1. Welcome to Horticulture!
What the heck is it,
anyway?

2. Unit One: Plant Basics What is horticulture?
How does a greenhouse work?
Structure and function of basic plant parts (seeds, roots, stems, leaves)
How to grow a plant from seed and keep it healthy as it grows
Careers in horticulture

3. What is Horticulture? Horticulture has three major parts:
Plant growth and maintenance
Crop production
Plant breeding
The goal of horticulture is to improve plant quality, nutritional value, and resistance to insects, diseases, and environmental stresses.

4. Specific Types of Horticulture
Floriculture: production and marketing of flowers
Olericulture: production and marketing of vegetables
Pomology: production and marketing of fruits
Landscape: production, marketing, and maintenance of landscape plants

5. Focus of Our Class
In this class, we will practice floriculture and landscape horticulture
This practice includes:
Propagation: production of plants from seeds or cuttings
Growth and maintenance: keeping plants healthy as they mature to adults
Marketing: setting up a Plant Sale!
Designing: turning your floriculture into products that consumers will want

6. The Almighty Seed

7. What is a Seed?
Seeds are the fertilized eggs of flowering plants and evergreens
‘Nuts’ and ‘Beans’ are actually seeds
Each scale of a pine cone is a seed

8. Parts of a Seed
A seed consists of an embryo surrounded by a food supply and protective covering
Food supply is called a cotyledon
Protective covering is a seed coat
Also have beginnings of
first stem and root, called
apical meristems

9. What Seeds Need to Grow
Seeds will germinate (break out of seed coat and grow roots and stems) when conditions are absolutely right
Soil nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, etc.)
Water levels
Temperature
Humidity
Because seeds have a food supply, they will stay dormant for weeks, months, or years until the conditions are right!

10. Monocots vs. Dicots
Flowering plants are classified as either monocots or dicots, based on:
Seed structure
Leaf veins
Flower parts
Type of roots
Stem structure

11. Monocots vs. Dicots Monocots Dicots Seeds One cotyledon Two cotyledons
Leaves
Parallel veins
Branched veins
Flowers
Petals in multiples of 3
Petals in multiples of 4 or 5
Stems
Vascular bundles scattered throughout stem
Vascular bundles arranged in a ring
Roots
Thin, fibrous roots
One big taproot

12. Monocots Examples: corn, orchids, grasses, tulips
Majority of agricultural plants are monocots

13. Dicots Examples: roses, maple trees, oak tree, daisies
Most plants used in landscaping are dicots

14. Geraniums and Lobelia
This week we will plant Lobelia and Geraniums, both dicots.
Lobelia and Geraniums are very popular in landscaping.