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Studies & Degrees in Horticulture

Horticulture is the science and practice of growing fruit, vegetables, herbs, flowers and ornamental plants, and of creating and maintaining gardens and landscapes. The Ohio State University defines it as the application of scientific principles to grow vegetables, fruits, ornamental plants and landscape design, together with business principles to sell the produce. It differs from agronomy, which deals with field crops such as cereals, in that horticultural crops are grown more intensively, often in greenhouses, nurseries and orchards.

Students learn how plants grow, develop, reproduce and adapt to different environments, and how to turn that knowledge into healthy crops and well-kept green spaces. The subject combines plant biology, environmental science and business.

What students learn

  • plant biology, plant identification and propagation
  • soils, nutrition, irrigation and plant protection
  • fruit, vegetable and ornamental production, in the open and under glass
  • landscape design, construction and maintenance, including turf
  • marketing and management of nurseries, garden centres and farms

Programmes usually let students choose a direction. The Horticulture major at Purdue University, for example, has concentrations in plant science, horticulture production and marketing, controlled environment agriculture (commercial production in greenhouses and similar systems), public horticulture (botanical gardens, arboreta and parks) and landscape horticulture design and management.

Qualifications and levels

  • Certificates, diplomas and associate degrees. US community colleges offer short, practical routes. Northeast Community College (Nebraska) has an Associate of Applied Science and a shorter diploma in Horticulture and Golf Course Management; the diploma coursework counts in full towards the associate degree.
  • Bachelor's degrees. In the United States horticulture is often a specialisation inside a broader major. At The Ohio State University it is a specialisation of the Horticulture and Crop Science major, at the University of Florida students take a Plant Science major with a horticultural minor, and Tennessee Tech University has a Horticulture, Landscape, and Turfgrass Management concentration in its agriculture degree.
  • Spain. Horticulture is taught inside agricultural engineering. The Grado en Ingeniería Agrícola of the Universidad de La Rioja has 240 ECTS credits over 4 years, is taught in Spanish and offers a speciality in Hortofruticultura y Jardinería (fruit and vegetable growing and gardening). According to the university, it gives access to the regulated profession of Ingeniero Técnico Agrícola. Vocational training (FP) offers the Técnico en Jardinería y Floristería (intermediate level) and the Técnico Superior en Paisajismo y Medio Rural (higher level), each of 2,000 hours according to the Ministry of Education's TodoFP portal.
  • United Kingdom. Besides university degrees, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) awards its own qualifications at three levels. They are studied part-time and are designed to be completed over one year.
  • Master's degrees and doctorates. The University of Florida offers a Master of Science in Horticultural Sciences, with or without thesis, for which students earn at least 30 graduate credits, and a PhD of at least 90 credits beyond the bachelor's degree.

Where to study it

Our directory lists 60 active schools for horticulture. Most are in the United States (42), followed by Spain (7), Australia (3) and the United Kingdom (2); New Zealand, Ireland, Germany, Iraq, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe have one each. In the United States the list includes large public universities such as The Ohio State University, Purdue University, the University of Florida, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and The Pennsylvania State University, and community colleges such as Alamance Community College and College of Lake County. In Spain, one example is the Universidad de La Rioja in Logroño; in the United Kingdom, The University of Northampton.

Teaching is in English in the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Ireland, and in Spanish at Spanish universities. Climate matters in this subject: a school in Florida works with different crops from one in the north of England, so it is worth checking the crops, greenhouses and gardens a school uses for teaching.

Careers

Purdue University lists careers in food production, plant science research, ornamental production, public education, athletic field management, landscape construction and landscape design. Graduates manage greenhouses, nurseries, garden centres, orchards and vegetable farms, look after parks, botanical gardens and golf courses, or work for seed, fertiliser and irrigation companies.

For the United States, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that employment of grounds maintenance workers will grow 5 percent from 2025 to 2035, and that of agricultural and food scientists 6 percent, both faster than the average for all occupations. Grounds maintenance workers typically do not need a formal qualification and are trained on the job, while agricultural scientists typically need at least a bachelor's degree. A horticulture qualification is therefore most useful for supervisory, technical and scientific posts.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between horticulture and agriculture?

Horticulture is the part of agriculture that deals with fruit, vegetables, flowers and ornamental plants, and with gardens and landscapes. Field crops and livestock belong to agronomy and animal science.

Can I study horticulture without going to university?

Yes. Examples are diplomas and associate degrees at US community colleges, RHS qualifications in the United Kingdom, and vocational training (FP) in gardening and landscaping in Spain.

How long does a horticulture degree take in Spain?

The Grado en Ingeniería Agrícola of the Universidad de La Rioja, which has a speciality in fruit and vegetable growing and gardening, has 240 ECTS credits and lasts 4 years.

Which jobs can I get with a horticulture qualification?

Typical jobs are greenhouse or nursery manager, grower, landscape designer or contractor, head gardener in a park or botanical garden, sports turf manager, and technical adviser or researcher.