…..and from all walks of life. We are a former elementary school teacher, a rock-climber, a fabricator, a lab technician, a gardener, an auto detailer, a program director and a high school grad. Our ages start at 18 and go up as far as 53. Some of our parents are still together, some have passed on, and some have separated. We bring our life experiences to the classroom, regardless of how short or long those experiences have been. We all have varying degrees of experience with growing things- whether it be trees, shrubs, annuals or perennials or turfgrass. Some of us are accomplished carpenters, welders or propagators, but some of us have never held a hammer or a pair of pruners or a torch. Some of us can tell the difference between an Acer platanoides ‘Schwedleri’ or Acer saccharum ‘Legacy’, but most cannot. But we are all interested in a common subject- how to improve the surroundings in which we live- either our own properties or others. By the end of the school year, we will know over 400 botanical and common names of trees, shrubs and vines common in the Landscape Industry- both native and exotic. We will have built a stone wall, laid some pavers, built a trellis and a compost bin. We will know how to tie a Running Bowline, a Prussic Loop or a Taut line in order to safely climb a tree to prune it. We will know to leave the branch collar after cutting a branch of the tree so the tree will heal quickly. We will learn what IPM means, what is a highway mix and what HI stands for. We will know what will happen when we bury a tree’s trunk with four inches of bark mulch or what will happen if you run a skid steer loader continually over a mature tree’s roots. We will learn the difference between available Nitrogen and unavailable Nitrogen, which plants like a high pH and what ones prefer a low pH. We will learn proper body language when speaking to a client and how to nullify an upset one. We will learn the difference between a dichotomous leaf arrangement and a whorled arrangement. We will learn how a piston engine works, which oil is best and operate a backhoe. We will ask questions, paraphrase a statement, make a list for a bibliography and give a power point presentation to our peers. We will know what employers are looking for in an employee and what they are not. We will know the difference between a semi-hardwood cutting and a softwood cutting and how to choose healthy container grown stock or healthy field grown stock. We will have seen some of the most beautiful gardens and arboretums in New Brunswick. Our hands will get cold and muddy and we will sometimes ask ourselves why we are here, but our faith will be restored at the sight of a graft that succeeded, a cutting that took root, or a tiny seedling that will some day become a tree. We will be restored when we are 30’ swinging from a tree branch looking down on the world or dead-heading roses on a summer day when the rest of the world is inside their air-conditioned offices. By the end of the year, we will have giggled, teared up, fell asleep while studying, drank too much coffee, skipped lunch, missed our parents or our wives, made new friends, overslept on test day or cheered on our floor hockey team. This is the Landscape class of 2008 at NBCC Woodstock- come join us.
