You don’t have to have a green thumb to be part of Houston Community College’s Horticulture Department. All you need to be part of this ever changing and demanding field is a willingness to get dirty and have a love for Mother Earth said Brenda Anderson who is in charge of the department in Katy.
“Our Horticulture Department is really growing. We’re progressing and we’re trying to implement sustainability, greener solutions that are more
Earth friendly,” said Anderson.
Anderson’s department has been hard at work. They have set up a 5,000-gallon water harvesting system, a xeriscaping area, and an Aquaponics area.
“We’re teaching natural filtration, Mother nature at her finest. We're not using chemicals, but rather using pea gravel and expanded clay pellets with the plants to filter out contaminants in the water instead of using chemicals,” said Anderson.
A community garden, orchard and a walking path will soon be coming to the Katy location as well.
Programs offered in the Agriculture and Horticulture Fields include, but are not limited to:
- Horticulture, AAS
- Landscape Horticulture, Certificate
- Master of Floriculture, Certificate
- Nursery and Floral Production, Certificate
- Gulf Coast Gardener, MSA
The HCC Horticulture Department likes to give back not only to Mother Earth, but to her residents too. They are having their fall plant sale Thursday, September 2 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Friday, September 3 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in the greenhouse at the HCC Katy Campus, 1550 Foxlake Drive.
The Tilapia growing in the fish tank or Aquaponics area will be the main course at the department’s fish fry in October.
For more information on the HCC Horticulture program in Katy go to http://northwest.hccs.edu/northwest/workforce-programs/horticulture .
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