Post Title. 05/04/2012
 
 
 

We're excited to announce this semesters industry trip to Seattle, Washington. All horticulture students are invited to attend. We'll be visiting Industry companies including Signature Landscapes, Skagit Nurseries, and Brickmann Landscaping. This is a great opportunity to meet industry leaders, build networks, and gain new experience. Please RSVP before  May 2nd to secure a spot. The trip costs $400 which includes lodge, travel, and food expenses

 
 

PLANET Student Career Days (SCD’s) is an annual capstone event for our BYU-Idaho Horticulture Department.  2012 marked the 36th year of the event and was hosted by Kansas State University. Our eighteen member team, practiced all semester long to place well in the competition. The competition is designed to bring students in close proximity to industry. Generous green industry companies both sponsor and judge the twenty-eight competitive events giving them an up close and personal look at future interns and employees. One student said that the event “felt like a family reunion of the green industry”.  SCD’s allows students, industry and educational institutions to come together and aid in the common goal of raising professionalism in the green industry.

Our BYU-Idaho Horticulture Department is a “hands-on” department.  When we talk about designing, building or maintaining landscapes in the classroom, we immediately apply the book learning in our five acre demonstration garden where we marry both the art and science of horticulture. This garden is also where we install, plant, build and climb in preparation for many of the competitive events.

PLANET SCD’s events are structured so that applied university programs, like ours, does well in the competitive events, but there is so much more to the event.  Students continually talk about the scholarships they receive, the networking that takes place and the perspective they gain. Even though the economy is in a slump, each one of our students who sought employment or internships received opportunities from the best companies in the industry. PLANET SCD’s is truly a win-win for everyone involved. Thank you PLANET and Industry for making it all possible. Some representative student comments follow:

The decision to participate in PLANET Student Career Days was one of the best decisions I’ve made for my future career. It was a great opportunity to network with the cream of the crop in the green industry. On the trip I, was also able to develop great friendships that will last a lifetime. I would recommend PLANET Student Career Days to anyone who is serious about leading in their career path choice.
-Ethan Petersen

 

PLANET Student Career Days was a wonderful opportunity for me to network professionally, as well as to compete with students from schools across the nation.
-Lanae Senger

 

PLANET Student Career Days was an excellent opportunity to meet with industry leaders and network with them. Throughout the career fair we learned how big and vibrant the green industry is and during the competitive events we expanded our skill level and stretched our abilities to achieve great things. For those interested in succeeding in the green industry I would highly recommend going to Student Career Days.
-Melinda Snapp
 
 
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After many cancellations and date changes, we are finally ready to announce the Winter Horticulture Social! Come enjoy Brother Dewey's wonderful steaks and socialize with your fellow Horticulture students. We will be having the social on April 4th, 2012 at 6pm in the Benson greenhouses (Rm 275). Please RSVP in the form below so that we know how many to plan for! Thanks for being so patient, we look forward to seeing you soon! 

    Wednesday, April 4th, 2012

 
 
One of the biggest retail holidays of the year is Valentine’s Day.  Students who are in the Horticulture Plant Shop and Flower Center are able to take part in the rush and have kept the stores busy and full this semester through various means of advertising. The preparation that goes into these holidays can be quite extensive. This year the students started preparing for Valentine’s Day the first week of the semester. Bright, colorful posters and fliers have been floating around offering Miniature Roses and Fresh Flower Bouquets for that special “sweetheart” and echoing sweet sentiments such as “Watch Your Love Grow.”  Other preparations included sending out email reminders, ordering plants, prepping the plants with colorful wraps, and setting up eye-pleasing displays meant to draw customers in. The money earned from sales like Valentine’s Day goes to fund the Horticulture Department’s many field trips and plant materials for classes.  The plants and flowers available change every week, so to keep up with the current stock, be sure to drop by the Flower Center in Benson 147 Mon-Fri from 8am-6pm and the Benson Greenhouses in Benson 275 Mon-Fri from 8am-5pm. The Plant Shop also has a booth in the MC every Friday from 8:30am-4:30pm.

 
 
To kick off the winter 2012 semester, Brother Toll’s Nursery Managementclass took a trip to Boise, ID to attend the Idaho Nursery and Landscaping Association (INLA) expo. This event is a great way to network with and see the different businesses around the country that are making waves in the Horticulture industry. The trip lasted three days and was filled with classes and seminars that were taught by leading national businesses. The students were taught about current topics that are pertinent to the Horticulture industry and various other subjects. The students were also able to attend the INLA Horticulture Trade Show and saw booths run by dozens of companies that provide materials and services for the Horticulture industry. The students had the opportunity to run a booth for the BYUI Horticulture Department. There are several scholarships that are offered through the INLA. Out of the four scholarships awarded, our students came home with three of them! The scholarships were $750 each and were given to Micah Woods, Ashley Barkow, and Ismael Ruelas. Bryan Randall also won an award in a plant identification contest. His prize was a brand new Kindle. The trip was fun for all who went and we are now looking forward for next year’s trip! For information on the scholarships and how to apply, click here.

