A horticulturist studies how to propagate and grow plants.
Courses in biology, agriculture, forestry, botany, and horticulture are a good foundation. Working or taking internships helps you learn what you like to do, and, sometimes more importantly, what you do not like to do.
How do we germinate native plant seeds? How do we grow whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) efficiently on a large scale?
To sow our crops, we use pneumatic seeders. These machines use compressed air to pick up a specific number of seeds and drop them into each cell of the containers we use to grow our seedlings. It means we do not have to sow each seed by hand!
Each growing season is an opportunity to learn and try something new. We get to grow native plants from all over the United States. It is exciting and challenging to try new species, to learn how to grow seeds from new areas, and to produce plant material for so many different restoration projects.
I toured an iris farm when I was about 11 years old. The farm had rows and rows of different varieties of iris. There were so many different colors, shapes, and scents in the flowers. I thought it would be really fun to learn how to grow each variety and to work in such a pretty place.
