The College of Horticulture and Gardening was established in 2003 by combining of Yangtze University, formerly known as department of Horticulture in Hubei Agriculture College (1985-2003). At present, the college consists of 5 undergraduate programs: Horticulture， Landscape Gardening，Tea Science，Landscape Architecture and Smart Agriculture. There are 821 undergraduates and 262 graduates in college.
The college attaches great importance to the construction of first-class majors. Horticulture and Landscape Gardening are key majors of Yangtze University, among which Horticulture has been approved by the Ministry of Education of the first batch of excellent agriculture and forestry talents education and training program "Top Innovative Talents Training Model Reform Pilot Project", and also approved by Hubei ordinary undergraduate universities "Jingchu Outstanding Talents" collaborative education program and first class undergraduate major in Hubei Province. Landscape Gardening was approved by the Ministry of Education of the first outstanding agricultural and forestry talents education and training plan "Composite Applied Talents Training Model reform pilot project" and national first class major. In 2017, among the 16 majors in agricultural science group, horticulture major ranked first and Landscape gardening major ranked third in the university's internal professional evaluation. Tea Science can be called "potential major". With the significant expansion of the connotation and denotation of traditional tea and the rapid development of tea industry today, the employment rate of Tea Science major in our university has maintained at 100% in recent years. Landscape Architecture is a newly added major in 2015, awarded bachelor of Engineering.
At present, there are 83 faculty and staff members, including 64 full-time teachers, 14 professors, 25 associate professors, 42 doctors, 8 doctoral supervisors, 37 master supervisors, 3outstanding talents, 1leading talent，2 elite talents of Yangtze University. There are 3 candidates of Hubei Provincial New Century High-level Talents Project，2 outstanding youth winners of Hubei Provincial Natural Science Foundation and 1 leading talent of Technological Innovation of Ten-Thousands Talents Program.
The college has made solid progress in discipline construction. There are a doctoral program in Horticulture Plant Resources and Utilization, 2 academic master programs in Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, 2 professional master programs in Agronomy and Seed Industry and Landscape Architecture. Landscape Architecture is a key discipline to be cultivated in Hubei Province. In the third and fourth round of discipline evaluation by the Ministry of Education, the first-level discipline of Landscape Architecture was awarded "B+" and "C-" respectively. Landscape Architecture is the supporting subject of "Green Agriculture" subject group with characteristic advantage in Hubei Province during the 13th Five-Year Plan period. Horticulture is the supporting subject of "Green and Efficient Production of Agricultural Products" in the 14th five-year Plan of Hubei Province.
The college has good practical teaching conditions. The college has three functional laboratories: basic teaching laboratory, innovative training laboratory and scientific research laboratory. It has 5 large experimental platforms, such as Plant Resources and Environment Laboratory, Horticultural Plant Stress Physiology Laboratory, Horticultural Plant Cultivation and Breeding Laboratory, Garden Plant Resources Utilization and Germplasm Innovation Center, Animal and Plant Science Innovation Center, CAD room, etc. It also has 1 "Hubei Province Forestry Science and Technology Innovation Demonstration Base": Nanmu Germplasm Resource Base, and 4 university-level scientific research platforms: "Evaluation and Innovation Center of Nanmu Germplasm Resources", "Institute of Plant Root Biology", "Institute of Plant Ecology and Environmental Restoration", and "Institute of Landscape Architecture Planning and Design". The college actively carries out characteristic industry-university-research cooperation education, attaches importance to the cultivation of students' practical ability, and has established a number of stable practical teaching bases in well-known research institutes and enterprises outside the school, such as Institute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hubei Forestry Survey and Design Institute, Fruit and Tea Research Institute and Economic Crop Research Institute, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangdong Academy of Agriculture Sciences, Shanghai Academy of Agriculture Sciences, Shenzhen Wenke Landscape Co., Ltd.. These hardware conditions can meet the teaching and research needs of horticulture and landscape architecture.
The college actively carries out scientific research and social services. There are 9 research teams in college. In the past five years, it has undertaken more than 100 national and provincial research projects, won 19 provincial awards, 25 national invention patents, successfully cultivated 3 new varieties, published more than 20 monographs and textbooks, and published more than 700 high-level papers, including more than 200 core and authoritative ones and more than 200 articles were included in SCI and EI. The college has a certain impact on the local economy and society.
In the aspect of international education, our college successively signed a joint agreement with the Seoul National University in South Korea, the United States North Dakota State University, Duke University, University of Calgary in Canada, and other well-known foreign universities. The cooperation content includes the exchange of visiting scholars, students and cooperation training undergraduate and graduate students, conducting scientific research. And actively support college students to participate in short-term overseas study tours.
In recent five years, the employment rate of graduates of all majors in our college has been kept above 95%. The graduates have high comprehensive quality and strong practical ability, and are generally praised by employers. In the past 37 years, the college has trained more than 8000 qualified talents in moral, intellectual, jixuphysical, and labor for the society. Some students put down roots to benefit the people. Some students surf the tides and start their own businesses. Some students pursue their study for master's and doctoral degrees.
The college attaches great importance to collaborative education and actively expands students' second class activities. Every year, science and technology cultural festival and professional basic skills competition with distinctive professional characteristics will be held, such as landscape planning and design competition, flower arrangement art and design competition, tea art skills competition and so on. In addition, personalized activities display, quality development, talent competition and other activities are also carried out.
The cause of horticulture and gardening is the cause of flowers, fruits and tea, the cause of fragrance, sweetness and beauty, but also the cause of improving the quality of life of the people. With the implementation of the strategy of ecological civilization, the country has been vigorously strengthening the construction of ecological civilization, and the demand for talents in horticulture and landscape architecture has been increasing. The College of Horticulture and Gardening has broad prospects for development.
