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new planting with a gardener removing a plant from a pot

an outdoor classroom

The Arboretum serves as a laboratory and workshop for students in the Landscape Horticulture program. Here students apply what they've learned in the classroom, including:
  • Pruning
  • Landscape maintenance
  • Installation / maintenance of irrigation systems
  • Landscape construction
  • Garden renovation
  • Propagation
  • Integrated pest management
The Arboretum is also a classroom for local gardeners. Continuing Education classes are held here. Plus, gardeners can see mature specimens of trees and shrubs and imagine the possibilities for their own landscapes. 

Most of the 300 plants on the Washington State Nursery and Landscape Association's CPH exam are found in the Arboretum at South.

Transplanting seedlings in the Arboretum at South Seattle College
shovel near plants
A SSC student working in the Arboretum as part of a pruning class.
Bobocat outside Gazebo at SSC Arboretum during renovation 2011
The Coenosium Rock Garden, now an American Conifer Society Reference Garden, was built over 6 years, beginning in 1999, by students in the Landscape Construction Class.
Some students signed up for the class multiple times, though they could get credit for it only once, because they wanted to see the project through to completion. 
Students at work during the construction of the Coenosium Rock Garden

Learn more about SSC's Landscape Horticulture program here.

To view upcoming Landscape Horticulture classes, click here. 

Explore SSC's Steps to Enroll here. 

For dates and information about continuing education classes related to gardening, visit Learn At South. 

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