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Garden Futurist Podcast: Episode XXXIX: Innovative Programs for New Careers in Horticulture with UBC Botanical Garden

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Garden Futurist Podcast: Episode XXXIX: Innovative Programs for New Careers in Horticulture with UBC Botanical Garden

Garden Futurist

Garden Futurist Podcast: Episode XXXIX: Innovative Programs for New Careers in Horticulture with UBC Botanical Garden

00:00 / 00:27:52

Summer 2024

Read the companion article here.

We are highlighting examples of innovative programs in the Pacific region that are truly preparing students for the future of horticulture within a variety of careers.

There has been some alarm in the last decade around the loss of horticulture and plant related degree and certificate programs. Can we get to the bottom of the conflict in views between talk of a “botanical education extinction” and evidence of younger generations’ growing interest in plants?

Garden Futurist spoke with Douglas Justice, Associate Director, Horticulture & Collections at the University of British Columbia Botanical Garden on UBC Botanical Garden’s Horticulture Training Program. We also spoke with recent graduate of the program, Christian Bendsen.

This article was sponsored by:

Garden Futurist Podcast: Proud Winner: 2023 GardenComm Silver Laurels Award

GARDEN FUTURIST

A show about innovative thinkers contributing to a climate resilient future through the power of gardens.

Produced and hosted by Sarah Beck, Adriana Lopez, and Adrienne St Claire

Edited and directed by Kelsey Skonberg

Sarah Beck is the executive director of Pacific Horticulture.

Adriana López-Villalobos currently lives in Vancouver, British Columbia where she works as Curatorial Coordinator for the UBC Botanical Garden. She is originally from Mexico, where she completed her BSC and MSc, studying plant ecology and mating systems evolution, before migrating to Canada to pursue a PhD focusing on the genetics of species across their geographic ranges.

Adrienne St. Clair is a botanist working with Metro, a regional government in Portland, Oregon where her work spans conservation to restoration. Adrienne managed a native plant nursery for almost a decade before pursuing a graduate degree. She received her Master’s in Plant Biology and Conservation from Northwestern University and Chicago Botanic Garden where she studied the effect of horticulture techniques on native-plant genetics.

Kelsey Skonberg is a Community-Centered Video and Podcast Editor and Science Journalist in Everett, WA.