Introduction to Horticulture

By: Johnny M. Jessup

Agriculture Teacher/FFA Advisor
 Horticulture

 Word first used in 1600’s

 Comes from two Latin words
 Hortus “Garden”
 Cultura “Cultivation”
 Horticulture means “cultivated garden”
or “culture of garden plants”
 Life Sciences

 Biology is the branch of science that

deals with both plant and animal
organisms and life processes.
 Zoology is the part of biology that deals
with animals.
 Botany is the part of biology that deals
with plants.
 Plant Sciences

 Applied plant sciences are based on the

purpose for which the plants are grown.
 Agronomy
 Forestry
 Horticulture
 Agronomy

 The science and practice of growing

field crops such as cotton, wheat,
tobacco, corn and soybeans.
 Forestry

 The science and practice of growing,

managing and harvesting trees for
building materials and other products.
 Horticulture

 The science and practice of growing,

processing and marketing fruits,
vegetables, and ornamental plants.
 Introductory Horticulture

 Horticulture differs from agronomy and

forestry because…..
 Requires more intensive management and
higher labor inputs than other branches.
 Horticulture offers a higher gross return
per unit area per unit time.
 Ex.- Greenhouse grower ($20.00 per ft2/yr)
 Branches of Horticulture
 Olericulture
 The growing and study of vegetables.
 Pomology
 The growing and study of fruits and nuts.
 Viticulture
 The growing and study of grapes or vines.
 Floriculture
 The growing and study of flowers.
 Branches of Horticulture
 Greenhouse Management
 The growing and study of plants in
greenhouses.
 Turfgrass Management
 The growing and study of turfgrasses. This
includes home, municipal, and commercial
lawns; sports turf maintenance; highway
rights-of-way; and seed and sod
production.
 Branches of Horticulture

 Nursery Management
 The growing and study of trees and shrubs
that are produced primarily for landscape
purposes.
 Arboriculture
 The growing and study of trees.
 Known as silviculture in forestry.
 Synonymous with urban forestry.
 Branches of Horticulture

 Landscape Horticulture
 The application of design and horticultural
principles to placement and care of plants
in the landscape.
 Interiorscaping
 The application of design and horticultural
principles to placement and care of plants
in indoor environments.
 Branches of Horticulture

 Horticultural Therapy
 The use of horticultural plants and
methods as therapeutic tools with disabled
and disadvantaged people.
 Horticulture:
Science or Art?
 Known as applied botany because….
 Takes principles of botany such as
morphology, anatomy, and physiology and
applies them to the growing of crops.
 Also uses other sciences such as….
 Chemistry, biochemistry, physics,
mathematics, and genetics.
 So, horticulture is obviously a science.
 Horticulture:
Science or Art?
 But horticulture is also a art form.
 Where practical experience is helpful.
 Example: A person may know the science
of cultivating plants, but be unsuccessful
due to a lack of a “green thumb.”
 Horticulture:
Science or Art?
 Art forms in horticulture
 Grafting
 Floral Design
 Landscape Design
 Horticulture is an applied science
and an art
form.
 History of Horticulture

 “Garden of Eden”
 Romanticized garden of paradise.
 Ultimate goal throughout history.
 History of Horticulture

 Prehistoric people
were primarily….
 Hunters and
gatherers.
 Collected seeds,
fruits, and nuts.
 History of Horticulture

 Primitive people began to study plants.

 Is it edible?
 Does eating it modify well-being?
 Does it taste good?
 Can it used to keep me warm? As fuel? As
clothing?
 Is it useful to combat pain? Disease?
 History of Horticulture

 When were plants

first cultivated?
 Neolithic Age (7000
– 10000 years ago)
 First farmers were
women!!!!
 History of Horticulture

 By 3000 B.C. in
Egypt
 Land preparation
 Irrigation
 Pruning
 History of Horticulture
 Meanwhile in Mesopotamia,
Babylonia, and Assyria…..
 Irrigation canals lined with burnt brick and sealed
with asphalt joints.
 This system kept 10,000 square miles under
cultivation…..
 Which fed 15,000,000 people
 Cultivated roses, figs, dates, grapes, and olives.
 History of Horticulture

 Hanging Gardens of
Babylon
 Built by Nebuchadnezzar.
 One of 7 Wonders of the
Ancient World
 History of Horticulture
 Eventually people began asking questions
such as…..
 How do they grow?

