Apply by August 15th
- Director's Note
- The New York Botanical Garden
- The School of Professional Horticulture
- The Goal
- Program Overview
- Licensing & Accreditation
Director's Note
The School of Professional Horticulture’s mission is to educate motivated individuals to become horticulturists of the highest caliber who will take on leadership positions in both the public and private sectors. One of the School’s many strengths is that it combines a strong academic curriculum with real-world experience gained by working alongside The New York Botanical Garden’s expert horticulture staff.
Professional horticulture is about utilizing art and science to beautify our surroundings so that others may enjoy and live a better life. Its very nature allows us to nurture and create an outdoor studio. The work also asks us to measure, research, and diagnose everything that a scientist conducts during fieldwork. The end result can be as spectacular as the Botanical Garden’s expansive grounds or as subtle as a single well-grown orchid.
At the School of Professional Horticulture, art and science form the very core of the program. Classe sizes are limited to 15 students per class to ensure that each student receives the appropriate amount of attention from staff and that teamwork is fostered. Students with diverse backgrounds yet shared interests and goals study, create, and refine their skills and knowledge. Within two years, they come to know the cultural needs of more than 1,000 plants and the common pests and diseases that accompany them, while working in state-of-the-art facilities and across our 250-acre landscape. Upon graduation, students leave knowing that they are well prepared to succeed in a wide variety of horticultural venues.
Charles M. Yurgalevitch, Ph.D., Director
The School of Professional Horticulture
718.817.8797
The New York Botanical Garden
In 1891, an eminent Columbia University botanist, Nathaniel Lord Britton, and his wife, Elizabeth, also a botanist, inspired by their visit to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, determined that New York should possess a great botanical garden. The site was selected in the northern section of the Bronx, part of which had belonged to the estate of Pierre Lorillard, a leading tobacco merchant. The land was set aside by the State Legislature for the creation of “a public botanic garden of the highest class” for the City of New York. Prominent civic leaders and financiers, including Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and J. Pierpont Morgan, agreed to match the City’s commitment to finance the buildings and improvements—initiating a public/private partnership that continues today.
The 250-acre grounds of The New York Botanical Garden include dramatic rock outcroppings, wetlands, ponds, a cascading waterfall, and a 50-acre tract of uncut forest that once covered New York City. Among the horticultural attractions are 50 gardens and plant collections including the newly renovated Benenson Ornamental Conifer Collection, Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden, Rock Garden, Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, and the Jane Watson Irwin Perennial Garden, as well as outstanding collections of daylilies, orchids, hardy ferns, flowering trees, and conifers.
The School of Professional Horticulture
Begun in 1919 as a horticulture vocational training program for returning war veterans at The New York Botanical Garden, the School was expanded into a professional gardener-training program in 1932 by distinguished horticulturist Thomas H. Everett. An alumnus of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Everett modeled the horticulture school after the programs at British botanical gardens such as Kew and Edinburgh, which combined practical and academic work in horticulture.
The School has trained hundreds of skilled horticulturists, a majority of whom go on to work in key positions in the horticulture field in the capacity of estate managers, nursery and landscape business owners and managers, greenhouse growers, garden authors and photographers, designers, and gardeners. Alumni remain an integral part of the School and students have numerous opportunities
to network with them.
The School of Professional Horticulture is a division of and is controlled by The New York Botanical Garden, which is a 501(c)(3) New York Not-For-Profit Corporation.
View a list of the Board of Managers. In 2005, the School became accredited by the Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training (ACCET) and certified by the U.S. Department of Education to administer Title IV fund to qualified students.
The Goal
The School trains motivated individuals to become horticulturists of the highest caliber who will take on leadership positions in public, private, and other horticulture venues. The School combines academic studies with hands-on practical training in a two-year, full-time program. Students learn the science of horticulture in the classroom and practice what they learn on the Garden grounds. After successfully completing the program, students receive The New York Botanical Garden’s Diploma in Horticulture.
The School of Professional Horticulture is a key component of the Education Division at The New York Botanical Garden. Since its founding more than a century ago, education at the Garden has maintained a strong commitment to public education, offering a full spectrum of programs focused on the science, function, and beauty of plants, and the relationship between plants and people.
Program Overview
Classes, work rotation, group projects, plant walks, fieldtrips, and lectures expose the student to a myriad of concepts, practices, and philosophies. The two-year program is designed to best develop the student’s mastery of this field.
The program begins in February. Students tackle core courses in botany, math, and soil sciences. As the growing season approaches, the program shifts from the classroom to horticulture work rotations. Students participate in installing shows at the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, growing display crops in the new Nolen Greenhouses, scouting pests in the different plant collections, and planting displays in the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden. At the same time, students will tackle the planting of the Student Garden, and participate in weekly plant walks and monthly fieldtrips to horticulture destinations.
As fall approaches, students return to the classroom to commence studies in landscape design and plant propagation. The work rotation segment is reduced and concentrated in indoor venues such as Plant Records and Greenhouse production. In addition to the coursework, the students design next year’s Student Garden and explore their second-year internship options.
Licensed by:
New York State Education Department
Bureau of Proprietary School Supervision
Room 974, EBA
Albany, N.Y. 12234
518.474.3969
http://www.highered.nysed.gov/bpss/
Accredited by:
Accrediting Council for Continuing Education & Training (ACCET)1722 N. Street N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036
(202) 955-1113
www.accet.org
back to the top
Introduction