Planting the seeds of success for remote learners 

IPF Landscape Services crews donate time and resources to help educate the next generation of landscape professionals. 

“For the past seven years, we’ve worked with Horticulture, Turf and Forestry program instructors and students to provide them with real-world, hands-on experience in arboriculture, planting and irrigation as part of their laboratory classwork,” said Matt Bailey, Landscape Services manager.

“Our staff not only demonstrates the day-to-day work that these students will encounter in their future careers, but also the operation, planning and management of a landscaping operation as well as the role of landscape architects in the design of grounds.”

“Although I am unable to have in-person labs for my HRT 213L course this fall, working with IPF Landscape Services allows me to record demonstrations of real-life landscape installations,” said Marcus Duck, Department of Horticulture instructor and coordinator for Landscape and Nursery Management and Fruit, Vegetable and Organic Horticulture Management.

“We’re able to walk through the planning process for the project, how to read the plan and space out the plant materials, as well as how to correctly plant each type of plant used in the landscape.

“HRT 213L (Landscape Maintenance Field Lab) instructor Marcus Duck, who we’ve often worked with, reached out to us to see if we were open to a little change in our participation due to the fallout from the COVID outbreak, and you know us, we are always up for a challenge,” Bailey chuckled.

The students in HRT 213L are from programs such as Landscape and Nursery Management Certification, Horticulture, Golf Turfgrass Management, Sports and Commercial Turfgrass Management, Turfgrass, and Urban Forestry.

“I am very thankful for their help in producing this material for my students,” he added.

“Working with the students helps us all understand how important the landscape is to MSU,” said John Jonckheere, Landscape Services construction coordinator. “The students that we meet during these classes tell us that they have seen our crews all over campus and sometimes just stop and watch what we are doing, and are appreciative to have the opportunity to work and learn from us directly."

Three videos are being produced this semester, and additional videos may be added if remote instruction continues for spring semester.