 How do they reproduce?

 How are they constructed?

 How are they nourished?

 How are they related to one another?

 How are traits passed from one

generation to the next?
 History of Horticulture

 Meanwhile, back in
America……
 The Pre-Incas were
cultivating maize
(corn)
 History of Horticulture
 Other Indian crops
included……
 Potatoes
 Sweet potatoes
 Peppers
 Squash
 Tomatoes
 Cocoa
 History of Horticulture

 The use of plant

products eventually
led to physicians,
pharmacists, and
scientists.
 History of Horticulture

 Theophrastus
 1st scientific
horticulturist
 Student of Plato and
Aristotle
 Wrote the books
History of Plants and
The Causes of
Plants.
 History of Horticulture
 History of Plants
 Morphology of roots, flowers, and leaves.
 Anatomical features such as bark, pith,
fibers, and vessels.
 The Causes of Plants
 Relationship of weather, soils, and agricultural practices.
 Importance of seeds
 Value of grafting
 Tastes and flagrances of plants
 Death of plants
 History of Horticulture
 Dioscorides
 Early Christian Era
 Wrote about the
medicinal uses of
plants
 Proposed ideas
about the
relationship of plants
 History of Horticulture

 Middle Ages
 Little advancement in horticulture
 Arabs (established botanical gardens)
 Scientific advances of Greeks and Romans
were preserved in monasteries.
 History of Horticulture

 Renaissance
 Rebirth of energetic attention to scientific
discovery.
 Taxonomy, morphology, and anatomy
branches of botany began to grow.
 More and more plants were discovered due
to exploration which required a system of
classification.
 History of Horticulture
 Linnaeus (1707-1778)
 Swedish botanist.
 Developed binomial
classification scheme for
plants.
 Based on their sexual or
flowering parts.
 Basis for all classification
systems today.
 Built upon the work of
the Greeks, especially
Dioscorides.
 History of Horticulture

 As the Renaissance
evolved……
 Creation of formal
Gardens
 Versailles
 Belvedere in Vienna
 History of Horticulture
 Improvements in fruit,
nut, and vegetable
production.
 Influx of new plants
from
“the colonies”.
 Some of these plants
became mainstays
of European
diets.
 Horticulture in America

 When the Europeans arrived they

brought seeds, cuttings, and plants.
 Orchards were established
 Crops brought to America
 Oranges
 Wheat
 Cabbage
 Horticulture in America

 Early horticulturists in America

 John Bartram
 George Washington
 Thomas Jefferson
 John Chapman
 aka. Johnny Appleseed
 Horticulture in America
 New life in horticulture
 Morrill Act of 1862.
 Established land-grant
universities.
 Encouraged the growth
of agricultural
knowledge.
 Horticulture in America
 Liberty Hyde Bailey (1858-1954)
 “Father of American Horticulture”
 Educated at Michigan Agricultural College
 Present Day Michigan State University
 Studied at Harvard under Asa Gray
 Then was a professor at Michigan
Agricultural College and at Cornell
University.
 Horticulture in America

 Established the 1st horticulture

department
 Prodigious Writer
 Hortus
 Taxonomic index of horticultural plants.
 Cyclopedia of Horticulture
 Cultural and taxonomic information of plants.
 Horticulture in America
 Established the Bailey
Hortorium.
 “things of the garden”
 Established the (ASHS)
American Society of
Horticulture Science in
1903.
 Modern Day Horticulture
 New Cultivars  The Rhizosphere
 Plant-Water  Integrated Pest
Relationships Management
 Temperature  Plant Growth Regulators
 Light  Mechanization
 Plant Nutrition  Post Harvest Factors
Let’s Review!
 Designed by:

 Johnny M. Jessup, FFA Advisor

 Hobbton High School