Stop by the first floor lobby of Throckmorton Plant Science Building to see the beautiful poinsettia tree on display and take a selfie! Jacob Hueste, the Throckmorton greenhouse manager and horticulture student greenhouse workers, Lane Wiens and Haley Burgett, assembled the tree. Poinsettias are one of the most popular floriculture plants grown and marketed for Christmas.
The “tree” is made up of several different poinsettia varieties grown by undergraduate students from fall the Greenhouse Operations Management course (HORT 570), taught by Dr. Kim Williams. The class started the crop from cuttings or small plants and grew them to full color for the holiday season. The class was responsible for managing the growth and development of the plants, including fertilization, watering, and other growing considerations. A couple hundred beautiful plants were produced, that included a variety of colors.
The end goal was to produce a saleable crop for the KSU Gardens annual poinsettia sale. In addition to growing poinsettias as a hands-on learning activity for the greenhouse class, Dr. Williams, along with undergraduate students and graduate student, Karen Schneck, have been conducting poinsettia research for the floriculture industry.
(K-State)
