The word horticulture translates as "garden cultivation," or to cultivate garden plants. It was first used in publication in 1631 and was an entry in The New World of English Words in 1678. Today horticulture means the science, technology, art, business, and hobby of producing and managing fruits, vegetables, flowers and ornamental plants, landscapes, interior plantscapes, and grasses and turfgrasses. Although horticulture has been practiced for several millennia, it became a recognized academic and scientific discipline as it emerged from botany and medicinal botany in the late nineteenth century. Liberty Hyde Bailey, professor of horticulture at both Michigan State and Cornell Universities, is credited as the father of American horticulture, as he founded the first academic departments of horticulture.

Modern horticulture encompasses plant production (both commercial and gardening) and science, both practical and applied. Horticulture and the associated green industries are a rapidly developing professional field with increasing importance to...