University of Minnesota. Division of Horticultural Science

During the 1870s and 1880s, courses in horticulture were taught as a part of the agriculture curriculum at the University, and research in horticultural variety testing began at the Agricultural Experiment Station in the 1880s. Samuel B. Green was hired as the first head of the Department of Horticulture within the College of Agriculture in 1888.

The 1888-1889 University Catalogue for the College of Agriculture described the Horticulture curriculum as “relations of heat, light, moisture, and food to plant growth...plant houses, hot beds, etc.; soils and manures, and their manipulations; propagation of plants; grafting, budding, pruning, training, etc.; planting and transplanting…” with cultivation of large and small fruits as well as “kitchen gardening, market gardening, landscape gardening, and floriculture.”

In 1962, the Department’s name was changed to Department of Horticultural Science.

At the May 10, 1974, the Board of Regents meeting, approval was given to change the Department’s name from Department of Horticultural Science to Department of Horticultural Science and Landscape Architecture to “reflect properly the missions of the department to the several fields of horticultural science and to the field of landscape architecture.” The change took effect July 1, 1976.

The School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, which had its administrative home within the Institute of Technology, became an independent collegiate unit (College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture) on July 1, 1989. With this administrative change, the landscape architecture program moved to the new college, having previously been a program of both the School of Architecture and the Department of Horticultural Science and Landscape Architecture. In 1989, the Department’s name returned to Department of Horticultural Science within the College of Agriculture.

The Department’s research has covered a variety of topics, including cultivars of apples, chrysanthemums, grapes, and grasses suited to Minnesota’s climate.

Heads of the Division/Department

From the guide to the Department of Horticultural Science records, 1845-1987, 2004, (University of Minnesota Libraries. University of Minnesota Archives [uarc])