HO311: Herbaceous Plants 
Fall 2002

Required Texts:

Phillips, Ellen and C. Colston Burrel. 1993. Rodale’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Perennials. Rodale Press. Emmaus, PA.

Phillips, Roger and Martyn Rix. 2002. Annuals and Biennials: The Definitive Reference With Over 1,000 Photographs. Firefly Books. Willodale, Ontario, Canada.

Hessayon, D.G. 1993. The House Plant Expert. Expert Books. New York, NY.

Optional Texts:

Still, Steven M. 1994. Manual of Herbaceous Ornamental Plants. Stipes Publishing, Co. Champaign, IL

Lyons, Robert. Horticopia A to Z. CD-ROM software library of woody and herbaceous plants. Available from www.horticopia.com.

Each student will be given a CD-ROM which will include over 1200 digital plant images, including images of all of the plants that will be covered in the class. The CD will also include a copy of a shareware (screen saver) program that will allow the student to see slideshows of selected plants. Additional files may also be included and the CD may be updated by the instructor periodically, if desired.

Lectures:

Tuesday-Thursday 9:00 to 10:50 AM or 2:00 to 4:50 PM. Plants will be introduced initially during walking tours of the SDSU campus, McCrory Gardens, NE Hansen Farm and other locations, as long as weather permits (usually until mid - October). Students will be responsible for their own transportation to McCrory Gardens. Students are advised that much of the time outdoors will be spent walking around examining the plant material in the field so wear appropriate clothing for the weather and potentially wet grass. The remainder of the plants will be presented using digital slide presentations and specimens from the HFLP indoor plant collection. Additional class information will be available at the class web page: http://hflp.sdstate.edu/ho311/index.htm

An important component of this class is the preparation of a plan for a flowerbed of your own design. This bed may be an actual real-world bed for your home or at some other location. Or, if you choose, you may design a bed that could be built and planted someday, in your own home yard for example. The bed design should include annuals and perennials to provide color and interest throughout the growing season and if possible, interest throughout the year. Minimum size of the bed should be 50 sq. ft.. Students will prepare a plan - outline to be submitted for review by Oct. 12, including a list of plant species and a general planting design, oral presentation (lasting about 10 minutes) of the complete plan to be delivered between Nov. 14-21 and detailed diagrams to be handed in one week following the presentation. More detailed information will be handed out in class.

Writing Exercise:

Students will prepare an outreach publication featuring plants suitable for growing in South Dakota. The purpose of this publication is to provide information on herbaceous plants for a particular type of site, landscape attribute, or other shared characteristics that make this group of plants interesting or particularly useful. This publication should feature at least 10 different plants will contain the name (common and scientific), lifecycle (annual, biennial or perennial), season of bloom, appearance, value, culture, etc. The publication may focus on outdoor or indoor plants. Images of each plant should also be included.  These images should show some of the merits of the plant and reinforce what is mentioned in the text. If written or digital information is used that is not the student’s original work, proper credit should be given in the publication indicating the source of the materials that are used. A topic must be approved by Oct. 24. The completed assignment will be due Dec. 3.

The publication must be done using either MS Word or Corel WordPerfect. Both a hard copy and digital file will be turned in to the instructor. Copies will be made available to the class on the CD-ROM if desired. The instructor reserves the right to potentially use class materials in the development of actual Extension publications and other materials. Of course, the student will be given proper credit for their work.

Field Trip- One required field trip will be held Sept 24 (10:00 AM) to Sept. 25 (about 9 pm) to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum and perhaps another site. The arboretum is a premiere collection of woody and herbaceous landscape plantings in the Midwest. We will be staying in a motel overnight near a mall then spending most of the day at the arboretum.

Evaluation: Course grades will be based upon total points earned from the best nine out of ten quizzes, the bed design, outreach publication, two id exams (one outdoor and one indoor), and a final exam. Quizzes will primarily cover plant identification but may include other questions regarding life cycle, and appropriate garden uses. The final exam will include questions regarding plant culture, valuable characteristics, propagation, pest problem and garden uses.

Point distribution

Bed design presentation outline                 30

Bed design oral presentation                     60

Bed design turned in materials                   60

Presentation participation                          30

Outreach publication                               100

Nine quizzes (30 pts. ea)                         270

Exam - outdoor plant identification          120

Exam - indoor plant identification              90

Final Exam - written                                 80

Total                                                     840

Herbaceous Plants Calendar (subject to change)

Sept. 5  -                 Introduction and plant classification

Sept. 9 - Oct. 24     Field study of outdoor plants

Sept. 25-26             Field trip to MN Landscape Arboretum

Oct. 11                    Bed design presentation outline due

Oct. 24                    Outreach publication topic due

Oct. 24 - Oct. 31     Slides/digital images of outdoor plants

Nov. 5                     Outdoor plant ID exam

Nov. 7 - Nov. 19     Oral presentations

Nov. 21 - Dec. 10     Indoor plants

Dec. 3                       Outreach publication due

Dec. 12                     Indoor plant ID exam

Dec. 19 (12:00-1:40 or 4:00 to 5:40)     Final Exam (written)

Disability Statement: "If you are a person with a disability and anticipate needing any type of accommodation in order to participate in this class, please inform me and make the appropriate arrangements with the Office of Disability Services (ODS). The Office of Disability Services is located in 110 West Hall. To schedule an appointment call (605) 688-4504 and request to speak with Nancy L. Schade the Coordinator of Disability Services."

Academic Honesty: Cheating, plagiarizing, or assisting others without consent of the instructor will result in a grade of zero for the first offense, and a course grade of F for a second offense. Note, plagiarism applies to the use of materials from the Internet as well as other materials that are the intellectual property of others. Always be sure to give proper credit where credit is due!

The instructor reserves the right to amend this syllabus during the semester as needed.

Last updated September 3, 2002.