Kansas State University

Welcome to the HNR Department

The people of the Department of Horticulture and Natural Resources (HNR) at Kansas State University are dedicated to improving lives through dynamic, diverse education and research programs.

We are delivering the news to you! Find out what the HNR faculty, staff and students are doing and major events that are coming up. If you missed one of our news stories that you would like to review, all news stories can be found on the HNR News Page.

Students & Faculty in the News

Horticulture Class Constructs a Poinsettia Tree

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. Read more...

Faculty Plan, Judge National FFA Floriculture CDE

Two HNR faculty, Kim Williams and Irina Sheshukova, participated in the recent National FFA Floriculture Career Development Event in Indianapolis. Williams is on the national Planning Committee and Sheshukova served as a judge for two events. In addition, three current K-State Horticulture students had earned the opportunity to represent their home states in Floriculture at nationals. K-State was well-represented!

K-State Park Management & Conservation Associate Professor Wins Academic Leadership Award

Dr. Ryan Sharp, associate professor in the park management and conservation program at Kansas State University, was recently honored with the Benton H. Box Award by the Clemson University Institute for Parks in recognition of his academic and instructional leadership in the environmental field.

The institute presents the annual awards program, which is named for George B. Hartzog Jr., the seventh director of the National Park Service, to showcase leading figures in the field of conservation. Specific awards were named after visionary leaders that Hartzog respected and admired. Award recipients are following in Hartzog’s footsteps by making significant contributions to the management of parks and preservation of our natural, historical, and cultural heritage. Read more...

Miller to Judge International Proflora Floriculture Trade Show

Chad Miller, Associate Professor in the Horticulture and Natural Resources Department, recently participated in the 15th Proflora Exposition in Bogota, Colombia (Oct. 2-4). Miller was one of three invited international judges and served as the head judge for the exposition. Proflora is an international floriculture trade-show event held every two years and is organized by Asocolflores, the Association of Colombian Flower Exporters. Colombia has been a significant cut flower exporter to the United States for over 50 years. Read more...

Rivard to Receive Sustainable Agriculture Grant

Cary Rivard at Kansas State University in Olathe, KS has been recently selected to receive a $89,443 grant from the North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (NCR-SARE) for the project, "Capacity Building in Urban Food Systems in the North Central Region."

"The goal of this project is to provide educators (extension, not-for-profits, K-12, and community college) with opportunities to establish themselves as leaders in urban food systems," said Rivard. Read more...