Ornamental Horticulture

Overview

With Georgia's excellent climate, it's no surprise that horticulture and professional lawn care and landscaping businesses are among the fastest growing segments of Georgia agriculture. Greenhouse horticulture contributed the most with 37.7 percent of the total value. The landscape and retail garden center sector also plays a large role. Greenhouses and container nurseries both ranked among the top 10 Georgia agricultural commodities in 2009. Lawn care and service industries employ more than 24,000 people in Georgia, and household spending on these services continues to increase.

The horticulture industry has a long history in the state of Georgia, thanks in large part to the former P. J. Berckman's Fruitlands Nursery near Augusta. Berckman's influence is still seen all across the South through his work in the fruit and ornamental industry. In 1908 the U.S. Department of Agriculture declared that he had done more for American horticulture than almost any other man.

Fruitlands Nursery became a world-class experimental station as well as a botanical garden that disseminated many of the most valuable plants of the Southern horticulturist including honey peaches, Kelsey plum, Japanese persimmon, hardy lemon, Amoor River privet, Berckman's dwarf arborvitae, eleagnus, wisteria, and other fruits and ornamentals. Fruitlands Nursery is still at the forefront of interest in Georgia. The nursery is now known as the Augusta National Golf Club and annually hosts the Masters Golf Tournament. The Augusta National Club House is the original family home of the Berckmans.

Horticulture and related professions are "Georgia's Green Industry" — thriving businesses providing an environmentally beneficial product to our state.

Publications

Commercial and Professional Publications

• Safety Checklists for New Landscape Employees
• Using Surfactants, Wetting Agents, and Adjuvants in the Greenhouse
• Hort Scape: For Landscape Installers
• Hort Management: For Landscape Managers
• Managing Organic Refuse: Options for Green Industry Professionals
• Success with Pansies in the Winter Landscape: A Guide for Landscape Professionals
• Alternatives to Synthetic Herbicides for Weed Management in Container Nurseries
• Commercial Production of English Ivy
• Alternatives to Petroleum-Based Containers for the Nursery Industry
• Turfgrass Diseases in Georgia: Identification and Control
• Enfermedades de los céspedes en Georgia: Identificación y Control
• Conversion Tables, Formulas and Suggested Guidelines for Horticultural Use
• Fertilizer Injectors: Selection, Maintenance and Calibration
• Greenhouse*A*Syst: Water Source Use and Expansion Assessment
• Nursery Crop Selection and Market Implications
• Professional Grounds Management Calendar
• A Guide for Commercial Production of Vinca
• Greenhouse*A*Syst: Irrigation and Technology Assessment
• Greenhouse*A*Syst: Water Management Assessment
• Greenhouse*A*Syst: Water Quality Assessment

General Publications

• Deer-Tolerant Ornamental Plants
• Chainsaw Safety Tips
• Native Plants for Georgia Part IV: Grasses and Sedges
• Success with Mixed Containers Using Perennial and Woody Plants
• Raised Garden Bed Dimensions
• Raised Bed Materials
• Garden Sheds
• Garden Fencing
• Sources of Water for the Garden
• Irrigation
• School Gardens: Planning an Edible Garden
• Siting a Garden
• Soil Preparation and Planting Procedures for Ornamental Plants in the Landscape
• Raised Beds vs. In-Ground Gardens
• School Gardens: Less Expensive Sources of Plant Material, Amendments and Tools
• Stocking the Toolshed: Hand Tools
• Weed Control
• Extending the Crop Season: Unheated Spaces
• 2010 Georgia Gold Medal Winners
• Landscape Plants for Georgia

To see other publications, go to the CAES Publications site or the FACS Publications listing.

News

For the latest news about Extension, visit Georgia FACES. News you can use about Georgia family, agricultural, consumer and enviromental sciences.

• Annual Turfgrass Conference held in Tifton
• Azalea bloom show is over so it's time to prune
• Pollen may not be popular, but it's essential to our food supply
• Be patient and wait for centipedegrass to green-up on its own
• Reddish-brown boxwood leaves likely caused by winter
• Shrubs with "wet feet" decline as a result
• Wildflower Symposium features expert advice for gardening enthusiasts
• Popularity of St. Augustinegrass growing across Georgia
• Lawn care: Timing is everything
• Remove spent flowers to help pansies produce more blooms

Websites

UGA-affiliated sites

• Department of Horticulture
  Horticulture information and resources.
• Forest Nursery Management
  Information about growing and maintaining container trees.
• Warm Season Grass Breeding: Ornamentals
  Descriptions of various cultivars of ornamental grasses.

External sites

• Georgia Green Industry Association
  Organization dedicated to promoting and advancing the economic, lifestyle and environmental benefits of Georgia horticulture for our members, our families, and our communities.