New blood

On the campus of York College of Pennsylvania, students in green polo shirts walk to and from classes. They’re the first group of students enrolled in the college’s Environmental Horticulture Program, and they’ve been learning through classroom work and hands-on experiences since the program began in the fall of 2021.

“This is a brand-new kind of program for our college,” says Charles MacVean, dean of the Kinsley School of Engineering, Sciences and Technology at York College. “We’ve been strong for many years in the sciences and in engineering, and now we’re adding this new program in horticulture, and the aim is to provide a program that is somewhat different than a traditional land-grant program.”

There are a few differences MacVean points to with York College’s program, such as an emphasis on sustainability and global impacts of horticulture. Students will study how global phenomena like climate change, water scarcity and energy resources impact horticulture.

“Traditional horticulture has focused on production and yields,” he says. “Programs have been changing somewhat, but it’s much harder for them to change than us, because we’re designing it from scratch.”

Another difference between the Environmental Horticulture Program York College has designed and a traditional program is that York has an emphasis on urban and greenhouse production, which is compatible with urban landscapes. York College as a whole has committed to “experiential education,” MacVean says, which is a perfect fit for horticulture and today’s student.

“Students aren’t just looking for a degree as a credential, the old way many of us went to school, which was you get a degree from a well-ranked institution, and you’re going to be in good shape,” he says. “Now, students want to know a lot more about what the experience is going to be like day in and day out. They want to see themselves at a particular campus and what their life is going to look and feel like.”

The Appell legacy

The fully endowed program was the gift of Louis Appell Jr., who was a wealthy businessman in York with a love for horticulture. He and his wife maintained a 50-acre estate, known as Millbourne, with gorgeous formal gardens. It was their intention that their inheritance in the estate endow a program that would promote horticulture in York.

After Louis passed away in 2016, this plan was set into motion. York College provided a proposal to the Powder Mill Foundation, which is funded by the Appell estate. The foundation decided to fund it, and York College’s Environmental Horticulture Program was born.

The environmental horticulture major offers a broad level of training for careers both in landscaping and production, with a strong environmental focus and a component of global awareness.

“We want our graduates to be quite versatile as to where they go next,” says Jason Smith, an assistant professor for the Environmental Horticulture Program.

The major also includes some requirements in entrepreneurship, because the college believes that business skills are going to serve its graduates well.

“A lot of people find their way into this work because they love plants, but probably a smaller proportion come into the industry because they love business and see the potential here,” Smith says.

When the college performed initial feasibility studies before designing the program, trends suggested that enrollment in this kind of program is increasing in the U.S. And if student interest is growing, there may be enough interest to support the program.

“There’s certainly a lot of data today, especially since the pandemic, suggesting that we have a public right now, a consumer base that values the products of the green industry more than they did 10 years ago,” Smith says. “So the combination of these things gave them the confidence (to create the program).”

Construction was completed in the fall on the Appell Horticulture Center, a 10,700-square-foot addition that houses the program. Funded with a multimillion-dollar commitment from the Powder Mill Foundation, the Appell Horticulture Center was built to accommodate the growing Environmental Horticulture Program.

The college celebrated the opening of the new building at an Oct. 12 ribbon-cutting ceremony. Jody Appell, Louis’ 99-year-old widow, attended the event. The first cohort of students who enrolled in the major were also in attendance, and junior Hannah Zinn of White Hall, Maryland, addressed the audience.

“The horticulture program at York offered exactly what I was looking for with engaged and passionate faculty, great opportunities and fantastic connections to be made,” she said at the event. “It’s been a great experience thus far, but I’m beyond excited for what this new building has to offer.”

The two-story building includes spaces for teaching, research and student collaboration. The center features three laboratories: one for studying soils, another for plants and insects and a third devoted to student research.

“We have specialized places for those disciplines,” MacVean says. “The building is designed around a really high-quality, hands-on experience for students and faculty.”

