HORTICULTURE 234 - LANDSCAPE PLANTS

H&CS 234 (Call #13885-5)

LANDSCAPE PLANTS

SYLLABUS

Spring 2000

Personnel

	Course Instructor	Lab Coordinator	Teaching Assistants
Name	Prof. Pablo Jourdan	Sharon Treaster	Adriana McKelvey Ed Popper
Email	Jourdan.1@osu.edu	Treaster.1@osu.edu	McKelvey.11@osu.edu EPo6302976@aol.com
Office	Howlett Hall 233B	Howlett 248A	TBA
Telephone	292-7224	292-1395	TBA
Office Hours	By appointment	By appointment	Check with TA

Course Description

This course will introduce the student to the botanical and horticultural dimension of designed landscapes by focusing on the species and cultivars that comprise the enormous palette of plants available to those interested in working with landscape plants, including landscape architects/designers. The course will address general principles applicable in any temperate landscape but will use locally adapted plants as examples. In the process of learning about landscape plants, the student will be introduced to the taxonomic, horticultural, ornamental, and landscape aspects of approximately 200 plants during lectures, discussions, and laboratories. The student will learn to identify many of the landscape trees, shrubs, vines, and groundcovers commonly utilized in the Midwest by a combination of experiential activities (walks on the OSU campus), discussions, on-line resources and homework assignments. The student will also learn the proper selection and usage of these plants in landscape situations, plant assets and liabilities, alternative plants for various situations, and cultural aspects. A guiding theme for this class is the concept of "The right plant in the right place."

Course Objectives

To identify selected woody and herbaceous ornamental plants important to Midwestern-US landscapes, and to master the skills necessary to identify an unknown plant.

To understand the major horticultural attributes of each plant studied (i.e., its strengths, weaknesses, cultural requirements, etc).

To learn the proper usage of specific ornamental plants in the landscape, or conversely to know which plants are appropriate for a given landscape situation

Course Organization

The course is centered on interactions with live plants during walks on Campus and other localities. Some lectures and additional on-line resources will also be part of the course. Classes meet every Tuesday and Thursday from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. This time will be divided between presentations, demonstrations and plant walks. A typical day may consist of a brief overview of plants and demonstrations, followed by a plant walk. Our walks can be quite lengthy; sometimes we may be out in the field for 2-3 hours. Times when various activities occur can vary greatly, so students are advised to join the class promptly at 1:30 p.m. each day. Lecture presentations will be made in Howlett Hall Rm. 116 unless otherwise indicated in the course schedule or announced differently in class. Students are expected to be present at all lectures and plant walks.

Prerequisites

Active e-mail account (required for communication with the instructors and for access to the Internet through OSU computers. Students may access the on-line resources through other Internet Service Providers besides OSU).
Desire to learn, open mind, interest in plants, positive attitude

Required Texts / References

H&CS 234 Landscape Plants Sp2000 - plantNotes.
P. Jourdan & S. Biggs

-available at Tuttle COP-EZ [$10.93 ]

Dirr's Hardy Trees and Shrubs - An Illustrated Encyclopedia.

Michael A. Dirr (1997).

Timber Press, Portland OR

- Available through the University Bookstore and other local bookstores (e.g. Long's, SBX) and also through on-line bookstores (Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, etc.) at discounted prices, but may take a few days to arrive in the mail.

Evaluation of Learning

Primary assessment of student learning will be made by traditional methods of in-class, written exams (2 term exams and 1 final), weekly quizzes on plant identification, and a final lab exam also on plant identification. The results of these assessments are combined to give a letter grade. The table below describes the evaluation scheme for this course:

Evaluation Scheme

Grading

Scale

Indoor Lecture Exams - 50% of the total grade.

Lecture Exams will be one hour each for Exam 1 (15% of total grade) and Exam 2 (15% of total grade) and two hours for the Final Exam (20% of total grade). Lecture exams will emphasize the areas of proper plant usage (assets, liabilities, alternative plants, selection criteria, species/ hybrid/ variety/ cultivar traits, etc.) and also cover aspects of identification, installation, culture, maintenance, problem-solving, etc. All exams are cumulative and comprehensive.

