Subject: Re: Advice for horticulture students
From: [email-masked] (Gardener)
Date: Mon, 13 Jun 1994 13:49:56 GMT
Newsgroups: bionet.plants

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] writes:
>
>     Please reply here specifying what you consider to be the best source of 
>     information for gardening/landscaping.  If you have a singular piece of 
>     advice for novice horticulturists include that too.
>

IMHO the best source is through industry contact. Encourage your students to
visit retail nurseries and public gardens in their spare time and just browse
around and talk to people. Also visit wholesale nurseries and landscape works
in progress (by appointment, as nursery and project managers are busy people).

I teach nursery management and find assignments requiring students to compare
the operations of 3 different wholesale and 3 different retail nurseries
provide a better understanding of the industry than any amount of lecturing. So
far, owners and managers have been understanding and helpful.

Single piece of advice? hmm - I guess my advice is learn to observe plants,
really observe, not just look at them. For example, one should be able to tell
if a plant needs water by observing it from a distance; the state of health of
a tree by the appearance of its canopy; or whether a cutting is ripe by its
look and feel. Most of horticulture depends on acute observation.

Regards,

Adrian.