Amenity Horticulture I

WHAT IS AMENITY HORTICULTURE?

There are two sectors of horticulture:

• Crop Production
• Amenity Horticulture, which is involved with growing plants for recreational or ornamental purposes. However, these should not be seen as clear-cut divisions.

 

Borders between the two industries frequently differ between horticulture institutes and employers as well as from one country to the next. For instance, some horticulturists could define wholesale nurseries or floriculture businesses as part of the producing sector, whilst others might categorise them as amenity businesses. Some examples of significant segments of the amenity horticulture industry are as follows:

• Arboriculture
• landscape business
• Gardens and parks
• lawn maintenance
• Retail and wholesale nurseries
• Gardening inside
• Floriculture

Discover how to run parks, gardens, and other types of amenity horticulture.

Lesson Structure

There are 7 lessons in this course:

1. Nature and Scope of the Amenity Horticulture Industry
   • What is amenity horticulture
   • Arboriculture
   • Landscape industries
   • Parks and gardens
   • Nurseries
   • Turf management
   • Interior plantscaping
   • Floriculture
2. Global Variations: Nature and Scope of the Amenity Horticulture Industry in Different Countries
   • The changing nature of amenity horticulture
   • PBL project to create and present a plan that identifies and compares global variations in the amenity horticulture industry.
3. Benefits of Amenity Horticulture
   • Amenity horticulture and society
   • Aesthetic value
   • Health benefits
   • Benefits of gardening
   • Horticultural therapy
   • Kitchen garden programs
   • Community gardens
   • Recreational benefits of public open space
   • Economic benefits
   • Nature based tourism
   • Private land use for recreation
   • Environmental benefits
4. Amenity Horticulture Management Options
   • Management of amenity sites
   • Management processes: planning, organising controlling, leading, etc
   • The organisational structure
   • Managing natural environments
   • Good and bad management decisions
5. Influences
   • Legal concerns for amenity horticulture
   • Legal and illegal plants
   • Law and money
   • Land ownership
   • Land planning and planning processes
   • Central place theory
   • Psycho social considerations
   • Environmental concerns
6. Determining Best Practice
   • Best practice management
   • How is best practice determined
   • Quality systems
   • Managing finance
   • User pays pricing
   • Budgets
   • Managing physical resources
   • Staff management
   • Teams based management
   • Managing workplace safety
   • Risk control
7. Preparing for the Future
   • Future of Amenity horticulture
   • Ecologically sustainable development
   • PBL project to identify the current impacts on the environment of amenity horticulture operations in your area and suggest ways that ESD will impact on those operations and on the community in the short and long term.

Each lesson ends with an assignment that is sent in to the school, graded by the tutors there, and returned to you with any pertinent comments and suggestions—and, if necessary, additional reading—if they are applicable.

What You Will Do

• Explain the amenity horticulture sector’s complexity.
• If your country is different from the UK, compare the evolving complexity of the amenity industry there with at least one other nation.
• Talk about the many advantages that society receives through amenity horticulture.
• In order to successfully manipulate and control amenity sites within the constraints of economic and environmental factors, describe the processes underlying the natural and manufactured surroundings.
• Determine the influencing legal, social, economic, and environmental factors on the amenity business.
• Use financial and material resources wisely to manage amenity landscapes.
• Recognize and examine the amenity industry’s evolving complexity

In the management of the environment in the future, amenity horticulture will be essential. Amenity horticulturists will be held more and more accountable for making sure the planet’s resources are used responsibly and sustainably as guardians of both natural and developed environments.

 

AMENITY HORTICULTURE’S CHANGING NATURE

 

Amenity horticulture used to be a labor-intensive sector that needed a lot of people to perform a variety of physically demanding jobs, from expert labour like tree surgery and trimming to hard labour like excavating or hauling heavy loads of soil and boulders.

The nature and scope of labour in amenity horticulture have altered as a result of engineering and scientific advancements, especially since the middle of the 20th century. Yet, innovations have not been the only ones responsible for change. The sorts of facilities and services used by the amenity horticulture business have been substantially impacted by changing fashions, various lifestyles, economic pressures, and environmental changes. These factors have also had an impact on what consumers want and expect from amenity horticulture.

Think about the following instances:

• Many gardeners are making alternate plant selections or managing their plants in different ways due to their concern over water shortages, such as utilising more mulch and other water conservation methods.
• We look for garden designs that require little to no maintenance when the cost of keeping gardens, whether they are private or public, rises too much.
• However, only if the scale of the operation is large enough to make the purchase and maintenance of expensive equipment viable. For example, using machinery to reach the tops of tall trees, mow large areas, and remove dead trees are examples of heavy jobs that can be handled faster and with less manpower thanks to machinery.
• More and more specialised contractors are providing services (outsourcing).
• The population of the planet is rising. This expands the market for all commodities, including amenity horticulture. Potentially, demand could expand in step with population growth (but this is a potential, and not necessarily a reality).
• The demand for amenities like sports fields, public parks, and golf courses will depend on how much time people spend working, sleeping, resting, and engaging in leisure activities.
• In modern societies, lifestyles and leisure activities are constantly evolving. Nowadays, people spend more time on electronic gadgets (computers, ipods, TVs, etc.) and, proportionally, may spend less time in public parks or engaging in other forms of leisure. On the other side, as institutionalised health and exercise promotion and support increases, so does the demand for outdoor spaces where people may exercise, unwind, and connect with nature.
• The amount of land that is accessible for horticulture (both public and private land) is anticipated to decrease as cities develop and land costs rise. Although the type and breadth of horticulture vary, the quantity does not necessarily diminish as a result.
• Those that are more prosperous can afford to hire professionals to landscape, care for, and even maintain their gardens and inside plants.
• Changes in the law may (and have) also had an impact on the character and reach of amenity horticulture. Some landscaping must be completed and approved in accordance with local planning requirements in some cases. Some laws mandate particular practises for planting, such as making sure branches or roots don’t harm neighbouring properties and preventing the spread of noxious weeds. Legislation to fence pools and ponds is a result of worries about water safety.
• Health and safety-related knowledge and awareness are growing, which has an effect on amenity horticulture. Avoiding certain plants that can trigger allergic reactions; planting fire-resistant plants rather than ones that burn easily. Another issue in garden design is personal safety.
• The type and level of care devoted to amenity gardening evolves as the physical and psychological importance of plants is understood and acknowledged.

 

“This is the place to start for anyone with an interest in amenity horticulture or who wishes to understand the industry. Graduates will develop knowledge of the industry at both a global and local level of the different sectors of the industry and become familiar with responsible environmental management strategies of natural and created landscapes.” – Gavin Cole B.Sc., Psych.Cert., Cert.Garden Design, MACA, ACS Tutor.

 

 

Amenity horticulture: Why Study It?

 

This course provides a thorough introduction to horticulture and the benefits it offers to many societies around the world. Students can develop a comprehensive awareness of what horticulture has to offer both now and in the future by obtaining insight into historical and contemporary trends and sections of the field.

This course is excellent for those who want to learn about the fascinating field of horticulture on their own, or who want to take it as a part of a diploma or longer study programme. Anyone who work in, or who aspire to work in, the following fields can benefit from taking this course:

• All-purpose horticulture
• garden shops
• Wholesale nurseries
• Gardens and parks
• Ecotourism
• Restoration and conservation of gardens