Outdoor Lab Quizzes - 40% of the total grade.

Eight lab quizzes will be given (one per week starting the 2nd week and continuing through the 9th) over previously covered material. Quizzes will be held on Thursdays unless announced otherwise in class. The lowest score is dropped; the remaining seven quizzes are averaged and constitute 25% of the total grade. The final lab exam, held 3 June 1999, will constitute 15% of the total grade. All lab quizzes are cumulative over the entire quarter, including the final lab exam. See additional information on labs below.

Field Trips or Term Papers - 10% of the total grade

Three field trips have been scheduled for the class: one to a local nursery (Acorn Farms) on 2 May, one to Nationwide Plaza in downtown Columbus on 23 May, and one to Inniswood Metro Gardens on 25 May. The trip to Inniswood includes a regular lab quiz. Travel arrangements will be discussed in class. Students who do not attend the field trips will be required to submit a 1500 word essay relating to the field trip topic for each of the missed trips. Additional details will be provided in class.

A-

B+

B-

C+

C-

D+

94-100

90-93

87-89

83-86

80-82

77-79

76-73

70-72

67-69

60-66

0-59

Make-up Exams and Quizzes

The only way a lecture exam or the final exam may be taken at an alternative time (either earlier or later) is under extenuating circumstances with the instructor's permission granted at least two calendar days in advance of the scheduled exam date. Make-up exams (for students who actually miss the regularly scheduled exams without prior arrangements) will be considerably different from the regularly administered exams.

Graduating Students

Students who anticipate graduating at the end of Spring Quarter will be given final lecture and lab exams in advance of the remainder of the class. Please contact the instructor to make appropriate arrangements.

Statement of Ethics

You will be trusted to act in good faith by performing your own work on lecture exams and laboratory quizzes. Academic misconduct of any kind will not be tolerated. Examples of academic misconduct include, but are not limited to cases of plagiarism and dishonest practices (e.g. cheating) in connection with examinations and assignments. If I either personally determine or I am informed by a teaching assistant that a student has breached the trust placed on him/her, I will report this through appropriate channels to the University Committee on Academic Misconduct (Faculty Rule 335-5-54). The Code of Student Conduct and the Procedures of the Committee on Academic Misconduct thoroughly cover the subjects of academic misconduct and its treatment, if you require further information.

General Advice to the Student

H&CS 234 is a rigorous and fast-paced class that covers a lot of material, much of it new to many of the students who have no background in plants or horticulture. The course is also quite strenuous: we meet twice a week for 4 long hours and take brisk 'walks' through a significant portion of the campus. These are not gentle sojourns, but rather intense explorations of facts about plants that will challenge each student's memory and intellectual stamina. Within 10 weeks, in 20 sessions, the students will be introduced to approximately 200 plants and will be expected to recall significant facts about them. At this stage in students' learning about plants there is not much room for speculation and creativity: the key is to learn the language (in the broadest possible sense) of these plants. Learning a new language requires repetition. The best strategy for learning these plants is to read, review, talk, discuss, examine… REPEATEDLY! Students may choose to do this individually or in groups, but whichever way best suits a student, the key is repeated encounters with the material: the written notes, the plants themselves, the on-line images, etc. Student: Do not allow yourself to fall behind! It happens too quickly and it becomes difficult to catch up.

Additional information about the laboratories (plant walks)

• All plant walks will take place under the prevailing weather conditions unless the university is closed. Please dress appropriately (including carrying umbrellas) for the weather and wear comfortable shoes. Bring a clipboard and pencil; if rain or snow is possible, also bring a clear plastic bag or clear transparency to cover your notes. On walks where quizzes will be given, students are to keep only that day's handout on the clipboard; all other papers must be packed away. Walks will only be delayed or canceled at the discretion of the course instructor and T.A. if unsafe weather conditions appear imminent. Rain, sleet, snow, cold temperatures, and/or gusty winds are quite natural during Spring Quarter in Columbus and will be expected to accompany us on some walks.

