Environmental Horticulture & Horticulture Programs

The Landscape Business concentration prepares individuals for careers in business management, production, operations, account management, entrepreneurship, landscape management and project management opportunities in the Green industry. This concentration is full accredited by the Professional Landscape Network.

Learn more about our Landscape Business and Landscape Design & Contracting

LANDSCAPE BUSINESS CURRICULUM

The Landscape Design and Contracting concentration is an academic program focusing on the profession, science and business of landscape design/build. The design/build process is typically delivered by one company providing a turnkey of design services followed by construction implementation and management of the built project. Our students are offered a multitude of classes and experiential based learning opportunities to prepare them for careers in this field.

Learn more about our Landscape Business and Landscape Design & Contracting

LANDSCAPE DESIGN AND CONTRACTING CURRICULUM

The nursery and landscape management concentration provides extensive training in landscape plant nomenclature, culture, and use. Supporting courses are in pest management, soils, business management, and horticulture. The curriculum also develops skills needed for starting and managing a personally owned nursery and/or landscape management firm. Nursery specialists propagate and produce trees, shrubs, ground covers, and herbaceous perennials for the landscape industry.

Managing employees, materials, and money in the landscape and nursery industry are all aspects of this profession. Professional management of landscapes is one aspect of this industry which is in high demand due to modern lifestyles. The nursery and garden center businesses are strong, and prospects for future prosperity are high. The nursery, landscape management, arboriculture, and botanic garden-arboreta industries provide most of the career options. Graduates typically receive positions as propagators, superintendents, managers, and salespersons. Positions as community foresters or plant diagnosticians are also possible.

NURSERY AND LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT CURRICULUM

The thriving turfgrass industry offers management opportunities ranging from sod production to the establishment and maintenance of private and public grounds. Turfgrass managers are supervisors for golf courses, ski resorts, sports fields, and for park departments. Other employment opportunities include the management of industrial and institutional grounds, highway reclamation, and erosion control.

Graduates completing the turf management concentration command some of the highest salaries in professional agriculture. Studies in this concentration focus on the production and maintenance of ornamental and functional turfgrass areas. Two turf-oriented courses are supplemented by classes in nursery and landscape management, plant and soil science, business management, and irrigation design.

TURF MANAGEMENT CURRICULUM

The floriculture concentration is designed to provide an understanding of the environmental/plant relationships required to produce quality greenhouse-grown products. Courses in the production, use, and marketing of cut flowers, bedding and pot plants, and foliage plants complement an array of classes within the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture and across the campus.

Valuable “hands-on” experience can be gained through practicum programs involving production and marketing. Students completing the floriculture concentration have the opportunity to enter a number of floriculture-related professions including: greenhouse production, all phases of retail and wholesale floral business, greenhouse supply sales, greenhouse construction and computerized environmental control, plant breeding, and plant research.

FLORICULTURE CURRICULUM

The horticultural business management concentration provides the opportunity to gain the broadest horticultural background available within the department, and at the same time, participate in key business courses in the College of Business. Students may expand their specific horticultural interests or take an array of horticulture courses which can lead to more job opportunities in the future.

Horticultural business students have the background to manage any horticulture business or market associated products, including the operation of garden centers, nurseries, fruit and vegetable production operations, greenhouses, or floral products outlets. Opportunities also exist in the sale of facilities, equipment, and supplies involved in all aspects of horticulture. Positions as buyers of horticulture products within the U.S. or international businesses are possible.

HORTICULTURAL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT CURRICULUM

Students electing the horticultural food crops concentration focus their studies on systems related to production of fruits and vegetables. Specific areas include fruit production, vegetable production, irrigation practices, soil fertility, propagation, breeding, and related plant pest management courses.

HORTICULTURAL FOOD CROPS CURRICULUM

Horticultural scientists conduct research to discover new information about plant growth, development, and environmental response. Applied knowledge from such studies leads to new plant varieties and production methods.

Undergraduates choosing the concentration in horticultural science receive a solid foundation in the basic sciences and agricultural sciences leading to technical and scientific careers in laboratory, greenhouse, or field research. Work may be in the public or private sector. Exceptional students participate in individual research projects overseen by a qualified professor. Horticultural science graduates often continue their education to the master’s or doctoral level.

HORTICULTURAL SCIENCE CURRICULUM