Program Overview

Environmental Horticulture, AAS

The Environmental Horticulture AAS degree provides students with knowledge and skills needed for jobs with nurseries, greenhouses, landscape firms, garden centers, and park departments.

Program Mission

Students learn plant identification, plant propagation, sustainable landscape practices, soil science, practical pruning, and botanical concepts. Through time spent in practical hands-on training, students will learn to propagate, seed, transplant, design landscape plans, and maintain a variety of plants. Students will participate in an industry-based training experience.

Program Outcomes

Environmental Horticulture AAS degree graduates will:

• be prepared to obtain various positions in the field of horticulture
• be prepared for Washington State Nursery and Landscape Association Certified Professional Horticulturists exams
• demonstrate professional knowledge of horticultural skills
• demonstrate communication, critical thinking, cultural humility, information literacy, and teamwork skills
• meet Humanities, Quantitative Reasoning, Social Science, and Written Communication general education distribution area outcomes

Program Requirements

Annual Course Sequence

The classes listed below are offered on a four-quarter rotation and are not sequential; a student may start any quarter and should take the HORT classes in blocks as listed below.

• Quarter One
  • HORT 111 Botany 5 credits
  • HORT 113 Propagation 3 credits
  • HORT 115 Plant ID Fall 4 credits
  • HORT 116 Fall Horticulture Lab 3 credits
  • HORT 212 Sustainable Lawn Care 2 credits
• Quarter Two
  • HORT 121 Soils 4 credits
  • HORT 122 Pruning 2 credits
  • HORT 123 Integrated Pest Management 4 credits
  • HORT 125 Plant ID Winter 4 credits
  • HORT 127 Winter Horticulture Lab 3 credits
• Quarter Three
  • HORT 134 Nursery Retailing 2 credits
  • HORT 135 Plant ID Spring 4 credits
  • HORT 137 Spring Horticulture Lab 5 credits
  • HORT 216 Introduction to Greenhouses 5 credits
  • ENGL& 101 English Composition I 5 credits
• Quarter Four
  • HORT 132 Survey of Landscape Materials 2 credits
  • HORT 211 Intro to Bidding and Estimating 2 credits
  • HORT 215 Plant ID Summer 4 credits
  • HORT 218 Landscape Design 4 credits
  • HORT 219 Landscape Drafting 5 credits
• Quarter Five
  • Social Science course 5 credits
  • Humanities course 5 credits
  • Quantitative Reasoning course 5 credits
  • Elective course 3-5 credits

Electives

3-5 additional credits of college-level courses as defined by the technical institute or as accepted as fully transferable as defined by the state system; courses should be selected with a faculty adviser.

General Education Requirements

• ENGL& 101 English Composition I 5 credits
• Humanities 5 credits
• Quantitative Reasoning 5 credits
• Social Science 5 credits

Diversity and Social Justice Requirement

Within the degree requirements, students must complete a 3-5 credit course that meets the college’s Diversity and Social Justice (DSJ) requirement. DSJ courses are designed to meet other general education or technical requirements simultaneous to meeting the DSJ requirement.

Total Program Credits

90-92 credits