Last Wednesday, Tracy Wootten and Valan Budischak came to talk to the class about the horticulture industry in Delaware. They mostly dealt with aesthetic plants used in residencies, so things like flowers and lawn care.

Regarding the cultivation of flowers, the two went over the process of planting a flower to the consumer’s purchase.  By the time the flower is bought, it likely has spent it’s past in many different places because different locations have different specialties when it comes to the life cycle of the flower (i.e. different places for potting and initial planting of the seed).

Other that lawn care and flowers, the green industry is involved with the management of places like parks and public areas. In these places, the industry is responsible for things such as removal of invasive species and keeping some forms of vegetation at bay. Something interesting is that the industry is responsible for keeping grasses away from railroads in order to prevent fires from the friction from the train.