• Removal of plant parts from specimens by students will not be tolerated. Lab instructors may, at their discretion, selectively remove plant parts for demonstration purposes if the situation warrants. We cannot condone the indiscriminate collection of plant samples. Our campus is already suffering from a declining landscape plant base and no one, especially students interested in landscapes, should contribute to further decline.

• You are strongly urged to re-walk the labs on your own or in small groups to better learn the plant material at your leisure and review it continuously throughout the quarter as it grows and changes in appearance.

• You are expected to treat your lab instructor with respect, keep up with the group, and you must not converse during the entire quiz portions of labs. If you are concerned about any aspect of a lab instructor's performance or grading, please raise the issue directly and politely with them either before or after lab. If you cannot resolve the issue with the lab instructor, then bring the matter to the course instructor.

• You must attend and take quizzes in the lab section to which you are assigned, unless extenuating circumstances exist; even then, permission to attend another lab must be obtained from the instructor for another lab section before that walk begins, and is only applicable for that day. Lab-hopping is not allowed.

• Each regular lab quiz will have 10 questions, dealing exclusively with plant identification. For each quiz you will be provided with 10 small sheets of paper where you are to write your name or initials and a number from 1 to 10. When the instructor points to a quiz plant, you are to write the full botanical and common name for the plant. The final lab will have 30-35 questions on plant identification. No extra credit or bonus questions will be given for any lab quiz or final.

• Grading of quizzes. Each plant on a quiz is assigned 10 points; the allocations of these points (in parenthesis) are as follows:

	Genus (+7): Malus	Common Name (+3): Crabapple
	Genus (+4) specific epithet (+3): Quercus rubra	Common Name (+1.5 x 2): Red Oak
	Genus (+4) x specific epithet (+3): Viburnum x burkwoodii	Common Name (+1.5 x 2): Burkwood Viburnum
	Genus (+4) specific epithet (+2) `Cultivar' (+1): Rudbeckia fulgida `Goldsturm'	Common Name (+1.5 x 2): Orange Coneflower
	Genus (+4) specific epithet (+2) variety (+1): Hydrangea anomala ssp. petiolaris	Common Name (+1.5 x 2): Climbing Hydrangea

Wrong spelling is -1 for each letter missed up to the value of the unit, unless, in the opinion of the lab instructor (and quiz grader), you missed the whole unit. You must underline all appropriate scientific names, and punctuate appropriately, including capitalization. About 80% of all lab answers will be like the first two examples above.

H&CS 234 - Spring 2000

Tentative Schedule of Class Topics, by Week

Week	Tuesday	Thursday	Comments
1	March 28 Intro to the course Plant Identification	March 30 Guest Speaker: M. Quigley The 'Landscape System' The Language of Plants	Learning plants. Basic Botany. Plants in flower. Coniferous evergreens
2	April 4 Plant classification Plant Form	April 6 Plant Growth & Development Quiz 1	Early spring flowering trees/shrubs; conifers: decidous and evergreen
3	April 11 The Landscape Environment I : Plant Communities	April 13 The Landscape Environment II: Soils Quiz 2
4	April 18 EXAM 1 — HT 164	April 20 Landscape Environment III: Other factors Quiz 3	Walks on Ag Campus and Sports Complex
5	April 25 Review Landscape Environment	April 27 Production of Plants for Landscape Use Quiz 4	Walks on Ag & Main Campus
6	May 2 Nursery Field Trip Acorn Farms	May 4 Plant Selection and Establishment Quiz 5	Field trip to nursery; bus service provided
7	May 9 Plant Management: Strategies	May 11 Plant Management: Controlling Form EXAM — 2 Quiz 6
8	May 16 Plant Health Management I	May 18 Plant Health Management II Quiz 7	Shade trees
9	May 23 Downtown Columbus	May 25 Inniswood Quiz 8	Field trips to Nationwide Plaza and Inniswood Metro Gardens. Own transportation
10	May 30 General Review	June 1 Lab Final	Final Walk and Exam: Location to be announced
Final Examination Monday , 5 June 2000 1:30 -3:18 p.m. Room: HT 164


HCS in Virtual Perspective \| Resources \| Lecture Notes, etc \|