Poinsettia Crop

The BYU-Idaho Horticulture Department evaluates the preformance of over 50 poinsettia varieties from around the world. Varieties are trialed yearly starting in July with the culmination of color in December. Students participating in the trial develop skills in the scientific process, growing, producing and marketing poinsettia crops. Through this, students build contacts with plant breeders, horticulture companies, and industry leaders.

Stop in to the greenhouse see what we are doing and see the process that we must follow to get the crop ready for Christmas!

Job Opening - Intermountain Farmer’s Association

Greenhouse Manager - Intermountain Farmer’s Association
Riverton, Utah
Full time, Year-round
Requirements: Be able to manage other employees, order product, and conduct trainings
Provides: Good medical benefits as well as a retirement plan

Contact Kory Bertelson at kbertelson@ifa-coop.com for information on how to apply.

Successful Horticulture Internships

This last seminar was great and really fun to attend. We got to hear from four of our very own about the internships they served over the summer break. We learned a lot about how to get internships. One main concept was to be persistant. Most of them had to check back with the various companies a couple of times to make sure they were considered for the job.

First, we heard from Rachel Arnold. She got an internship at Every Blooming Thing in SLC. They were the 2009 National Florist of the Year! They are a high end florist and try to do everything different and unique. Once Rachel would do an arrangement, her supervisors would say, "Now make it different." They always go the extra mile and are really creative. Every design they do is different than anything else they have done before. Rachel learned some great ways to be creative with just moss and to make the design have a totally different feel than before. She said about her experience there, "When I look at my first arrangements compared to now, I can see a tramendous difference. I don't think I would have learned as much if I went anywhere else." You can check out her internship blog at everyrachelsthing.blogspot.com.

Next, Jane McNaught told us of her internship in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia working at Helen Olivia which is also a very high end floral shop. Some of their clients include the Vice President's residence and the State Department of Protocal. Most of their advertising is through word of mouth. The Helen Olivia style is very compact, tight, roundy-moundy arrangements in a square vase wrapped with satin ribbon. You can see some of their designs at their website, http://www.helenolivia.com/. A few things that Jane pointed out that she had learned was to be very personable with your clients and that floral design is a trade and the best way to learn is to do it and learn from advanced designers. She said that no amount of formal education can teach you the art of floral design. You need hands-on experience and that is what she got this summer. You can check out the actual designs that Jane put together at her blog, janelillianflowers.blogspot.com.

Then, we heard from Jackie Nielson who actually had the opportunity to serve two internships throughout the summer. First she worked at Signature Landscapes out of Redmond, Washington. Signature is a big time supporter of our horticulture program. They are actually setting up a scholarship for our students because of the students like Jackie that have been so valuable to them. Signature does large residential landscapes and commercial. One of their trademarks is seasonal color and they love to display that in the landscape. Jackie was a labor hand for them in installing some landscapes but she also learned some managerial techniques. Once she finished up with Signature, she had time left in the summer before school. She got set up with T&L Nursery down the road from Signature. T&L is a wholesale only nursery so they don't sell product to the general public. They use recycled water and propagate a lot of their own product. Here she learned to work in the greenhouse and out in the fields. They gave her a field to care for and grow during the time she spent there. She loved feeling in charge of caring for those plants.

Finally, Kyle Steadman ended the presentations with his internship at Heads Up Landscape out of Albuquerque, New Mexico. They are a full service landscape company that does commercial design, build and maintain. The way that he got this internship was when they came to campus to recruit. They had a pizza party and he started talking to them, networking and then following up. Heads Up is an amazing company and they were rated #54 in the Lawn and Landscape magazine. Since the recent 'green' movement and with their location in New Mexico, they have worked a lot with xeric landscaping and drought tolerant material. During his internship, Kyle was given the chance to do an outdoor paver project from start to finish which included designing and installing the area. He had a great experience and was given some great opportunities.

This was a great seminar to learn about what our peers are doing and learning. One main ideato take from this seminar was to "get out of dodge" whether it is New Mexico, Washington, Utah or Virginia. There are great opportunities out there for amazing internships and to be able to be representatives for the school. Great job guys!

Walt Disney Company Job Postings

Golf Course Maintenance Internship
Each participant will learn the day to day responsibilities and tasks associated with maintaining a golf course. They will be trained to use all equipment used in Golf Course Maintenance as well as irrigation and pest management.
Deadline to apply: October 23rd, 2009
Starts: January 2010
See link for more information: https://disney.recruitmax.com//main/careerportal/job_profile.cfm?szorderid=205018&szR

EPCOT Science Plant Science Internship
This internship is designed to provide qualified college students with the opportunity to work in the unique agricultural greenhouses that are part of the Living with the Land boat ride attraction at EPCOT.
A few exciting opportunities with this internship: Maintain a high-quality greenhouse show of over 50 hydroponically-grown food crops from all over the globe & lead informative and interactive Guest tours through the greenhouses, labs and aquaculture facility daily.
Deadline to apply: October 23rd, 2009
Starts: January 2010
See link for more information:
https://disney.recruitmax.com//main/careerportal/job_profile.cfm?szorderid=204922&szR

EPCOT Science Biotechnology Internship
This internship is designed to provide qualified college students with the opportunity to work in the unique biotechnology laboratory that is part of the Living with the Land boat ride attraction at EPCOT.
A few exciting opportunities with this internship: Prepare media and tissue culture for a wide variety of plants & lead informative and interactive Guest tours through the greenhouses.
Deadline to apply: October 23rd, 2009
Starts: January 2010
See link for more information:
https://disney.recruitmax.com//main/careerportal/job_profile.cfm?szorderid=204921&szR


For more information on any of these internships, contact Sister Bass.

