Green thumbs get to work

<blockquote><p align=justify>LOUISIANA La. — Students at UL Lafayette interested in horticulture and landscape learn how to grow a business.

“I don’t care how good a horticulturist you are, if you can’t manage the people and the business, it’s not going to be a viable business,”

said Dennis Wollard, UL Lafayette associate professor of horticulture.

Last year, the college of applied life sciences began offering students an option to focus their studies on landscape and horticulture management. The curriculum is balanced between horticulture and business in response to what students wanted — a focus on business, Wollard said.

Fifteen students have enrolled in the program since it began last summer, Wollard said. Before the program, students majored in plant science with a concentration on horticulture. Then, the program averaged one student a semester.

The program began last year, but had its first graduate this past May.

In the program, students don’t just learn how to care for plants or how to manage pests, but learn how to grow their business from doing their taxes and handling permits to managing their employees. Course work includes human resources, management, accounting and marketing. Students are also required to take communication courses.

Senior Aaron Menard incorporated those classroom skills to his own business, Superior Landscaping. Melancon started the business last February. Business is blooming so much that he took this semester off to catch up on jobs.

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Marsha Sills
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Although business is booming, Menard plans to return to class in January and earn his degree.

“There’s still classes I haven’t taken, and I feel that there’s more that I need to learn,” Menard said. “I figured I could never learn enough about the things that I do. They’re always developing new plants and new ways of doing things.”

And a degree carries weight of his working knowledge of his craft, he said.

“I have a lot invested in my education,” he said.

Melancon made the switch from sustainable agriculture to the option when it was offered. He said he’s seen the difference in how he manages his own business.

“I wouldn’t say there’s a change in my business, but my management practices as far as knowing more about how to do my taxes and just how to deal with different situations,” Melancon said.

But the classes teach students more than how to deal with the business side of their future professions. For Sophomore, Rusty Laviolette the option offers more focus on horticulture from irrigation to fertilizers. Laviolette was a plant science major before the option was offered.

“This has more of the stuff that I want to learn,” Laviolette said. “It better suited me. We already have a family business.”

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