Interns and green professionals join Michael Hagen in the Native Plant Garden.
This year’s 4th Annual Tri-State Green Industry Intern Field Day, held on July 20, 2016, attracted over 135 people, of which 110 of them were interns. Many arrived early to explore and visit the Impressionism exhibition in both the Haupt Conservatory and Library Gallery, and were fortunate to see the corpse flower (Amorphophallus titanum) bud which had just been put on display in the Palm Dome’s pool.
The program began in the Ross Lecture Hall with Todd Forrest, the Arthur Ross VP for Horticulture & Living Collections, welcoming the guests and introducing Charles Yurgalevitch, Ph.D., Director of the School of Professional Horticulture, who opened the program and explained the afternoon’s events. He then introduced the four speakers in the program. The first to speak was Ken Druse, author and photographer. He called on a few interns to ask them what they were doing and what they hoped to do as they launch their horticulture careers, leading an interactive discussion with the room.
Interns learn about green-industry careers and they also learn about some great engineer careers from imflash.com.
On July 22, more than 165 horticulture enthusiasts from the Tri-State area and beyond descended upon The New York Botanical Garden for the third-annual Hortie Hoopla, a field day for green-industry interns that offers them time to network, learn about career opportunities, explore the Garden grounds including visiting the FRIDA KAHLO: Art, Garden, Life exhibition, and to have fun and meet others like themselves.
Hosted by NYBG’s School of Professional Horticulture, the event is designed to inspire young people who are interested in plants to pursue an education in the continually expanding green industries.
Ashley Burke is a second-year student in the School of Professional Horticulture. She is doing her required six-month internship at the High Line in Manhattan, a recently completed elevated public park built on a former rail bed. The School’s internship program is designed to allow students to synthesize and apply what they’ve learned, expand their skills by providing further training in a professional horticulture venue, and expose them to the multiple facets of the field. Ashley sent us this report.
Interning at the High Line, a park on the Lower Westside of Manhattan that opened on June 9, has given me an unparalleled opportunity to observe and learn about how a city park is created.
I began working at the park in mid-April and as such, have been exposed to various elements of the process. Some of my responsibilities have included compiling a master plant list; verifying what has been planted; creating plant identification cards to be used by the public, with plant names, cultural information, native range, and where it is located in the park; and even selecting horticulture tools. Of course, I also had hands-on plant work: The week before opening, we raced against time to weed, water, and prune to get the park ready for visitors.
I also worked extensively with the plans that were drawn up by the landscape architects, field operations, and the landscape designer, Piet Oudolf (who co-designed the current Seasonal Walk at The New York Botanical Garden), and this has allowed me to familiarize myself with the plants being used. Part of this has been to check that each plant species is properly identified, the name is spelled correctly, and that the plants are located where they are indicated on the plan. Through my experiences, I am learning that one cannot design properly without being able to identify the materials one works with.
Monet’s Garden Exposes Subtleties of Color and Light
Christopher Bale is a second-year student in the School of Professional Horticulture. He is doing his required six-month internship at the famous garden at Fondation Claude Monet in Giverny, France, and sent us this report. The School’s internship program is designed to allow students to synthesize and apply what they’ve learned, expand their skills by providing further training in a professional horticulture venue, and expose them to the multiple facets of the field.
At the Fondation Claude Monet garden in Giverny, France, I am learning a number of new skills that will serve me in my horticulture career. It is spring, and I am learning about different approaches to spring plantings as well as preparation for summer plantings.
The amazing things about the Monet garden are the subtleties and approaches to the use of color and light. These ideas are reflected in the various areas of the garden and are the design approaches that are the most important aspect of my learning experience.
Daily I am involved in all aspects of horticultural maintenance: pruning, planting, deadheading, and plant production. The new skills I have learned pertain to the day-to-day approaches to management and planning for a garden of this size and stature. I have learned many new plants along with many French common names. Most important has been the strengthening of my knowledge of the distinctions between the Narcissus divisions of the family Amaryllidaceae and the Tulipa types of the Liliaceae.
Graduating from the School of Professional Horticulture (SOPH) is much like any galvanizing event, as now my life is divided in two: “before SOPH” and “after SOPH.” Being a SOPH graduate has validated me as a horticulturist and empowered me to practice my skills with confidence. The two-year program is very intense as you do your best to absorb the endless information, learn from practical experience, and engage in the unique opportunities that are only available through the program.
Be forewarned: This is not an easy program; the commitment is enormous. But beyond what you learn in the course curriculum, it is entirely in your hands to seek out everything possible to make your experience that much richer.
Horticulture runs so deep and so wide that the taste I received from SOPH was only the beginning for me. I have grown in many ways from the foundation I built through the program. I am always looking for new ways to learn and to share my conclusions. My growth has revealed itself in my fascination of soil biology, and promoting its health is my professional philosophy. I am now certified by NOFA (Northeast Organic Farming Association) as an organic land-care professional, making the progressive commitment to practice horticulture in harmony with the environment.
