Plant Culture Field Trip

November 6-7th, Brother Dewey's Plant Culture class took a field trip to the Salt Lake, UT area for some hands on experience in different areas of Horticulture. On their trip, they visited eight different establishments, including: Thanksgiving Point, Meadow Brook Design, Cactus and Tropicals, Temple Square, Roots or Huddart Flower Shops, Mountain States Plants, the USU Utah House, and Willard Bay Gardens.

Starting at Thanksgiving Point, the students participated in "hands on learning," by walking through the gardens with the head gardener, Tony Latimir.

Here are the Rose Gardens.

During the tour, the landscape crew was blasting the excess water out of the sprinklers, making them look like they were still on, despite the snowfall.

The students spent some time with a former BYU-I student, Ginger Belnap, owner of Meadow Brook Design, who designed this landscape:

For the third and last stop on Thursday, the students went to the Draper location of Cactus and Tropicals.
Cactus and Tropicals began in the garage of the owner, Lorraine Miller, who retired a few years ago. Now, there are two locations, each offering different plant specialties.

At the Draper location, there is a section devoted to European Designing, which combines plants in one container, but still in separate pots.

As you see, the plants can be quite ferocious!

At Temple Square, the group was up bright and early for a dewey morning view of the gardens in downtown Salt Lake City.

At Mountain States Plants, this is a greenhouse full of poinsettias, preparing for their winter harvest.

Here is a greenhouse full of Cyclamen, also preparing for a winter bloom.

Lastly, at Willard Bay Gardens, a retail nursery specializing in herbaceous perennials and annuals, the students snacked on popcorn as the sun went down, and were given paper-white daffodil bulbs.

Tiffany Jacox, a freshman emphasizing in Floral Design, said, "It was a great trip! I got to know my classmates a lot better, and really enjoyed seeing the different aspects of Horticulutre."

All Horticulture majors are required to take Plant Culture, so an exciting field trip like this one is something to look forward to as a Hortie!