Internships
The department facilitates a supportive internship program that is considered by students and industry as excellent. Undergraduate students are strongly encouraged to take advantage of the diverse array of internships available to them. Internships vary in length from three to twelve months and provide students with valuable work experience, income, and college credit. Students enrolled in an internship complete a course, Horticulture 391. In their curriculum, students may take two credits of internship toward their horticulture credits and an additional 2 credits toward their 128.5 credits for graduation. Students are placed in internships in Iowa and around the country each summer and during the academic year as needed. Students have participated in internships at the Chicago Botanic Garden, Longwood Gardens, ISU Reiman Gardens, Augusta National Golf Club, Epcot Center, NASA, and at a wide variety of other important and challenging businesses and organizations. Our students compete effectively for national internships. We have also had students who have completed internships in foreign counties. For example, students studied in turf internships in both Scotland and Ireland in recent years and we have placed greenhouse and nursery students in The Netherlands, England, and Italy.
Chris Robert's Internship Story
Summer 2007
Mike Poll Describes His ISU Internship Experience
Department of Horticulture Internship Experiences.
Featuring: Justus Moody
Justus Moody by the Juniper Level Botanic Gardens sign, which is funded by PDN
Justus Moody assisting a customer in the nursery
I recently completed my 6 month internship at Plant Delights Nursery in Raleigh, NC. Plant Delights is a mail order nursery growing unusual and hard to find perennials. Plant Delights is also home to Juniper Level Botanical Garden, a must see if you are in the area, a six acre garden featuring 17,000 unique plants.
For most of the first 6 weeks I assisted the Facilities Coordinator maintain and repair the grounds and greenhouses. The following week I worked with the Grower. The next seven weeks were spent with the Stocking Supervisor getting through the busiest shipping season. The remainder of the internship was spent in the Propagation Department.
During my internship I learned how to repair the many components of the greenhouses, especially irrigation, and different pieces of equipment. I cut back and deadheaded many plants saw when to do this and how long it would take each species to recover. One of the more difficult parts of my internship was selecting the best available plants to be shipped to customers or in some cases recognizing that there were no plants of a particular species large and healthy enough to be shipped. My favorite part of the internship was in the Propagation Department. I learned how to propagate many species from cuttings, divisions, and seeds.
Featuring: Megan Staley
Interned at: Phillip's Flowers, Westmont, ILSummer 2007
Putting new design techniques to work
Putting new design techniques to work
This summer I packed up my things and moved to the Chicago area, ready and excited to start my internship at Phillip's Flowers in Westmont, Illinois. I was hoping to gain a new perspective of and additional work experience in the floral industry. I wanted to diversify and expand my knowledge in the retail floral business. Over a fourteen week period, I learned a lot about the company and floral design, but most importantly, I learned a lot about myself. I now have a clearer picture of what I want in my future as a floral designer and hopefully future owner of a floral design business.
I started my internship the Wednesday before Mother's Day. As a major supplier of Chicago land's floral designs, Phillip's Flowers awe-struck me those first couple of days with the amount of merchandise that was flowing in and out of their doors. After the holiday, things went back to normal in the company, and I settled into the many facets of my internship. Although the majority of my time at Phillip's was spent in their Event Department, I did get a chance to spend time in almost all of the departments Phillip's offers in their company including production, dispatch, retail, wholesale, phone room, plants, administration, and branch stores. Each department offered something different and something for me to learn.
I spent a majority of my time in the Events Department, which I enjoyed very much. The ladies I worked with were great mentors and very fun to be around. I learned a lot in this department that I can use down the road, and I was really able to use my creativity on such projects as standing orders. I enjoyed this so much because flowers were at my disposal, and I had access to about any flower which made designing fun and exciting. I believe I enjoyed the Events Department because I learned some new design techniques, but most importantly, I was exposed to new things. I worked on elaborate and colorful Indian weddings, something that is not common in Iowa. I also had the chance to go on set-ups and see some really gorgeous venues. My experience in Events gave me a lot of great ideas for designs. I also enjoyed this department because I was able meet with customers for a bridal consultation. I really enjoyed this because I am a people person, and I really enjoy working and conversing with customers.
The impact my internship had on my career and education is almost too large to express in words. My experience in a successful retail florist company solidified my interest in floral design as I am still passionate about the floral industry and excited to make big strides in my career. It also provided me great opportunities for the future. Finally, the internship better prepared me for a fast-paced job in the floral industry. I learned how to adjust in a new work environment and effectively work with new co-workers. In just a couple of years, I will be out on my own, hopefully working in a floral design business and using what I learned at Phillip's Flowers to help fuel my success.
Featuring: Eric Pitzen
During the summer and fall of 2006 I participated in an internship was with C. Raker and Sons, in Litchfield, MI, as their Liner Profit Center intern and grower. Going into this internship, I knew I wanted to work in the vegetative annual sector of the industry, and I was confident that my career path was taking me in the direction of being a vegetative young plant specialist. This was the perfect internship for me to test my career direction because the jobs they had me performing were the same as those assigned to a vegetative young plant grower. Raker was going through a hiring change, and as a result, they gave me the interim grower position until they found a permanent, full-time grower. I was put in charge of the propagation area, and I made the necessary changes to ensure high-quality rooted liners were produced. I learned how to make a production schedule and the importance of writing cultural notes to develop production plans for future use. I was in charge of various perennial and annual crops, and that helped me develop and categorize a time management schedule that ensured proper culture for all crops. This interim grower position helped me learn how a commercial greenhouse operates on a daily basis, and it also showed me that if I make a mistake, I am interfering with the quality or whether the crop gets to the consumer on time.
Featuring: Eric C. Pitzen
During spring semester, 2007, I participated in a Vic and Margaret Ball Internship with Tagawa Greenhouses Enterprises in Brighton, Colorado. During my internship I learned different skills that will be applicable in my future career. I also learned and evaluated how a commercial greenhouse operates on a daily and seasonal basis.
I performed many different types of work during my internship, with the majority of my time spent in annual plug production and finished production of annual cell packs and hanging baskets. My internship was constructed so that I would learn all processes of production and perform all the jobs of the greenhouse in chronological order.
One of the most interesting weeks of my internship was spent in sales and marketing. Here I was able to travel with Tagawa's category managers to different Home Depot locations organizing and setting up stores to make them look more eye-appealing to customers. Some of my internship was spent learning the business aspects of a greenhouse and the Tagawa company. I shadowed individuals, inquiring how and what they do affect what happens in the greenhouse. This was very informative because it consolidated all the information and questions that I accumulated while completing my internship.
My six-month internship at Tagawa's, had a huge impact on my career plans and goals. Before arriving at Tagawa's, I thought I wanted to be a vegetative-young plant grower in a commercial greenhouse operation. After leaving my internship, I learned that type of position was not for me. This internship experience enabled me to determine my areas of strengths and weaknesses, interests and dislikes. I believe I need to improve my business and marketing acumen. With this in mind, I made changes in my class schedule at Iowa State to help strengthen those two areas before I graduate. I determined my future plans are to work in new product development, for a leading company in the areas of breeding, development and production of vegetative plants. I would like to be the company's breeder relations individual and travel nationally and internationally looking for new and improved species that can be introduced into the American market.
