Syllabus
Horticulture Q1, 2008-2009
Horticulture involves the care and nurturing of plants. From the Latin, horticulture literally means “garden culture.” It includes such things as plant propagation, breeding, production of food or flowers, grooming and trimming, pest control and soil analysis, and genetic engineering, among others.
I have been gardening since I was five, but at about the age of 20 I became very interested in a particular family of plants, the gesneriads. The gesneriads are a family of angiosperms containing about 150 genera and around 3,200 species. They are economically valuable mostly as ornamental houseplants, especially the Saintpaulias (African violets) and the Sinningia (Florist gloxinia). In this class you will use the Family Gesneriaceae to learn the basics of horticulture with some of the genera in this family. We will learn about other types of plants, too, and you may bring in plants of your own choosing (but please make sure they are pest-free, if you do so).
Essential Question: What is good horticultural practice?
Focus skills:
Work Creatively
Apply Effective Research Methods
Course Grading System
Category: Percent:
Plant care 30
Hybridization 20
Botany 10
Propagation 30
Design 10
Plant care for our class will include the skill you develop in taking care of your group of plants, including potting skills, grooming and your understanding of the plants’ needs (amount of water and light, temperature, soil requirements, etc.), the plants’ habits and pest management.
Propagation is the multiplication of plants, whether by starting and raising plants from seed (sexual) or by vegetative means (asexual), such as division of the entire plant, or starting new plants from parts of the mother plant, including leaves, stems, bulbs, corms, tubers, rhizomes and stolons. You will be given a prop box, and be expected to have at least 20 healthy plants growing by the end of the quarter.
Hybridization is the breeding of plants sexually. You will choose which plants to fertilize, and follow the flowers’ development. You must also keep careful track of each cross or “self” you make, including date, date of each flowers opening, male parent, female parent, and health of both plants. Make periodic notes of the seed pod development, and, if lucky enough to have results by the end of this quarter, record those. You must put a tag on any flower you use, so that the other members of the class will know it has been used, and so that after the class ends, I will know which seed pods are your crosses. It is expected that you will have 5 crosses by the end of the quarter.
Botany is simply the study of plants. It uses its own vocabulary, and you will be responsible to know the scientific names of the plants you use and/or care for. You must also learn the scientific names for plant structures and functions. Botany, for us, will include systematics. Systematics is the study of the diversity of life and the relationships among living things. One of the tools of systematics is taxonomy, the classification of organisms in relationship to each other. It includes identifying specific structures in common to a group.
Design is important in horticulture – whether you design an entire garden, or a floral arrangement for a flower show or client. We will do both of these. You will be graded on the suitability and beauty of your designs.
Our main text will be How to Know and Grow Gesneriads, published by the Gesneriad Society, Inc. There are supplemental readings, as well. Ask me if you need information on a specific topic. Also, when searching on the Internet, please look at portaportal.com and under guest, type carolgates and look under Gesneriads for the click down box. If you have particular question, email me at carol@newschoolva.com. I go to bed at 9 p.m., so do not expect an answer after that (although it is entirely possible that I will answer at 4 a.m.!)
Portfolio items will be three 4-page papers, double-spaced, each one on a different grading category: plant care, propagation and hybridization. They must have an abstract (a short summary of your paper, 6-9 sentences), single-spaced at the top of the paper and included in the four pages. There should be two visuals after the paper, with figure numbers and caption. The captions should be detailed, and explain to the reader what you wish them to know and learn from the visual. The visuals should be referred to in the body of the paper like this: (Fig. 2). Each visual should be drawn or photographed by you, from your own research, not copied from the Internet. There should be a bibliography on a separate page at the end of the paper. Each reference should be numbered in the order that you cite it in the paper like this: (2). There should be 5 references for each paper, only 3 of which can be from the Internet. Each paper will count for 10% of the grade in that category.
Another portfolio item will be your lab notebook, in which you record your lab activities, such as plant care schedule, propagations, hybridizations and other observations for this class.
Your two final designs should each be put in your portfolio, whether in cd format or by photograph. Each final design will be worth 5% of your total grade.
Tests and quizzes: You will have tests and quizzes in each category except design. Tests will be announced well beforehand and quizzes will usually be sprung on you unawares. Keep up on your knowledge!
Paper due dates:
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Tuesday, October 2, 2008
Exhibition schedule:
October 6, Monday – Proposal
October 8, Wednesday – 7 sub-questions
October 10, Friday – Comprehensive outline
October 15, Wednesday – Annotated bibliography
October 16, Thursday – Answer to Essential Question
October 20, Monday – Abstract
October 21, Tuesday – Visuals (We will make the 3-sided posters in class. Bring your board!)
October 22, Wednesday – Poster materials
October 27, Monday – Any revisions to Benchmarks for a better grade
October 22-24, Wednesday to Friday – Rehearsals
October 29-31, Wednesday to Friday – Exhibitions
