Herbaceous Landscape Plants

PLS 211

Course Syllabus

Fall 2000

During the course, students will become intimately familiar with approximately 200 herbaceous plants (annuals, perennials, bulbs, grasses, ground covers and vines). Students will learn to identify these plants and how to use, grow and maintain them in the landscape. Cultural characteristics, such as preference for wet or dry soils, tolerance of sun or shade, and plant characteristics such as flower color, texture, height and season of flower, will be included.

The course will be supplemented with information about specific groups of plants, not mentioned in the first part of the course. Ornamental grasses, aquatic plants, ferns, vines and ground covers will be covered through slides in an effort to introduce students to these important groups of plants. These plants will be covered in less detail than the those covered in the first part of the course.

Laboratories will supplement material covered in lecture and provide students with as many live specimens and examples of gardens as possible.

Briefly, the objectives of this course are:

1. Identify herbaceous plant material.

2. Learn plant characteristics and cultural requirements for each plant.

3. Obtain a working knowledge of garden maintenance.

Instructor: Dr. John Frett

831-2531

161 Townsend Hall

jfrett@udel.edu

Lecture: M W 8:00 - 8:50

103 Fischer Greenhouse Laboratory

Lab: M 1:25-3:25 PM 103 Fischer Greenhouse Laboratory

M 3:35-5:35 PM 103 Fischer Greenhouse Laboratory

Armitage, Allan. 1997. Herbaceous Perennial Plants, 2^nd Edition. Stipes Publishing Co. Champaign, IL

Still, Stephen M. 1994. Manual of Herbaceous Ornamental Plants. Stipes Publ. Co. Champaign, IL. 4th Edition.

Clausen, R.R. and N.H. Ekstrom. 1989. Perennials for American Gardens. Random House, Inc. New York.

Mickel, John T. 1994. Ferns for American Gardens. Macmillan Publ. Co., New York, New York.

Ottesen, Carole. 1989. Ornamental Grasses. McGraw-Hill Publ., New York, NY.

Phillips, R. and M. Rix. 1991. The Random House Book of Perennials, Volumes I and II. Random Hose, Inc, NY.

Stadelmann, Peter. 1992. Water Gardens. Barron’s Educational Series, Inc. Hauppauge, New York.

Taylor's Guide to Annuals. Houghton Mifflin Company. Boston, MA.

Taylor's Guide to Perennials. Houghton Mifflin Company. Boston, MA.

Taylor's Guide to Bulbs. Houghton Mifflin Company. Boston, MA.

Points for each Total points

Examinations (3) 100 300

Quizzes (10) 20 200

Total points possible 500

Grades will be assigned according to the following schedule:

Total points Grade

500 - 465 A

464 - 450 A-

449 - 435 B+

434 - 415 B

414 - 400 B-

399 - 385 C+

384 - 365 C

364 - 350 C-

349 - 335 D+

334 - 315 D

314 - 300 D-

299 - F

Examinations will be given during the lecture period. Exams may cover any information from lecture or lab since the last exam and will deal largely with cultural, ornamental and landscape attributes of the plants. Exams will begin promptly at the start of the period and will be collected at the end of the period, if they are not turned in prior to that time.

Make-up exams will be given only in the case of excused absences (see student handbook). You must notify the instructor prior to the exam or you will receive a 0 score for that exam. Upon returning, students will provide documentation of the illness and a written request to schedule a make-up exam. All make-up exams will be ORAL.

Quizzes will occur weekly in the lab, and randomly in lecture, and will be comprehensive from the first day. Lab quizzes will be mainly identification of plant material. Approximately 13 quizzes will be given and the best 10 will be used when determining the final grade. Since there will be at least three quizzes dropped, there will be no make-up quizzes given. Students are encouraged to attend another lab section to make-up the material but students cantake the quiz in their scheduled section only. Correct spelling of the plant names will count on all quizzes.

Students may take the optional comprehensive final examination on 11 December 2000 10:30AM – 12:30PM. If students choose to take the final examination, then the highest 3 scores from the final and the 3 hour examinations will be used to calculate the final grade.

The final determination of grades will include such factors such as enthusiasm in class, effort put forth, improvement during the semester, attendance in lab, etc. These factors, grouped under the heading student enthusiasm, will largely affect students that are between 2 grades. No special or extra credit projects will be accepted to improve grades.

Attendance:

You are responsible for the satisfactory completion of this course. I feel that this requires your attendance at all lecture and lab sessions. If you are absent for any reason, it is your responsibility to obtain any material that you missed. If it is an excused absence, I will be more than happy to go over the material with you. If repeated unexcused absences occur, your academic dean will be notified.

Classroom Discussion:

I encourage students to interject pertinent comments during lecture and lab sections. This will stimulate 2-way discussions rather than monotonous lectures and allow students' input into the material discussed. You should feel free, at any time, to ask questions.

Contention of Grades:

Any grade may be contended after 24 hours and within 2 weeks of the time the exam is returned. After 2 weeks the grade stands as is. All disagreements must be submitted in writing with supporting documentation (copy of notes, book, etc.). The work will then be completely regraded and returned to the student. The text for the class will serve as the definitive authority for all disputes.

Cell Phones and Pagers:

All cell phone and pagers must be turned off during all lecture and laboratory times. These devices can be very distracting to your fellow students and the instructor alike. Out of courtesy for your classmates, please follow this requirement.

Plagiarism:

The temptation for plagiarism is often times great. The instructors will do all that is practical to reduce the opportunity for plagiarism to occur but inevitably the occasion will occur. If any student is caught plagiarizing, that student's academic dean will be notified immediately.

Late Work:

All late work will be assessed a late penalty of 10% per day to include weekends and holidays. Thus, after 10 days a score of 0 will be recorded.