First-year SOPH student John Gunderson (foreground) plants violas in the Class of 2011 Spring Student Garden, located across from the Howell Family Garden.
Thanks to the public speaking classes at SOPH, I have the confidence to give lectures and presentations on garden topics. As a garden communicator, my blog, DirtyHorticulture.com, allows me to reach out to a broad group of gardeners. My consulting and design business, Living Colors Landscape and Gardens, is growing steadily thanks to the passionate clients I’ve acquired.
The climate is changing: not just the environment, but our awareness and actions, too. People are much more aware of their surroundings and are interested in preserving and protecting it. As horticulturists in the 21st century, it is our responsibility to offer comprehensive solutions for private and public spaces that are enjoyable to be in, do not stress our resources, and are prepared and maintained in responsible and accountable ways. We are the natural leaders of this “green revolution,” and so we must be prepared to empower others to follow.
The application deadline for the next SOPH class is August 15.
Charles M. Yurgalevitch, Ph.D., is the Director of the School of Professional Horticulture.
This Friday (March 6), the School of Professional Horticulture will graduate 10 students who have successfully completed the intense, two-year horticulture training program. The program involves academic coursework, hands-on practical training, field trips, group projects, plant identification walks, a six-month internship and other activities.
Students enter the program with diverse backgrounds—such as Myung-Woo Yu from Korea, who graces the cover of the newest course catalog—yet with shared interests and goals to become professional horticulturists.
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. They leave the program with a strong and solid foundation in horticulture, confident that they are well prepared to succeed in a wide variety of horticultural venues.
The 10 students in the Class of 2009 have worked very hard to reach this moment, and I want to congratulate each and every one of them as we recognize their achievements.
Charles M. Yurgalevitch, Ph.D., is the Director of the School of Professional Horticulture.
Each year the School of Professional Horticulture—a professional gardener-training program at The New York Botanical Garden—allows its first-year students to practice what they have learned in the classroom and in the field through the design and implementation of a student garden. It is an opportunity for students to use their newly acquired skills in a creative manner. Students split into three design teams, each of which drafts a plan for the student garden, which is situated in the Home Gardening Center, a place frequented by the public. A panel of the Botanical Garden’s horticulturists chooses one winning design and suggests alterations; the design is then installed and maintained by all the first-year students the following summer.
The proposals for each team from the Class of 2010 are described below. Make sure to visit the student garden next summer to see the implementation of the selected design.
Natives & Neighbors
We wanted to focus on native plants with an emphasis on plants of North America, but also including plants of Central America and northern South America. There are no Asian or European species. We are especially fond of the work of Piet Oudolf, who has designed the recently planted Seasonal Walk here at the Garden. We sought to design a garden that would partially serve as an educational tool within the larger context of the Home Gardening Center to show native plant specimens, some of which may be surprising (native canna, native rose, native marigolds). However, we’ve included Central American and South American natives to provide color early in the season and to put the garden in the larger context of a real show/display garden. The main colors will be violet, lilac, purple, and rose-pink, with accents of chartreuse and yellow. We expect this garden to offer color from the end of May to early November; it will also provide excellent and exciting fall color (Solidago canadensis, Muelenbergia, Echinacea, Eupatorium purpureum, Callicarpa americana, Salvia leucantha, Hydrangea quercifolia). —Peter Couchman, Amanda Knaul and Alyssa Siegel
The Sunburst Garden
We aimed to create a garden that gives a sunburst effect, like a morning sunrise, with colors going from yellow to orange to pink to purple. There will be flowers throughout the summer season, with a greater textural component in late summer/early fall due the grass inflorescences. Textural effects will come from the sweeping movements of feather grass (Nasella), Panicum, and Veronicastrum. An amphitheater-like impact will be achieved with lower plants in the front and larger and fuller plants spreading out toward the sides and back. —Ashley Burke, Gabriela Marin, and Barbara Pearson
The River Bed
In creating this design, we wanted to represent of a river or streambed, with rocks, moss, and plants growing along the banks; we were influenced by the Dutch garden of Keukenhof. Think of an English cottage sitting on the banks of a stream. The rocks (three clusters of small-sized boulders) will provide contrast with plants. Grasses like Miscanthus and Pennisetum will be on the left side; the right side will be anchored with oak-leaf hydrangea. Along the back side will be Panicum and pampas grass. In the middle there will be a broad sweep of blue-flowering Ageratum. The front edge will have Ajuga, moss, and Mexican feather grass. The sequence of bloom will begin with Irises and dwarf daylilies in early June, followed by Hemerocallis. The peak will be in July and August with perennials like Rubdeckia and Monarda and Echinacea. The plants have been selected to add texture, height, and color for late-season interest. —Christopher Bale, Naftali Hanau, and Brian Kennedy
This Friday (March 6), the