Career Links Vol 2 No 5 March 2003
Cultivating a New Career:
An Interview with Donna Salkil,
Adjunct Assistant Professor
of Horticulture and
Greenhouse Technician
Interviewed by Kit Gorrell Frankenfield,
Employment Systems
Technician,
JCCC Career Services Center
Donna Salkil teaches two classes in the Horticulture program here at
Johnson County Community College. Donna’s passion for plants, the
greenhouse, the college grounds and the classes she teaches is
unmistakable. For more information, you can reach Donna by email at
dsalkil@jccc.edu or by telephone at (913) 469-8500 Ext.4536. Program
information is also available on the Internet at
http://web.jccc.net/academic/science/courses/horticulture/Default.htm
Information about JCCC’s Horticultural Science Center is available at
http://web.jccc.net/academic/science/greenhouse/greenhs.htm
The American Horticultural Society also offers a great deal of information
about careers in horticulture at http://www.ahs.org.
Career Services Center: What do you do at JCCC, Donna?
Donna Salkil: I teach Fruits, Vegetables and Herb Crops and Home
Horticulture. I also maintain the greenhouse and the Horticultural
Science Center. I’m responsible for keeping track of what needs to be
fixed, calling in orders, etc. I do all of the mechanical work in the
greenhouse that I can and take care of the plants. I have 10,000 square
feet of gardens and an orchard I’ve started because I teach the Fruits,
Vegetables and Herb course. We’re going to expand the gardens as far as
they will let us go on campus. We’re going to have an orchard with small
fruits. Last year, we had a big vegetable garden with a lot of
vegetables. My class gets to grow plants and they really enjoy it. I’m
teaching Home Horticulture now and these students are starting all the
cold crops, such as cabbage, Brussels sprouts and broccoli in the
greenhouse. The students help with the plant sale, which is always the
first Friday in May; they learn how to propagate plants, and grow
everything that they would grow at home.
I am also somewhat of a “plant doctor” for people here at the college. I
get a lot of calls that the extension agents in Johnson County would get
about plants. I receive emails asking questions, and people even drag in
plants that are dying and ask me what to do for them. I do a lot of plant
disease diagnosis, which I enjoy. People bring me seeds and want to know
what kind of plant it will be. I laugh. Sometimes I can tell. Sometimes
I tell them to leave me the seeds and I’ll plant them, find out and then
let them what it is. I get questions constantly from the community, for
example, people who know I raise bananas and other weird things. I even
get asked to come over to people’s homes for advice on what to plant in
their gardens. Sometimes I go out in the community and speak to different
gardening groups.
CSC: What is horticulture?
DS: The word “horticulture” means garden cultivation. It means
plants that are cultivated by man, as opposed to wild plants.
CSC: It sounds like a fun job.
DS: It is a lot of fun, especially if you like to grow plants.
We have a big spring plant sale. We made over $4,000 at last year’s
sale. We probably could have brought in a lot more, but I’m saving some
plants for the gardens on the grounds. All the money goes to charities on
campus, such as the Science Emergency Fund and the Scholarship Fund. We do
that a couple of times a year, whenever we get extra plants. We are also
involved in lots of other projects. We grow herbs for Hospitality
Management. We grow things for different classes, like botany and some of
the life sciences classes that need weird plants to show students or do
experiments with. I have a collection of ‘weird plants’ because that is
something that I enjoy.
CSC: How did your love for this start?
DS: When I was growing up, my grandmother had big gardens
including a rose garden; I just helped her all my life, and I liked it!
So I’ve been doing this since I was a kid. I can remember she had a
beautiful rose garden on one side of the house, and I could remember the
names of the roses. I was probably four years old. She had some
beautiful plants, and now that I’ve gotten older (I didn’t know what they
were at the time) but I remember some of her plants and what they looked
like, and I’ve had to go on these wild expeditions in search for them to
find out what they were, so I could find the same things that she grew in
her garden.
CSC: How long have you been at the college?
DS: I started here in 1990, but I was just over in the little
greenhouse by the Science building. When I first started, I was a student
just taking a home horticulture class here at JCCC. I had a really nice job
and was making a good income, but I wanted to take some horticulture
classes. They had the greenhouse and nothing was being done with it. So
I suggested that they let me use it. I was given permission, but was
told, “We can’t pay you anything.” I filled it up and suggested that we
have a plant sale, and we did; it was very successful. The school then
decided to pay me for working in the greenhouse about 10 hours per week.
CSC: So you created your own job?
DS: Yes, pretty much. When I finished school here, I went to
Kansas State University to get my Bachelor’s degree in Horticulture
Science. I had a couple of jobs in commercial businesses and came back
here, when the job came open again in the old greenhouse, and worked
part-time for about 3 years. They were starting to plan for a larger
greenhouse around that time. When that happened, I was here to say, “This
is what I’d like.” So I got to help design our Horticultural Science
Center and pick out the furniture. I really have a custom-made greenhouse
here.
CSC: I think it’s admirable that you began your education, and
followed your dream in your 40’s (or midlife).
DS: It was such a piece of cake, after working all those years. I
had a good job and was making a good salary. My company had changed hands
and it was time to do something different. I asked myself, “What would I
do if I could do anything? If I had a choice?” Well, I would just grow
plants. So I decided that if I didn’t quit and go to college, I would
never finish. If I didn’t do it then, when I had the perfect opportunity,
when was I ever going to do it? So I gave my notice one day and enrolled
in college the next.
CSC: So the student that goes through the horticulture program
earns a certificate?
