Horticulture: a mainstay in the A&M program

By MANDY SPIKES | Central Texas Edition

Dr. Sam Cotner, professor and the head of the department of horticultural sciences at TAMU, sits inside the holistic garden that is open to the public at the university. - Photo by Mandy Spikes

October 2, 2003 -- In today's society, one of the most popular past times among people is gardening. Gardeners strive for education and helpful hints to make their gardens and lawns look the best that they can be. In Texas, two main resources are the county Extension agents that deal with horticulture and the programs and classes offered at Texas A&M University (TAMU).

At TAMU, the horticulture program is one of the oldest, and most popular programs available. Dr. Sam Cotner is a professor and the head of the department of horticultural sciences at TAMU.

"The horticulture program was one of the first programs offered at TAMU," began Cotner. "The first horticulture student at TAMU attended in 1876, the same year the university was established." In the early 1880's the university had the first horticulture graduate.

During that time, there were only two courses of study offered at TAMU - agriculture and horticulture. "Now they are a combined course, because we soon realized that horticulture was related to agriculture production. The horticulture program today is much broader and has a wide variety of classes open to students."

Horticulture is divided into two categories - ornamental and food crops. "The ornamental program includes floral design, greenhouse design, and landscape. Basically, it's anything that the consumer would be interested in. Food crops include pecans and greenhouse crops."

TAMU's department is a full blown horticulture department, explained Cotner. "We offer students everything that they need to know in horticulture. We are rated the number two horticulture department in the nation, just behind Cornell University in New York."

Currently, there are 150 undergraduate students and 50 graduate students in the department. These students are being taught by 41 faculty members, who work both on and off campus. "Approximately 70 percent of the undergraduate students are female, so it shows how far we have come since the program was first offered," he added. This was because, when the university established, it was only open to men.

Cotner stated that a good number of students are in the ornamental division because it's where the greatest number of jobs are in today's market. "The horticulture industry, also know as the green industry, is second only to the beef cattle producers in this state."

While attending the horticulture programs, students will not only be able to learn in the classroom, but through research and outreach programs as well. "We have 25 county Extension agents throughout the state of Texas who specialize in this department. The agents educate the public on all sorts of topics, ranging from water conservation to pesticide control."

One of the most popular programs to come out of the department is the Master Gardeners program. "The state of Texas has the largest Master Gardeners program in the nation."

From this educational resource, came the Junior Master Gardner's program. This is a youth program that teaches both science and leadership through gardening education. "It's a very popular program that is growing throughout the nation.

"Horticulture reaches more people from TAMU to other citizens. People are more interested in discovering new flowers and growing better tomatoes than learning about grain sorghum," Cotner said.

For more information on horticulture programs, either visit your local county Extension agent or visit TAMU's website at http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/.