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I was excited to see all of the plant and gardening opportunities that ACC has scheduled for this fall. Do you think your classes are mostly geared towards someone wanting to enter ‘the industry.’ Or do you feel that hobbyist gardeners (probably most of our readers) can drop in and kind of. . . up-their-game?
Our student base is about half and half gardening enthusiasts and folks looking to pursue a career in the green industry. One of the benefits our program offers is that students may take individual classes à la carte as they are interested, and are not required to commit to the Certificate program.
That being said, more students than not will decide to pursue the Certificate after taking a few classes. The Landscape Horticulture Program is closely tied to the Sustainable Agriculture Program and many students choose to take classes from both programs — for example, a student may take General Botany, then find out about Intro to Soils from the other program and add it to their class list. _______________________________________________
Can you share with readers your horticultural background. I read in your bio that it all began at a small organic farm in Buda.
That’s right! I grew up in Austin and after high school I didn’t know what I wanted to study in college, if I wanted to go at all. I dabbled in random jobs until I saw an ad in the back of the Austin Chronicle, seeking workers to pick organic vegetables for $7/hr. That sounded like a great gig to me, and on my second day of work I realized that it was the career I wanted to pursue.
I spent that Fall semester getting my GPA up at Austin Community College and transferred into the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Texas Tech University. Since then, I have managed and consulted for organic farms in Central Texas for over 10 years. The natural environment has always called to me so I even did a stint working for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a trail maintenance worker and wildland firefighter. _______________________________________________
I see that ACC offers seven classes in the fall semester: Plants of Central Texas; Planting Design; Landscape Design; Propagation & Greenhouse Operations; History of Landscape Architecture & Design; Intro to Landscape Graphics; and Urban Farming. They run approximately from Aug 21 to Dec 10 and cost around $300. Which of these would best suit a hobbyist gardener - or life long learner - do you think?
I would definitely recommend Propagation and Greenhouse Operations — it has no prerequisite classes and includes a hands-on lab at the Riverside Campus. The students will have the opportunity to bring cuttings of some of their favorite plants to share with one another and everyone leaves with trays full of planted seeds and propagated cuttings.
The experience will definitely whet the appetite for people who are on the fence about furthering their education in plants. The lecture materials will also help to dispel the mystery that many people have: “why won’t my seeds grow?” and give them ideas for some great beginner houseplants and how to best care for them.
It was good to see in the catalog that clearly ACC is offering a path for serious folks getting into the profession of horticulture - emerging after 2 years with a certificate. Do many of them get jobs in nurseries or farms?
They sure do! In fact, a number of our veteran instructors got their professional start in our program. Some students use our certificate program to develop their application materials to apply for a Masters of Landscape Architecture program at a university, or start their own landscape design business. Our program regularly receives job opportunity postings that we share with our students. To be clear, though, our program cannot assist in job placement, but our instructors are often asked to write letters of recommendation or serve as references. _______________________________________________
How is what you offer different from the Travis County Master Gardeners Association program?
TCGMA is a wonderful organization that really promotes a sense of community among its members- it is really designed for on-going membership and participation. Our Continuing Education program does not include aspects of organized networking or sustained membership, which makes our two organizations great compliments of one another.
Additionally, there is the seemingly subtle difference between gardening and landscaping (in which there is a lot of overlap) and our program focuses on the opportunities in careers and business for landscape design. In conjunction with Texas A&M Agrilife, TCGMA offers a wonderful organization to plants-loving community members who want to build relationships with folks who share a love for plants, as well as attend seminars and events. _______________________________________________
What do you consider the biggest challenge that gardeners face in 2023 and beyond? Is it still accurate to say we’re in zone 8 - given the recent wild weather patterns?
That’s a question I am waiting for smarter people than me to answer! The first answer is, of course, water availability. Our program really encourages students to select their plant varieties carefully so that a garden or landscape uses only the amount that is readily available for our climate. For anyone wondering where to source seeds for native/adapted plants to our area, I encourage them to explore the digital catalogs for Southern Exposure Seed Exchange and Native American Seed Company. ________________________________________________
Can you describe the personalities and teaching styles of some of the four teachers at ACC? Courtney Kuehner; Kristi Long; Jeffrey Ferris. . . and you.
We are all VERY different and bring a healthy mix of teaching/learning styles with years of professional expertise. _______________________________________________
What do you like to do when you’re not gardening or teaching?
My hands are fairly full as the CEO of an Austin-based architecture firm, but I still take as much time as I can to volunteer for the Austin Parks Foundation and read trashy fiction novels next to the pool.
Thank you very much Ellen!
