Environmental Horticulture

School of Agriculture and Industrial Technology

The Environmental Horticulture Program at Merced College is designed to meet the need for trained personnel in a broad range of occupational opportunities involved with or related to the environmental horticulture industry. 

Students in the program build knowledge of all aspects of horticulture through in-class and online learning paired with hands-on practice. Classroom knowledge is applied in labs utilizing project-based learning in our campus nursery, plant science laboratory, and various campus landscapes and gardens. 

Students work with a variety of edible, ornamental, and medicinal plants and gain a working knowledge California’s Central Valley climate as well as microclimates across the state. During their time in the program students propagate, grow, identify, and sell horticultural specialty crops as well as create designs and construct projects utilizing these crops. Students who have completed this program have moved on to a broad range of careers in areas such as nursery management, landscape design and construction, public garden and arboretum management, small farming, and business entrepreneurship. 

A Certificate of Achievement in Environmental Horticulture will be awarded upon the satisfactory completion of the curriculum listed below, with a minimum grade of a “C” (or P) in each course in the certificate and maintain a 2.0 GPA.

Program Student Learning Outcomes

A. Given an area to be landscaped and customer parameters, plan a workable landscape design including the bid and customer presentation.

B. Demonstrate the ability to perform the hands on skills and abilities to build / construct various projects related to the Landscape industry. These will include, but not be limited to, carpentry, electrical, plumbing and irrigation, concrete, site preparation, and bid and job estimation.

C. Select the most appropriate plants and trees with the decision based on the environment conditions, plant characteristics and customer preferences.

D. Faced with either a hypothetical or actual problem dealing with plantings or sprinkler/irrigation systems and the appropriate references, formulate a solution to the problem.

Program Requirements:

Program Core: (16 Units)