The building also has study spaces, meeting rooms and faculty offices, as well as a living wall and plant display area where students can learn more about plants and their role in the environment.

The Environmental Horticulture Program also offers hands-on learning opportunities at Millbourne, the Appells’ 50-acre private estate in York.

“It’s a beautifully landscaped living laboratory for ornamental horticulture,” MacVean says.

The students in the program have already visited the estate several times, observing plants alongside the professional groundskeepers of the estate’s ornamental gardens and working with faculty to connect the dots between classwork and the real world.

MacVean says there are plans to build some specialized lab space on the Millbourne estate.

A rich curriculum

The concepts behind the York College Environmental Horticulture curriculum map aren’t terribly different from traditional horticulture programs. Students will still learn the basic scientific underpinnings of plant production.

“We’ve certainly maintained the coursework that spans everything from introductory plant science to advanced plant biotechnology with soil science and plant pathology and entomology in the mix, along with greenhouse management and ornamental and landscaping plants,” MacVean says.

The four-year bachelor’s degree program starts by building the foundation, like most horticulture programs. Courses include plant science, botany, plant pathology, entomology and integrated pest management. Once students have completed the foundational courses, they move into more industry-specific higher-level courses, like greenhouse and nursery operations and sustainable horticulture. But the secret sauce that differentiates York College’s program from others is the business education element, like courses on entrepreneurship and small business management.

“Several decades ago, it became apparent that programs in agriculture were becoming noncompetitive,” MacVean says. “They were not attracting students because the graduates didn’t have any kind of business skills. Employers and the ag industry as a whole were looking for graduates who could do some management and handle some financials.”

Another difference between typical horticulture programs and the York College model is that instead of requiring multiple semesters of chemistry, for example, students would take an introductory course, then continue learning chemistry in the context of their horticulture courses.

Jason Smith provides an example of a project his students did as part of their coursework.

They visited a local vegetable farm, talked with the growers and learned about fields that are performing well and fields performing not as well. Their goal was to figure out what set the best fields apart from the worst ones.

Next, the class brought soil samples from the farm to their lab. They performed standard soil tests, using parameters like soil pH and mineral content, then looked further into non-traditional soil health metrics, like soil activity and restoration and soil aggregate stability under a rainstorm.

After analyzing this research and determining how well the soil was structured, its aggregation and how well it held together, the students compiled that with the mineral and pH information and generated a report with recommendations for the local farmers.

“I think that was a great project,” Smith says, “because in a way, it encapsulates that what we’re trying to do here is not just study the science of soil and plants, but do so in a way that’s relevant to horticulture that's going on in an industry around us.”

Finding students

Recruitment is one of the biggest challenges for York’s fledgling Environmental Horticulture Program. There are currently 12 students enrolled, and MacVean expects another 10 next fall if the trend continues. The program was not designed to ever be a big program, but MacVean says it could accommodate higher numbers of students, especially now that the Appell Horticulture Center has opened.

While plant production is vital, the college opted for a major with what they hope has broader appeal.

“We are hoping that the environmental message will help with recruitment and then obviously help with the kinds of graduates we send out to the world who are going to impact the ecoystems around them professionally,” Smith says.

“I think one of the realizations they had is they probably weren’t going to be able to sell it as a straight ornamental horticulture program, and that actually was Louis Appell’s first love: ornamental horticulture. But I think they felt like to make this a program that would appeal to as many students as possible, including edible horticultural production was going to round that out. And there is demand for horticulturists who can work internationally in food production. There’s a lot of job opportunities there.”

MacVean says there has been an increase in the number of students coming to open houses.

Staff has been visiting local high schools and planning outreach for the region to develop its reputation. York College isn’t yet known for agricultural programming, let alone horticulture.

“We knew it would start small,” MacVean says. “Both the consultants we hired and our own admissions department told us with any new major, it would take three years to start seeing growth.”

In that way, growing the next generation of horticulturists has something in common with growing plants at a nursery.