 
 
     Very early in the morning on December 27th, 2011, several students and Sister Infanger left for Pasadena, California. They were headed to attend the annual Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade. The trip lasted one week and the students were able to participate in the making of the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade. Two of the participating students were new to the trip this year, Mallory Layton and Liesel Hirschi. They were able to go and work as floral designers on a few floats that the Phoenix Decorating company produced. Returning alumni were Hayley Sheppard, a senior at BYUI, and Kristin Wheelwright, a graduate of BYUI who flew all the way from New York to participate. Hayley and Kristin were actually hired by the Phoenix Decorating company to design and put together some of the floats. Because there were a few days before Sister Infanger and her students could start working on the floats, they spent some time sightseeing in sunny and warm Pasadena. They were able to go to the Griffith Observatory, they experienced the winter beach at Santa Monica Pier, and they even got to go shopping in the Old Downtown area! And then the work began. Out of the 44 floats that were in the Rose Parade, the Phoenix company produced 22 of them! Lucky Sister Infanger and crew got to work on these beautiful pieces of art! The theme of the parade this year was Just Imagine. It was held on Monday January 2, 2012 and the float decorators worked hard all Saturday night to be sure the floats were ready for final judging on Sunday. The four girls and Sister Infanger were separated onto teams that took care of several different floats. The work that they did largely included designing the floral part of the floats. Some of their other responsibilities included wiring, greening, and finally placing the flowers to bring to life the magnificent floats. The girls and Sister Infanger stayed in Pasadena for the final judging and then drove home that night. “I was actually home in time to watch it on TV! Which was weird!” stated Sister Infanger. The girls had worked hard and were rewarded with the satisfaction of several floats winning trophies in the tournament.

The floats, which the girls and Sister Infanger worked on, that received awards are as follows:

-Craftsman Trophy- Trader Joe’s “Hot Lava” (Sis. Infanger and Liesel)

-Directors’ Trophy- Bayer Advanced “Garden of Imagination” (Kristin)

-Judges’ Special Trophy- Donate Life “One More Day” (Sis. Infanger and Liesel)

-National Trophy- Western Asset Management “Imagine in America” (Mallory)

-Princesses’ Trophy- Rotary International “Inching Towards the End of Polio” (Hayley)

-Theme Trophy- US Bank “Idea Factory” (Kristin)

-Tournament Special Trophy- RFD-TV “Happy Trails” (Mallory)

(For a list of all the floats that received awards click here.)

     This trip was deemed very successful and was “a good experience” all around. The students were able to network with recognized national leaders in the Floral Design and Event industry. Attending this event gives them the opportunity to design in one of the largest floral events in the nation. Not only is this Pasadena trip an annual opportunity, but students from the Horticulture Department also have the opportunity to apply for and attend the annual Grand Floral Parade in Portland, Oregon. The application to the Portland event for this year will be available in March.

 
Welcome Back! 01/25/2012
 
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Welcome back to those of you who are attending this Winter 2012 semester! The Horticulture Department recently welcomed Brother Ben Romney as the new Head of the Department. We are sad to see Brother Toll go after six great years, but not to worry! He will still be teaching and spreading his laugh through the halls of the Benson building. Upcoming events include the Horticulture Social (date yet to be decided), and the Floral students' Annual Flower and Bridal Open House in March. For more up-to-date information on events and happenings be sure to check the calendar often. Horticulture Seminar has kicked off to a great start this semester with speakers from the Merrill Landscaping and Brickman Landscaping companies. You can join us for future seminars every Tuesday from 12:45pm to 1:45pm in Benson 232. As well as giving us good information about the current Horticulture industry, the speakers from Seminar almost always bring with them new job and internship opportunities. To check the current job postings click here. We hope your semester is off to a great start, and we are looking forward to more changes and fun as the year goes!
 
 
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Bro Dewey, his Horticulture 201 class, and Bro. Barnes all left for Utah early on the morning of November 2nd to introduce beginning horticulture students to different career paths in the horticulture industry.  They arrived in Provo at BYU where they met Brian Hill, the Baseball field manager who taught the care that goes into the field every day. Once they heard from him the students headed over to the Football field where they met with Richard Clarke who invited them under the blown up tarps and onto the field. After finishing they headed to Intermountain plantings, a design build/maintenance firm, to hear from Seth Reed, (a former BYUI Horticulture Graduate) who manages the commercial design build aspect of the company. He took them to downtown Salt Lake City to look at all the work Intermountain Planting is doing at the City Creek Project.  Next they headed down to Lehi. In Lehi they went to Thanksgiving Point to see Tony Latimir the Head Gardener. They saw all the different garden styles created at Thanksgiving Point. The students really loved the Sculptures of Jesus Christ they had on display. The Students then headed back to the motel to gain some rest for the long day ahead of them. The first stop of the day was at Meadows Brook Design where they met Ginger Belnap, a Residential Designer and a former BYUI Horticulture Graduate, who took them to different landscapes she has designed. Later they headed over to Flower patch to hear from Tom Gordon, the owner. They toured the facilities and saw the different services they offer and the many flowers they provide. The next stop was J&J Nursery, where Bill Doty a manger showed them around and spoke with them about the different plants they grow and different tricks they’ve picked up over the years. Finally they ended up at Willard Bay Gardens where Owners Barney and Della Barnett talked about the in’s and out’s of Retail Nursery’s and each student was given a pansy to take home by the Barnetts. Click here to see more pictures.