Introduction to horticulture

1. Introduction to Horticulture

2. 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”
 NOW MUCH MORE…

3. 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.

4. Horticulture
 The science and practice of growing,
processing and marketing fruits,
vegetables, and ornamental plants.

5. Agronomy
 The science and practice of growing
field crops such as cotton, wheat,
tobacco, corn and soybeans.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. Branches of Horticulture
 Horticultural Therapy
 The use of horticultural plants and
methods as therapeutic tools with disabled
and disadvantaged people.

11. QUESTIONS?

12. Hypothesize - TPS
 Where did horticulture begin?
 Where will the history of horticulture
originate?
 Who invented it?

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

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

15. 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?

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

17. History of Horticulture
 By 3000 B.C. in
Egypt
 Land preparation
 Irrigation
 Pruning

18. 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.

19. History of Horticulture
 Hanging Gardens of
Babylon
 Built by Nebuchadnezzar.
 One of 7 Wonders of the
Ancient World

20. 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?

21. History of Horticulture
 Meanwhile, back in
America……
 The Pre-Incas were
cultivating maize
(corn)

22. Hypothesize - TPS
What other crops were
Native American’s
growing?

23. History of Horticulture
 Other Indian crops
included……
 Potatoes
 Sweet potatoes
 Peppers
 Squash
 Tomatoes
 Cocoa

24. History of Horticulture
 The use of plant
products eventually
led to physicians,
pharmacists, and
scientists.

25. History of Horticulture
 Theophrastus
 1st scientific
horticulturist
 Student of Plato and
Aristotle
 Wrote the books
History of Plants and
The Causes of
Plants.

26. 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

27. History of Horticulture
 Dioscorides
 Early Christian Era
 Wrote about the
medicinal uses of
plants
 Proposed ideas
about the
relationship of plants

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

29. 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.

30. 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.

31. History of Horticulture
 As the Renaissance
evolved……
 Creation of formal
Gardens
 Versailles
 Belvedere in Vienna

32. 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.

33. Horticulture in America
 When the Europeans arrived they
brought seeds, cuttings, and plants.
 Orchards were established
 Crops brought to America
 Oranges
 Wheat
 Cabbage

34. Horticulture in America
 Early horticulturists in America
 John Bartram
 George Washington
 Thomas Jefferson
 John Chapman
 aka. Johnny Appleseed

35. Horticulture in America
 New life in horticulture
 Morrill Act of 1862.
 Established land-grant
universities.
 Encouraged the growth
of agricultural knowledge.

36. Horticulture in America
 Liberty Hyde Bailey (1858-1954)
 “Father of American Horticulture”
 Educated at Michigan Agricultural College
 Present Day Michigan State University
 Then was a professor at Michigan
Agricultural College and at Cornell
University.

37. 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.

38. Horticulture in America
 Established the Bailey
Hortorium.
 “things of the garden”
 Established the (ASHS)
American Society of
Horticulture Science in
1903.

39. Modern Day Horticulture
 New Cultivars
 Plant-Water
Relationships
 Temperature
 Light
 Plant Nutrition
 The Rhizosphere
 Integrated Pest
Management
 Plant Growth Regulators
 Mechanization
 Post Harvest Factors