The landscape business concentration focuses on horticulture and business. Students completing this concentration will also earn a minor in business through the College of Business. This concentration will most benefit those individuals desiring sales and management opportunities in our profession.
Students in the landscape design and contracting
concentration focus on the use of plants in outdoor and indoor
spaces for optimum living, working, and recreation. This concentration
offers opportunities for students who can combine applied art and science
courses in designing landscapes for residential, commercial, and small-scale
public properties. Courses in this concentration include design principles,
graphics, grading, construction methods, and the creative use of plant
materials. Therefore, elective high school courses in art, design, or
drawing are recommended.
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, groundcovers,
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.
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.
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