DS: We have a 1-year certificate program, which gives you enough
horticultural knowledge to work in a garden center or nursery, or other
retail-type stores that work with plants.
CSC: And then they could go on for a four-year degree?
DS: We have five classes right now that transfer to K-State toward
the Horticulture Science degree. Woody Plants/Trees I & II, Herbaceous
Plants, Intro to Horticulture, and Plant Propagation.
CSC: What could someone do with a 4-year degree in Horticulture
Science?
DS: You could do any number of things. You could work in a
college setting teaching; you could be a grower for a big commercial
greenhouse, or work in a garden center and supervise.
CSC: What tips do you have for students entering the field of
horticulture?
DS: You’d better like it and not mind getting dirty. When people
get a degree in horticulture, I think they assume they are never going to
get dirty again in their lives. But unless you like to get dirty, you
better not be in this occupation, because even people that supervise end
up “working” with the people they supervise. Being in the dirt is part of
the job. I like to get dirty, and I get paid for it! Also, you should
consider becoming fluent in Spanish. If you’re going to work in the
commercial horticulture field, you’re going to need to know how to
communicate with the employees. I used to work for a large company that
had seven acres under glass. We grew commercial plants. Almost all the
work force was Hispanic. If you’re going into that sort of business, you
need to know Spanish. It’s not the most lucrative thing in the world, but
if you are really excited about working with plants, it’s the one of the
best things you can do. It’s so much fun!
CSC: What would a typical day and year be like for a
horticulturist?
DS: It depends. If you worked for a “mom and pop” company, it
would be like what I do. There’s a lot of variety. You could be seeding,
watering, maintaining demonstration gardens, selling, doing commercial
ordering, making deliveries, and giving a lot of people advice. If you
work for a big commercial greenhouse, you might be doing the same thing
over and over. I spent seven months one time growing a quarter of a
million poinsettias. Nothing but poinsettias. I thought I was going to
go nuts. And they even gave me a couple of other crops, and I was still
bored.
People who are horticulturists spend from March to May working at a very
fast pace, sixteen hours a day and even longer if they own their own
business. So you’ve got to be able to shut everything else out when
necessary. Also, it’s not pleasant in a greenhouse in the middle of the
summer. There’s no air conditioning. And we work outside a lot. I often
am crawling around in 100 degree heat.
In March and April we’re seeding like crazy. We’re in here every day,
putting things in, and transplanting. I couldn’t do it without the
volunteers. I have three or four regular volunteers and others who are
more sporadic. I’ve got some people who are very dedicated.
Around February we begin starting plants in the greenhouse. In the spring
we plant the gardens and during the summer we are maintaining them. In
the fall we dig up plants that need to come in for the winter, and make
cuttings of things we want to save. We shut down all the mechanical
systems that we don’t need through the winter, washing out water tanks and
doing heavy cleaning. There’s always something to do. December and
January are our slowest months, but we pull the catalogues out and start
planning and ordering for the next season. We try to keep biological
control in the greenhouse. We use a lot of soap and oil, but try to stay
away from the more poisonous products to control insects.
CSC: What advice do you have for a person considering horticulture
as a career?
DS: Some plants are easy to grow, but others are not. Poinsettias
and Easter lilies are difficult to grow. Getting the experience with
complicated plants will only help you. If you want to learn how to do
horticulture, a big company would be a good place to start, or to learn
whether you want to be a horticulturist or not.
CSC: What companies in the Kansas City metropolitan area would
employ students that complete the horticulture certificate?
DS: You could work for Hermes if you are interested in trees;
also, Longview, Family Tree, and The Grass Pad to name a few. There are
a lot of greenhouses in Johnson County.
CSC: What is turf management?
DS: It’s grass. Growing and maintaining grass for golf courses and
parks, for example. We offer a few classes in turf management. If you
want to make money in the horticulture field, you could be the head person
at a golf course maintaining all the grass and plants and make a nice
living.
CSC: What characteristics do horticulturists need to have to be
successful?
DS: You’ve got to be a self-starter. There’s no one around here
telling me I have to plant a certain plant on a certain day. I have to be
able to see what needs to be done and do it. If you are waiting for
someone to tell you, you’re out of luck. Also, you have to know business.
I have seen people that were really good at growing plants, but had no
business sense at all and went out of business pretty quickly. I’ve also
known people who were good business people, but didn’t know the plant
industry and it wasn’t fun at all to them, because there are lots of
easier ways to make a living. This industry is not without its stresses,
especially in the spring.
CSC: What do you love about your job?
DS: I love plants and I get paid to have fun. Someone’s going to
find out some day! I have a lot of flexibility. I get to make decisions
about the gardens on campus, and as long as I take care of them and they
look good, I can plant this campus any way I like it. It’s fun. We get
to pick out all the trees, plants and shrubs for our campus, look through
the catalogues and be creative. I spend all winter looking through them
and making plans for the spring. I love getting plants started, selling
them and growing something else, but also I’ve got plants here in the
greenhouse that are thirty years old. The growing part is the part that
I like. People [from the college] come in here all the time and walk
around in the greenhouse and say, “I’m here for my sanity fix.” Being
around plants is definitely therapeutic. I use quite a few volunteers
here in the greenhouse. I have a few people who are retired and they say,
“It’s therapy.” It’s better therapy than anything else because you’re
planting, you’re creating, you get dirty, and you see the results of your
efforts. It’s a good time.
"To make a prairie, it takes a clover and a bee. One clover and a bee
and reverie. The reverie alone will do. Bees are few." Emily Dickinson
