Hort 384 Landscape Management
Spring 2016 "Subject to Change"
Instructor
Dr Margaret C Hoffman
Email: MC-Hoffman@wiu.edu
Office: KH 315
Phone #: 298-1089
Office Hours: MW 2:30 – 3:30
T , Th 2:00 – 3:00
Class Time: Mon, Wed, Fri 10:00 – 10:50, Knoblauch 307
Required Text: none.
Course Objectives: At the completion of this course, the student will be able to;
1. Recognize and practice best landscape management practices
2. Develop a landscape management plan
3. Complete common landscape calculations, i.e. fertilizer, mulch and compost
quantities, pond liner and pond volume.
4. Understand and develop an IPM program for a landscape
5. Understand and practice sustainable soil management practices
6. Understand planting and pruning principles for woody plants
7. Understand how to plant and care for perennials , ornamental grasses and
annuals in the landscape
8. Make informed decisions regarding weed control and invasive plant
management
9. Understand the management of water features in the landscape
10. Estimate landscape management services and understand bidding and service
contracts.
Attendance: ATTENDANCE IS A MUST!!!!!!!! We are professionals! Students must
be prepared to interact, analyze, and discuss topics relating to course assignments.
Absenteeism will impede your success on assessments and course assignments.
Professional dress is a must every time you conduct a presentation.
Late assignments will be deducted 10% a day starting at the end of the class period for
which it was due. After a week the assignment will not be accepted unless arrangements
were made with the instructor. All assignments will be types, or they will not be
accepted. Assignments will be written using 12 point font and 1” margins. Spelling and
grammar and professional appearance of the document are critical.
Please turn off or silence cellular phones and no texting during class time or the
instructor may ask for it to be returned to the student after the class period!
Student Rights & Responsibilities: www.wiu.edu/provost/students/
ADA Compliance:
In accordance with University values and disability law, students with disabilities may
request academic accommodations where there are aspects of a course that result in
barriers to inclusion or accurate assessment of achievement. To file an official request for
disability-related accommodations, please contact the Disability Resource Center at 309-
298-2512, disability@wiu.edu or in 143 Memorial Hall. Please notify the instructor as
soon as possible to ensure that this course is accessible to you in a timely manner.
Academic Dishonesty:
Any violation of the Academic Dishonesty Policy in Student Handbook will result in an
automatic failure in the course. Plagiarism and cheating are areas of concern for this
course. This course is designed to enhance your writing skills within your academic area,
not the ability to copy other’s thoughts and ideas.
Grading Scale:
Please review the plus/minus grading scale on western on-line. It
is also important to note that any unexcused missed assessment, the student will be able
to retake the assessment, but only 85% of the score will count.
Absences: If at any time you have a family emergency, funeral, or just not feeling well,
please use the OARS system to report your absence (www.wiu.edu/oars). I will need the
email generated from this system prior to class and not after. If I receive the email after
class has ended then the late grade policies come into effect.
Attention Education Majors:
The changes within the state certification require all education majors to receive a grade
of a "C" or better in this course in order to meet these new requirements. With the
university +/- grading system, receiving a "C-" or below will require you to retake this
course or find a substitute course to meet School of Agriculture graduation requirements.
Class Structure
This class will have a mix of lectures, guest speakers and field work. There will be
several large projects and opportunities for hands on application of principles. All
Lecture powerpoints will be available online. I will have every powerpoint loaded in
advance of the class and expect all students to review the material before class. In that
way we can explore questions and discuss issues during class. There will be daily 5 pt
quizzes reviewing the material on Western Online. These quizzes cannot be made up if
you miss them. To start every class we will divide into groups and one student will be
responsible for reviewing some aspect of the powerpoint on Western. Each teaching
moment will be worth 10 points based on an average of the student group evaluation.
Each student will also be required to produce a YouTube video explaining and
demonstrating knowledge of a sustainable landscape management practice. Each student
will also be responsible for a blog post discussing issues in landscape management. Post
dates will be assigned to each student, who will choose their own topics to discuss. The
posts will be turned in to the instructor for review, revised by the student and posted on a
WIU Horticulture blog. Both the videos and blog posts should be an important
component of each student’s portfolio when they enter the job market. We will have a
speaker in class to explain how to produce effective youtube videos and blog posts.
There will be daily 5 pt quizzes reviewing the material on Western Online.
Hort 384
Lecture Schedule “subject to change”
Spring 2016
Date
1/20
1/22
1/25
Lecture
Assignment
1/27
Soil and water interactions and the landscape
1/29
Soil and water interactions and the landscape
Soil sampling and soil compaction exercise
2/1
Field trip to soils lab
2/3
Quiz 1
2/5
Help with Ag Mech show
2/8
Landscape Nursery Production
2/10
Growth Momentum, planting and transplanting
trees and shrubs
2/12
NO CLASS
2/15
Pruning trees and shrubs
Pruning worksheet 20 pts
2/17
Field pruning
Dress warm,
2/19
2/22
Quiz 2
50 pt
Fertilizer calculation worksheet,
due 2/26. 30 pt
2/24
2/26
2/29
ID and control of invasive plants
Field session of inv plant id
Native plants in the landscape
3/2
3/4
3/7
Lawns and Turf
Weed Mgmt
Weed mgmt
3/9
Quiz 3
3/11
IPM and common pests of landscape plants
50 pt
Landscape IPM assignment 20 pt
3/21
3/23
IPM field session
Ornamental grasses, perennials and annuals
Perennial and annual worksheet 20
Class intro, syllabus
Review of plant physiology
Further review and Plant growth regulators
Fertilizing the landscape
Bring to class a picture of an urban
landscape exhibiting either soil
compaction or soil erosion issues
10pt
50 pt
Bring to class an example of one
common landscape plant veg
propagated and one sexually
propagated.10 pt Introduction of
landscape mgmt project
Complete native alternatives to
invasive plant assignment. 15 pt
4/1
4/4
Field session to work on mgmt. plan
Field session to work on mgmt. plan
Managing perennials, annuals, ornamental
grasses
Managing perennials and annuals
Fall and spring cleanup, mulching
4/6
Water feature maintenance and calculations
4/8
4/11
4/13
Water feature maintenance and calculations
Constructing a patio
Constructing a patio, grading, subbase,
calculations for estimating
4/15
Quiz 4
4/18
4/20
4/22
4/25
4/27
4/29
5/2
5/4
Estimating for maintenance jobs
Estimating
estimating
Field exercise planting trees, shrubs and
grasses
Planting trees, shrub, grasses and perennials
dividing perennials and grasses
Dividing grasses and perennials
patio
5/6
patio
Final
Final cumulative
3/25
3/28
3/30
Grading
Daily quizzes
Assignments
Landscape mgmt. project
Estimating project
Quizzes (4)
Blog or youtube (students choice)
Final
Landscape Mgmt plan due: 150
pt
Water feature calculation exercise
20 pt
Patio exercise 20 pt
50 pt
5 pts each
175 pts total
150
50 pts
50 pts each
50 pts
100 pts
TOTAL
Estimating project
Estimating project due 50 pt
100 pts
125
175
150
50
200
50
100
850
1/26/16