Horticulture

Horticulture has been defined as the culture of plants, mainly for food, materials, comfort and beauty. According to an American horticulture scholar, 'Horticulture is the growing of flowers, fruits and vegetables, and of plants for ornament and fancy.' A more precise definition can be given as 'The cultivation, processing, and sale of fruits, nuts, vegetables, and ornamental plants as well as many additional services'. It also includes plant conservation, landscape restoration, soil management, landscape and garden design, construction and maintenance, and arboriculture. In contrast to agriculture, horticulture does not include large-scale crop production or animal husbandry. Horticulture has been defined as the culture of plants, mainly for food, materials, comfort and beauty. According to an American horticulture scholar, 'Horticulture is the growing of flowers, fruits and vegetables, and of plants for ornament and fancy.' A more precise definition can be given as 'The cultivation, processing, and sale of fruits, nuts, vegetables, and ornamental plants as well as many additional services'. It also includes plant conservation, landscape restoration, soil management, landscape and garden design, construction and maintenance, and arboriculture. In contrast to agriculture, horticulture does not include large-scale crop production or animal husbandry. Horticulturists apply knowledge, skills, and technologies to grow intensively produced plants for human food and non-food uses and for personal or social needs. Their work involves plant propagation and cultivation with the aim of improving plant growth, yields, quality, nutritional value, and resistance to insects, diseases, and environmental stresses. They work as gardeners, growers, therapists, designers, and technical advisors in the food and non-food sectors of horticulture. The word horticulture is modeled after agriculture, and comes from the Latin hortus 'garden' and cultūra 'cultivation', from cultus, the perfect passive participle of the verb colō 'I cultivate'. Hortus is cognate with the native English word yard (in the meaning of land associated with a building) and also the borrowed word garden.