Denton County Magazine • May June 23 • PLANTS IN HARMONY

This semester, Ashley Hartman and 41 students at North Central Texas College are having a love affair with plants. And landscaping. And the design that brings those elements together. Not to mention sustainability and water conservation.

Complicated? Not really – but it does require a special set of skills offered at the college. Hartman, who earned her master’s degree in horticulture science from Texas A&M University, leads the horticulture program (which includes the landscape program) at NCTC. She often says that the field “is the perfect intersection of art, design and science,” according to her students.

As construction and the population in Denton County and North Texas continue to grow, job opportunities in that field are expanding, too. Landscape design professionals can earn salaries of more than $70,000 annually, according to the college.

“Classes are popular because population growth in our area is exploding,” Hartman said. “Every time a house is built, landscape is planted. Demand for landscape professionals is strong.”

The landscape design program at NCTC draws students from across the area; two classes are taught on the Gainesville campus and the third is held in Corinth. Hartman estimates that approximately half of the future landscapers in her classroom commute from Denton County.

Many want to change careers and are “nontraditional” students (those older than 25) who share conversations and ideas with dual credit students who are 16 or 17. A number of veterans are enrolled in the program, too. The students represent an eclectic mix of people who enjoy what they are doing as they work toward a career in the field.

“We have students who’ve already earned other degrees and who want to change professions for many reasons,” Hartman said. “And, during the pandemic, enrollment in the program grew because people were so stressed that they turned to gardening. I think people looked to nature and the healing aspects of landscaping and being outside.” (Classes were held online during the pandemic but now have returned to in-person attendance.)

Landscape design is an art, according to Hartman. “Students need to understand the artistic principles and formalized structure -- line and rhythm, for example. They need to be able to do all of this to make plants look good. And they must learn how to draw and hand-render designs. They have to master those techniques -- to make the connection between the landscape, paper and their brain -- before they can go to the next course.”

That first course teaches students the principles and elements of landscape design. Topics include client interviews, site analysis, plan view, scale, plant selection, basic drawing and drafting skills, and plan preparation. Faculty choose two clients for students’ semester landscape design project. Class members meet with clients to discuss their needs, visit both sites, work on landscape designs, create master plans drawn to scale and present them formally at the end of the semester.

The skills they learn in this first course carry over to work done in two other classes. All three courses -- landscape design, computer landscape design and landscape irrigation -- comprise NCTC’s Occupational Skills Award in landscape design. Students can complete those three classes in two semesters. Landscape design is offered every fall; the other two classes are taught in the spring.

“We take summers off due to the heat and because some students are doing internships,” Hartman said.

Because so many students have full-time jobs, the classes are scheduled in four-hour blocks, once a week in either the late afternoon or evening, to accommodate their needs. Each class is a lecture and a lab. NCTC horticulture faculty, as well as professionals in the field, teach the courses. The college’s horticulture program also offers two stackable Level 1 certificates in horticulture management and sustainable horticulture as well as a two-year associate degree in horticulture management.

“The program has a naturalistic, organic emphasis plus sustainability,” said Hartman, who loves landscaping and planting at her 100-year-old home near Muenster.

Anyone interested in landscape design courses at NCTC must apply for admission to the college, and then they can enroll in classes. For information, visit nctc.edu.

Approximately half of all students enrolled in landscape design courses on NCTC’s Gainesville campus don’t mind the drive. Many want to make a job change or have plans for a second career. Lindsey Townsend, who lives in Lake Dallas, plans to retire in a year or two after more than three decades as a journalist and corporate communicator. Currently a copy writer who has created digital content for the past 10 years, she is interested in landscape design, especially xeriscaping, which uses drought-tolerant native plants and water conservation methods.

“My husband and I own an A-frame fixer-upper in East Texas,” Townsend said. “When we visit, the local golf course is constantly being watered. Water is precious, and we need to preserve resources for our children and our grandchildren – something Professor Hartman and I agree on.”

She wants to focus on the landscape design process and is not necessarily looking to get a certificate or degree. She is intent on “adding to my knowledge by taking a variety of horticulture courses to achieve my goals.”

Tammy Elliott, who commutes from Corinth, is in her 40s. During the COVID pandemic she found herself with extra time on her hands. “I realized I had time to do the things I enjoy outside with nature. I’m always curious about how and why plants, pastures and turf would react in certain ways and what I could do to improve them,” Elliott said. “I was spending a great deal of time doing my own science projects, you could say, and I eagerly wanted to learn more.”

A little nervous about going back to school after many years, Elliott will graduate in December with her OSA in landscape design, level 1 certificates in both horticulture management and sustainable horticulture, and her associate degree in horticulture science.

Elliott, who enjoyed working with the clients and helping them meet their landscaping needs, appreciates the support that faculty members have provided as well. “Their help has led me to discover my passion, which is really the naturalistic and more sustainable approach [to landscape design] while making sure we give back to the Earth.”