Horticulture program growing at GNTC

The Horticulture program at Georgia Northwestern Technical College (GNTC) is cultivating the next generation of landscapers, greenhouse owners and floral shop managers.

GNTC’s program offers a degree, diploma or certificate and is offered on the Floyd County Campus in Rome.

“We have a diverse range of students,” said Nick Barton, program director and instructor of Horticulture at GNTC. “Some students come here straight from high school. Others pursue a different career path.”

Barton said he estimates the oldest student to take Horticulture classes at GNTC was in her 70s.

“Some students want to learn to be self-sufficient by growing their own food,” Barton said. “As food prices climb, being able to grow food can make a difference in the grocery bill.”

Students learn to propagate plants in the greenhouse and nursery field, design and construct landscapes and maintain and operate machinery safely, including a tractor, mini-excavator and skid steer, also called a skid loader, he said. Graduates of the program are prepared for many career opportunities ranging from lawn care and landscaping to retail plant store management, floral shop management and greenhouse management.

Shelby Madden, a GNTC Horticulture student from LaFayette, tends to plants during the annual Spring Plant Sale. Madden has a greenhouse and small-scale plant and vegetable farm; she is starting a business named “Maddhouse Farm.”

“This is a hands-on class,” he said. “Our students grow everything we sell at our plant sales and operate the sales to give them real-world experience. Our largest sale is the Spring Plant Sale, usually held around the second week in April, which includes flowers, hanging baskets, vegetable plants and some nursery plants that they have grown from seed.”

Upon graduation, students can apply for the live plant license required by the Georgia Department of Agriculture to sell live plants in Georgia.

Classes cover arboriculture science; construction, design, installation and management; horticulture business management; identification of woody ornamental and herbaceous plants; irrigation and water management; landscape contracting, management of greenhouses, nurseries and horticulture businesses; pest management; plant production and propagation; soils; turfgrass management; and urban landscape issues.

Floral-related courses cover floral design, interiorscaping and flower shop management.

Although Barton grew up farming, his career path was not a straight row to Horticulture, he said. He took Machine Tool Technology (now named Precision Machining and Manufacturing) courses at GNTC after graduating from high school and returned to GNTC in the early 1990s to help teach the program. After 40 years in the machining field, his employer closed.

Then the semi-retired Barton, who was farming, ran into a former high school classmate, then employed at GNTC, who asked if he would be interested in going back to college, he explained. He took Horticulture classes at GNTC through the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) program.

WIOA is a federally-funded work training program that assists students who meet both eligibility and suitability requirements to learn new skills for tomorrow’s workforce.

“Upon the untimely death of my teacher, I was asked to substitute as instructor so that students could complete the semester of classes,” he said. “I ended up taking a full-time teaching position at GNTC.”

Barton said he has enjoyed teaching the program. He enjoys working with the students and is gratified when a student says “Hey, I grew that.”

Barton emphasizes the importance of cultivating an interest in Horticulture among future generations to ensure they know how to grow plants. The field offers job security because people will always need food.

“One does not have to have a lot of capital to start a greenhouse business,” he said. “One can inexpensively start a native nursery that just grows native plants, such as oak trees and persimmon trees. A lot of wildlife properties buy these plants for the wildlife.”

GNTC also offers floral design classes. Instructor Art D’Ambrosio has been teaching floral design for years and is also a floral design judge, judging many Future Farmers of America (FFA) competitions in the area.

“I can’t think of a more qualified person for this position than Art D’Ambrosio,” Barton said.