new clients are taught how to make compost, grow seeds, water plants, weed, prune and nurture the earth. Many of these clients will go on to teach these same valuable skills to schoolchildren who come visit. The cycle of life is demonstrated here starting with compost, a seed, a flower, a wilted flower and back to the compost pile to begin again.

In the Cedars garden, clients of all ages ranging fro 20 to 80 yrs. old use horticultural therapy to promote healing and learning. Working in the garden provides a positive sense of wellbeing, problem solving, teaches new skills, social interaction and communication. Whelan sees the benefits from working in a garden first hand with her clients. “Everyone who enjoys gardening knows that working with plants fulfills basic human needs. Through horticultural therapy, you can facilitate these benefits with people on many levels.”

She explains the three main areas of horticultural therapy: social development, psychological and physical.

Social Development:

Gardening teaches new skills and vocabulary, helps people gain independence, helps them make new friends as they work cooperatively towards common goals, and increases attention span and concentration in easily distracted individuals.

Psychological:

Gardening meets nurturing need through taking care of living things (plants), encourages creativity, self-esteem and responsibility by project selection and design, and decreases stress, anger and aggressiveness.

Physical:

Gardeners enjoy activities as they increase strength and range of motion using fine and gross motor skills. They also have access to near limitless opportunities for year-round exercise and relaxation in serene garden settings.

Whelan adds, “In the spring we have many schools visit the garden. The children observe individuals with developmental disabilities teaching, working, planting and caring for a garden. There is an awareness of healthy eating and living. It’s fun, beautiful and outdoors!” Schoolchildren who visit may be taught by Todd Williams, a client who is supervising the greenhouse on the morning I visit. We bond immediately over the magic of seedlings. “I like to teach the children about planting seeds. I share their excitement with what may sprout. And I like their high energy!,” says Williams.

The schoolchildren also visit the friendly sheep and goats, and the beautiful Angora rabbits, whose cages sit on the worm composting bin below them! The Angora rabbits are groomed daily by the clients and the fur is used in weaving. The fruits and vegetables grown in the garden are used to serve a daily homemade lunch, created by the clients, to everyone at the Cedars.

Whelan adds, “Over the years at the Cedars garden, I have observed and heard clients say things about the garden such as: increased happiness, it’s relaxing, interesting, there’s always something to do, productive, you can always see something growing and it’s a place that they are proud of being a part of.”

You can be a part of it too! If you’d like to have your classroom visit The Cedars, or become a volunteer, contact the main office at 454-5310. Come on down to the Cedarchest in San Anselmo, at 603 San Anselmo Avenue to shop! There are gorgeous crafts (rugs, blankets, belts, napkins) the gifted weavers at the Cedars have created.

Raised in the asphalt jungle of New York City, Annie Spiegelman moved to the Bay Area over ten years ago and became a passionate environmentalist and Master Gardener. She is the author of two previous books on gardening (and life). Annie’s Garden Journal: Some Thoughts on Roses, Life, Weeds, and Men (Carol Publishing, 1996) was a selected Borders Books title by promising new writers and her second, Growing Seasons: Half-baked Garden Tips, Cheap Advice on Marriage and Questionable Theories on Motherhood was published in 2003 by Seal Press/Avalon Publishing Group. She is presently working on her third book entitled “The Dirt Diva’s Almanac.” Visit Annie at http://www.dirtdiva.com

And lastly, Does anyone have two alpacas to donate? Seriously, that’s what they’re looking for. If you know someone, have their people call my people at 453-5310.

Visit Annie at dirtdiva.com

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“Rare indeed are the fields that can claim such a dependence on all three broad areas of knowledge!” remarked Prof. Bailey L. H., the famous American Horticulture scholar. Horticulture involves the study of growing crops, plants, herbs, turfs, shrubs, trees, fruits, flowers, vegetables, grains, cereals, or anything that falls in this genre. It is a science of plant propagation and crop production. Involved are the topics of botany and agriculture that study physiology, biology and chemistry of plants and trees.

Subjects of genetic engineering and bio-technology falls into the same group as well. Crop reaping, storage, quality assurance, processing, maintenance and transportation too are included. The tricks and techniques of improving crop production, their quality, nutritional virtues, immunity to diseases is also covered in Horticulture. Not only this, horticulture also extends to the study of non-edible ornamental kind of plants.

Horticulture employs a wide range of tools and technologies. It is a scientific methodology of cultivation, so as to make the crops yield the desired quality. These scientific methods could be as simple as using tractors for farming to deriving fertilizers mixing complex chemicals.

An interesting point to note about horticulture is ones social environmental responsibility. Natural resources should be used sparingly, and should better be bred from their parent stock, whereever possible. Horticulture address these issues.

Types of Horticulture

- Amateur Horticulture: Amateur horticulture, as the name suggests, is an unprofessional sort of horticulture. It is just growing for ones own self, may be because of domestic cooking needs, or for the sake of ones interests and inclinations. It is a vocational horticulture.

- Commercial Horticulture: Commercial horticulture, is growing for others and earning living from that. It demands a due market knowledge, what consumers require, what are their tastes and preferences, what is available in market in abundance and what struggles scarcity. It is professional horticulture.

Areas of Study in Horticulture

1. Floriculture – dedicated to Flowers

A discipline of horticulture that is concerned with floral crops, is floriculture. It is about growing and selling flowers. Usually these flower-plants are herbacious and are planted in pots, trays, or hanging baskets. Flower-harvest is often seasonal, and the plants should properly be watered and prunned to bear the flowers. Some post-harvest treatments such as chemical treatments, storage, preservation and packaging, also be taken care of.

2. Olericulture – dedicated to Vegetables

It is a field of horticulture relevant to vegetables of all kinds. Some vegetables are eatable freshly cut, while others need to be cooked. Olericulture takes care of these all about vegetables.

3. Pomology – dedicated to Fruits

Latin word pomum, is an origin of the term pomology, which is branch of horticulture pertinent to all sorts of fruits.

4. Landscape horticulture – dedicated to Landscape Plants

Landscape plants, such as trees, plants, shrubs, turfs, herbaceous perennials etc. are studied under this category of horticulture.

5. Post-harvest physiology – dedicated to Post-harvest Jobs

Crops often ask for a special post-harvest attention, especially when not to be used immediately but to be preserved. The said field of horticulture is relevant to crops reaping, maintaining their quality, reducing spoilage etc.

Get all of the latest in horticulture know how from the one and only true gardening resource at http://www.flowergardensadvice.com Be sure to check out our horticulture pages on our web site.

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