The Horticulture class at Oakdale High School looks at plants that students are familiar with such as Lobellias, Begonias, Petunias, Trixies, and many other types of plants. The class teaches about both perennials and annuals. Each plant has different colors and unique traits that students study and observe. 

The Horticulture class at Oakdale has a greenhouse where the class grows plants that it sells. This event is called a plant sale, that the class uses to raise money for more plant supplies. The plant sale includes almost all of the plants that are in the greenhouse to be sold to customers. Students can either be a cashier or be an employee for part of the day. While the students are working during the plant sale and are an employee then the student can help the customers get the plants that they want.  

Recently, horticulture has been a growing topic of discussion and has created a number of business opportunities. A greenhouse company called Gro Shed, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is building greenhouses that use Gro-Lamps which allows plants to grow faster. Minneapolis residents, as well as those in  other states, can buy one of the company’s greenhouses to grow their crops. 

There is one other subject that is part of Horticulture which is Floriculture. Floriculture is a subject that allows students to create an arrangement that involves flowers, ribbons, floral foam, baskets, wreaths, fake flowers, etc. Using these materials, the students can create a multitude of floral arrangements. Throughout the school year, the horticulture class creates arrangements for different holidays, such as Valentine´s Day, Easter, etc. The students sell these arrangements during school as a way to both fund and spread the word about the horticulture program. The arrangements that the students create involve using flowers and greens like roses, carnations, baby’s breath, etc. 

Oakdale high school´s horticulture program has a new addition. The new addition includes a host of plants and animals, including building flower beds for planting, and taking care of goats, chickens, donkies, and collecting honey from the beehives. Besides the animals and plants, there will be a gardening shed that the students will be able to use for planting.

Haley Lohmann is a senior at Oakdale High School and president of Future Farmers of America (FFA). FFA is a youth organization that prepares students for careers in agriculture. When asked  about the horticulture class at Oakdale, Haley, responded, ¨If you have an interest in that class and you are bad with plants then you should take that class.¨ When a sophomore at Oakdale High School, Gracie Nelson, was asked the same question, she responded, ¨I say just try it¨ and ¨it allows you to get to know other people that you do not know and helps learning about how to take care of your plant.¨

To learn more about this subject, students can enroll in a horticulture program offered at Oakdale High School.