News

Student Spotlight on Madeline Esterl: Scholarship Meets Experience at the MN Landscape Arboretum

October 25, 2016

Wind blows through the leaves of the forest canopy, the smell of fish and wet grass in the air. Insects buzz through the morning mist and birds chirp territorial warning calls to one another. Water gently laps the rocky shoreline, the sun glinting off Lake Tamarack. Today, Madeline Esterl (B.S. 2017) plans to set this scene on fire.


Light Bulb Hunting: Student Spotlight on Soon Li Teh

June 24, 2016

It’s a fungus that can devastate an entire grape crop from leaves to fruit, eliminating entire yields: powdery mildew. The fear of powdery mildew leads to frequent fungicide applications, but graduate student Soon Li Teh (Applied Plant Science, Ph.D.) hopes for a better way to control it. Advised by professors Jim Luby and Adrian Hegeman, he is combining DNA marker-assisted breeding with metabolomics to speed up the selection process towards powdery mildew-resistant wine grape varieties.


Inspire the Future: Become an Alumni Ambassador

June 15, 2016

What sparked your interest in a career working with plants? Many people can trace their interest in plants back to one or two people. Now you have a chance to get the next generation interested in horticulture. CFANS has started an exciting opportunity called the Alumni Ambassador Program, which invites alumni to share their professional and collegiate experiences with students who are looking to explore careers in the food, agricultural, and natural resource sciences.


Where the Present Meets the Past: “Still . . . Life"

June 10, 2016

The structures of today morph into history alongside the innovations of tomorrow. This idea lays the groundwork behind the exhibition “Still . . . Life,” a collaboration between three professors, including Neil Anderson from the Department of Horticultural Science currently viewable at the Weisman Art Museum. During the 2010–2011 school year, when two of the artists were on Fulbright sabbaticals in the Czech Republic, the three collaborators traveled to Jewish cemeteries around Bohemia and Moravia as an alternate way to explore the history of the Holocaust than the better-known concentration camps.


What Drives John Erwin to Make Plants Scream?

May 17, 2016

Vervet monkeys have specific alarm calls for leopards, snakes, and eagles. Blackbirds give off a high seee call when birds of prey are nearby. And plants get…gassy? Over the last 30 years research has shown that plants, much like animals, ‘scream’ at each other when being attacked by pests through the specific gasses they give off. Recent findings in John Erwin’s lab, however, indicate that these gasses do more than just warn nearby plants to be on high alert: they also call in beneficial insects.


Thinking of Spring: Recent Plant Releases from the Department

February 11, 2016

In the spring of 2015, media outlets were buzzing with the news: there was a new Minnesota apple in need of a name. Thanks to Honeycrisp fame, new apple releases from the Department of Horticultural Science tend to get a lot of people excited. The new apple, MN-55, is still a ways from having a name and showing up on market shelves. However, other breeding programs within the department have been hard at work.


News from the Department Head

December 16, 2015

This summer the front of Alderman Hall was re-landscaped thanks to the Living Laboratory initiative and generous donations from our alumni and friends. The new garden combines plantings that are both aesthetically pleasing and environmentally beneficial to help create a more sustainable campus environment. Read more about this and other exciting changes in the department in the News from the Department Head.


Alumni Spotlight: Remembering Arnold Blomquist

December 15, 2015

In early August, alumnus Arnold ‘Arne’ Blomquist passed away. Arne earned his master’s degree (1961) and Ph.D. (1963) from the University of Minnesota in horticulture, genetics, and biology. Known for his strength of character and physical constitution, Arne used his extraordinary intelligence and bold leadership to spearhead many projects. He had led military, professional, religious, and education programs that benefit humanity and are a credit to the University.


Gardening Around Campus: The West Bank Community Garden

December 9, 2015

On West Bank, between the Carlson School of Management and the Rarig Center, a small garden lays brimming with tomato trellises, native perennials, kale, and scattered pollinator beds. It’s there thanks to a small cohort of students looking for a place where faculty, staff, students, and community members can gather on the more metropolitan side of campus to have meaningful interactions with a core theme of healthy food and the environment. With the help of the Living Laboratory initiative, an IonE grant, and Professor Tom Michaels advising, these students created the West Bank Community Garden (WBCG).