 | | Alderman Hall |
The University of Minnesota's Department of Horticultural Science is a broad-spectrum, full-service horticulture department.
In addition to exemplary research-based undergraduate and graduate education, we are committed to excellence in wide-ranging programs of research and outreach. Research findings inform outreach endeavors, just as needs discovered through outreach inform much of our research.
Similarly, students - both undergraduate and graduate - may take advantage of research and outreach opportunities as part of their academic programs.
Our Mission
The mission of the department is to discover, interpret, and transfer new knowledge for the purpose of improving quality of life through: (a) improving the productivity, value, and use of horticultural crops; (b) contributing to a quality environment; (c) educating students.
Teaching
Our undergraduate students choose their curriculum from one of five program areas:
These curricula emphasize hands-on learning as part of the academic experience. Each student must also complete an internship in the green industry prior to graduation. Many undergraduates participate actively in the Horticulture Club or Turf Club, educational and social clubs that give them additional experience raising and selling plants, and visiting horticultural sites. Undergraduates can also take advantage of the college Honors Program and the numerous study abroad opportunities. Our graduate students pursue both Master of Science and Ph D degrees in horticulture and related plant sciences through graduate programs in:
We also offer a popular two-year program leading to the Master of Agriculture Degree in Horticulture. This is a practitioner's degree geared to green industry professionals and returning students who wish to make a career change to some phase of horticulture, but choose not to start from scratch with a second bachelor's degree.
Research
Our diversified faculty conduct research in both applied and basic plant science. The synergy of having strong basic and applied science in one department has led to a number of significant accomplishments for the benefit of Minnesota. For years our Department has been known as a leader in cold-hardiness research. Today we are recognized for breeding horticultural crops suited to northern climates, including many notable breakthroughs such as the "Lights" series of hardy deciduous azaleas, "half-high" blueberries that combine some of the hardiness of low-growing native plants along with the productivity of high-bush blueberries, and reliably hardy chrysanthemums that grow to the size of shrubs after two or three years in the landscape. Our department is also the home of 'Honeycrisp' apple, a wonderfully crisp, juicy cultivar that is gaining popularity nationally and internationally.
One of our most exciting new ventures is our involvement in the creation of the Center for Plants and Human Health, in which we partner with the University of Minnesota Medical School as well as others in the College of Agricultural, Food, and Environmental Sciences. The goals of the Center include interdisciplinary research to develop foods and identify naturally occurring plant products that may have preventative or curative medicinal properties.
Consistent with the College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS) priority areas of serving Urban Communities, Promoting Safe and Healthy Foods, and Improving environmental Quality research encompasses landscape ecology with an emphasis on lakeshore preservation and wetland restoration, a long-standing program of potato breeding, ascertaining which ornamental grasses are hardy for northern climates, the highly promising development of creeping bluegrass for use in golf greens, and developing more sustainable food production systems.
Outreach
Our Department works closely with horticultural industries in Minnesota, primary among them nursery and woody plant producers, greenhouse flower and bedding plant growers, turf and grounds managers, growers of vegetables for fresh market and processing, and commercial apple and small fruit producers.
We've earned national renown for outreach efforts in consumer horticulture. Our Master Gardener program, with well over 2,000 active volunteers state-wide, is considered a model for other states. Our Minnesota Landscape Arboretum features nearly 1,000 acres of grounds, including woodlands, wetlands, and prairies, along with demonstration gardens and landscapes, and research facilities. Offering visitors a diverse, year-round schedule of classes, workshops, and conferences, it's home to our fruit-breeding and woody plant breeding programs - as well as the sparkling new enology laboratory that will support Minnesota's growing wine industry.
At the corner of Folwell and Gortner Avenues on the St. Paul Campus, you'll find the Horticulture Gardens, designed and built by students studying landscape design and management in our department. The garden serves as a "living laboratory," and is also a destination for gardeners from neighboring communities who visit to get ideas to implement in their own landscapes.
The department maintains a public presence through mass media efforts by faculty, such as regular appearances on Minnesota Public Radio and other radio programs, and gardening articles published in Twin Cities newspapers (Star Tribune and St. Paul Pioneer Press) and the Northern Gardener magazine.
| 
