Horticulture

By: Jack Stone

horticulture - The cultivation of a garden or orchard; the art of cultivating gardens or orchards.

If you're obsessed with gardening and anything that even remotely involves plants, and their well being, then you’re probably a closet horticulturist. A horticulturist being classified as a person who grows and cultivates plants, amongst other things. In other words a gardener right? After all what’s in a name? A Rose by any other name is still a Rose. Clichéd words yes, but true nevertheless. The only difference between a horticulturist and a gardener is the fancy title, (and the money of course!) They get paid in money, you get paid in blooms. So, you can now go around telling your friends that you’re deep into the study of horticulture!

What is horticulture? It’s a funny thing really when you get right down to the roots of it. Horticulture by its very definition is the cultivation of a garden, or in other words, the science (or art) of cultivation of vegetables, fruits, plants, and flowers. A horticultural plant is defined as one that has been produced by cultivation, and not one that has grown without a helping hand.

Born of the union of two Latin words, hortus, meaning ‘garden plant’, and cultura, meaning ‘culture’, horticulture in its truest form spans across many fields and involves many different types of careers, ranging from industry, to government, from wholesale and retail businesses, to propagators, plant breeders, and even educational institutions.

cultivation - The art or act of cultivating; improvement for agricultural purposes or by agricultural processes; tillage; production by tillage.

Horticulture enthusiasts will be interested to learn that there are five main areas of horticulture to choose from. Landscape horticulture, which is involved in the production and maintenance of landscape plants is one. Floriculture primarily deals with the marketing, and production of floral crops, whilst olericulture deals with vegetables cultivation.

Pomology, and postharvest physiology are the last two of the five areas of horticulture. The study of pomology is based on the cultivation, production, and marketing of fruits, whilst the study of postharvest physiology channels its energies into the promotion of crop quality, and reduction of overall spoilage for all crops.

horticulturist - One who practices horticulture.

So now that you have a general view of horticulture, and everything associated with it, perhaps you would really like to get yourself dug into it! If you are interested, there are always classes on horticulture that you could go take to share hours of gardening pleasure with like-minded souls. Perhaps you could even sign up for a night class or two, at your local community college. You’ll never know unless you try. Besides it’s always better to be up front and open with your friends and family, rather than being a closet horticulturist!

There are 30 articles available in this category.

Bonsai Tree
Cultivating bonsai trees has been a Japanese tradition for hundreds and hundreds of years. Literally translating to “tray planting,” cultivating a bonsai tree involves actively working to shape a tree into a dwarfed, artistic version of itself. Bonsai
Fine Gardening
Gardening in and of itself is an art form. And the art of fine gardening is just that, an art. Fine gardening may mean various things to sundry people, but to me fine gardening means more than just a garden. It encompasses everything that’s artistic
Flower Gardening
When you think of any kind of gardening, the first thing that pops into your mind is flower gardening. Flowers and gardens being naturally synonymous with each other. And dedicated gardener that you are, you’ll naturally be doing your own flower gardening
Gardening Book
Are you a gardening enthusiast? Have you ever gone to a book store to find a particular gardening book only to be bombarded by shelf upon shelf of books on every type of gardening imaginable except the one that you really want? How about the internet?
Gardening Club
Gardening can bring endless hours of enjoyment to your life. Talking to other gardeners is one way to spread your joy of gardening. For those of us with the gardening bug, unless there is a friend or family member who is into gardening, there just does
Gardening Equipment
Gardening equipment per se, is what every gardener needs. At least that's what we all say when we rush off to buy that handy new extra-light shovel that just went on sale! However, not every gardener has all the tools, or even the right ones necessary,
Gardening Forum
If you’re a certified gardening aficionado then a gardening forum is just the thing for you. Your family’s already probably tired of hearing minute details of the earth worm and its resourcefulness, not to mention hearing about the detailed structure
Gardening Gift
You have just completed designing your garden and now you’re looking for that perfect finishing touch. What sort of gardening gift could you give yourself or someone you know who loves gardening. The range of gardening gifts span from the whimsical like
Gardening Gloves
Gardens are beautiful places to relax in. They can also provide endless enjoyment if you are a gardener. The idea of having flowers that give off pleasant smells as you pick your garden fresh vegetables and herbs is a pleasing one. The amount of pain
Gardening Magazine
You go to the supermarket and various bookshops and you will see many different magazines on every subject. For gardeners the magazines to browse through are the gardening ones. How can you tell from the glossy cover, if the gardening magazine in your
Gardening Services
With our busy lives it is sometimes difficult to find the time to enjoy simple pleasures of life. Gardening is a very restful and pleasurable hobby to take up. However many of us just can’t take the time to maintain a well kept garden let alone plant
Gardening Shoes
Many of us have a garden in our homes. Your garden maybe just a tiny little patch, but it is still a garden. With a garden there is a price to pay, and that is keeping it looking great. So you head outside armed with all of your gardening tools and suddenly
Gardening Supply
Every one who is at heart a gardener loves to potter about the garden with at least one of their gardening supplies in hand. For every gardener the list of gardening supplies varies. There are however a few gardening supplies that are staples for every
Gardening Tool
As a child you have probably seen your mother or father pottering about in the garden. They seemed to be working with lots of tools. You might have played with a gardening tool as well. Now that you are grown-up and have your own garden you too will
Green House Gardening
There are three different ways of gardening. One is to have your garden inside your house. The other is to use whatever space your garden has and plant your crop outside. The third way is to do your gardening under glass. This is called greenhouse gardening.
Herb Gardening
When you go to the supermarket you can see fresh herbs for sale. These same herbs can be grown in your garden with a minimal amount of trouble. You can grow them from cuttings or seeds. You can divide the heavy growing herbs and plant new herb plants.
Home Gardening
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Indoor Gardening
Landscape Gardening
Mulching
Organic Gardening Supply
Perennials
Raised Bed Gardening
Rock Gardening
Rose Gardening
Shade Gardening
Tomato Gardening
Vegetable Gardening Tip
Water Gardening

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