Mountain States Plants

This week in Horticulture Seminar, we heard from Layne Flint, VP of Idaho Operations at Mountain States Plants. Mountain States Plants is a wholesale plant and flower distributor who has been in business for over 50 years. They raise their own plants and flowers in four locations, two in Utah, and two in Idaho which are heated by natural hot spots, with water flowing as hot at 165 degrees, Fahrenheit.

Some of the plant varieties that Mountain States Plants grow are: Shamrocks, African Violets, Cyclamen, Kalanchoe, Begonias, Gerbera Daisies, Chrysanthemums, and of course, Poinsettias. They have also recently begun growing their own foliage plants, instead of purchasing them out of California.

Mountain States Plants customers include supermarkets, retail florists, garden centers, mass marketers, interior decorators and others licensed to re-sell floral products. Their trucks and vans deliver throughout Utah and Idaho.

After the seminar, we were also told that Mountain States Plants has recently been "renting" out their plants and dish gardens to people looking for an extra way to decorate at wedding receptions, parties, or family gatherings. For more information about Mountain States Plants, check out their website, http://www.msplants.com/, or contact their Layton location at, 1-800-326-4490.

Major Fair

Today there was a campus-wide Major Fair, held in the Hart Gym. The fair was held primarily for students that have not declared their major yet and for high-school seniors from the surrounding area. We had a beautiful display set up, showing a just small range of the capabilities that the Horticulture department has available.

We were, after all, the only department to bring in our own turf.

Our display was quite the cozy little corner.

Valerie, a student emphasizing in production, couldn't resist the comfort of the Adirondack chair on display. If you missed the major fair, no worries! Our helpful faculty is always willing to help you pick out a great major . . . Horticulture, of course!

Chanshare Farms

This week in Horticulture Seminar, we heard from Joshua Marble, of Chanshare Farms; a sod production farm in Tremonton, Utah. Joshua's grandparents, Boyd and Cheryl Marble, got into the sod business almost 30 years ago. The family has been in the area over 100 years, since 1907, and used to raise alfalfa and turkeys before switching to sod in 1979. They now have 1,600 acres of sod/turf, which they harvest as grass hay, along with the sod.

Chanshare Farms has won many awards, including the Best of State for Utah, Utah's Most Admired Companies, and ranked 1,901 out of 5,000 Fastest Growing Companies by Inc.

A part of their success is due to following their mission statement, especially the third tenant by Enriching the lives of their employees and shareholders.

Some notable projects that Chanshare Farms has done are:

• ReAL Salt Lake Practice Field and Stadium Exterior
• Franklin Covey In Field
• LDS Temples: Monticello, Vernal, Ogden, Salt Lake and others
• UofU, BYU, USU, WSU and UVU Sports Fields
• Golf Courses: Cedar Hills; Cascade (Orem); TuHaye; Soldier Hollow; Evanston; Davis County; Skyway, etc.
• Kaysville Sportsplex & Heber Valley Sports Complex
• McKay Dee Hospital

Chanshare Farms uses a water-wise seed blend of Kentucky Blue Grass, which means that for every ten seeds in the mixture, six are drought tolerant seeds; this of course means that the sod Chanshare Farms produces needs less water to stay green and healthy. This is especially important for the often-in-drought-state of the Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Nevada customers that Chanshare Farms provides premium sod and services to.

For any additional questions for comments for Joshua Marble, or Chanshare Farms, feel free to contact Joshua at the details above.

This was the last seminar for the semester, so look forward to more updates once the new semester rolls around in January.

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!

Smile . . . This is for you!

This morning during her Interiorscaping class, Kimberlea Edwards, a Horticulture major emphasizing in Production, found a surprise in the Jungle Greenhouse:

In the banana plant, there was a ceramic banana hidden, to be found by some lucky person with an observant eye.

Congrats to Kimberlea for finding the little treasure, and to whomever left it, thanks for the fun!

Weeks Berries of Paradise

This week in the Horticulture Seminar, we heard from Mervin "Merv" G. Weeks of Weeks Berries of Paradise, which is located in Paradise, UT, in beautiful Cache Valley, about 12 miles south of Logan, UT. Merv has been working and growing berries full time since 1987, and now grows about ten different kinds of berries, including raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and red, white, and black currants; they have 90 acres of land, of which 50 acres are currently in production. Merv got his Bachelors degree from BYU in Horticulture, and then later attended Utah State University for his Masters degree, in Plant Science.

Weeks Berries of Paradise specializes in products that get your mouth watering. They sell juices, jams, frozen jams, frozen fruits, syrups, bottled juice concentrates, and, in the summertime, fresh raspberry tarts. They do have a few large customers, like Maceys and Gossner Foods in the Logan area, but as Merv mentioned, "having 100 small customers is better than having only one or two big ones." That is why Merv has sold the Weeks Berries of Paradise products in a variety of outlets like at roadside stands, farmers markets, and even by walking into a beauty parlor--to sell to both the employees and customers. "Any fool can grow [a product], but it takes skills to sell it," he jokingly remarked.

After Merv's comments, he allowed the class to taste test samples of the Royal Black Currant Juice. It was very well received, and Brother Dewey and Brother Romney lucked out by getting to take home the leftovers.

For more information about Weeks Berries of Paradise, their contact phone number is 435-245-3377.

Be sure to check back next week for info about the upcoming presentation from Floral Art, in Idaho Falls.