Principles of Horticulture: Level 2

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Charles Adams BSc (Agric) Hons, Dip Applied Educ., Fellow Inst Horticulture, is a lecturer at Capel Manor College and University of Hertfordshire, an external examiner in horticulture, and also a member of the Royal Horticultural Society Qualifications Advisory Committee. We are delighted to announce that RBGE will be running the new RHS Level 2 Certificate in the Principles of Plant Growth and Development course from August 2023. This theory course will allow you to develop a level of plant knowledge deemed essential by the horticultural industries. If you choose to study the evening option at our Regent’s Park Campus, you will be required to study two evenings per week. You will learn There is no sharp line of demarcation between the tropics and the subtropics. Just as many tropical plants can be cultivated in the subtropics, so also many subtropical and even temperate plants can be grown satisfactorily in the tropics. Elevation is a determining factor. For example, the scarlet runner bean, a common plant in temperate regions, grows, flowers, and develops pods normally on the high slopes of Mount Meru in Africa near the Equator, but it will not set pods in Hong Kong, a subtropical situation a little south of the Tropic of Cancer but at a low elevation.

This course will equip you with the knowledge and understanding of the scientific principles that underpin horticultural practices. Mike Early MSc, BSc Hons, DTA, Cert Ed., formerly a lecturer in horticulture science at Oaklands College, St. Albans, now works as a landscape gardener.

Eligible learners working towards the certificate may receive funding for some or all of their fees. If funding is received it will be a compulsory requirement for those learners to sit the exams. This fifth edition has been restructured to bring it in to line with the most recent RHS syllabus, adding new material on the basis of science for horticulturists. The book contains beginning of chapter summaries, highlighted definitions and key points, and end of chapter test your learning questions. Each chapter ends with references for further reading.

In addition to elevation, another determinant is the annual distribution of rainfall. Plants that grow and flower in the monsoon areas, as in India, will not succeed where the climate is uniformly wet, as in Bougainville in the Solomon Islands. Another factor is the length of day, the number of hours the Sun is above the horizon; some plants flower only if the day is long, but others make their growth during the long days and flower when the day is short. Certain strains of the cosmos plant are so sensitive to light that where the day is always about 12 hours, as near the Equator, they flower when only a few inches high; if grown near the Tropic of Cancer or the Tropic of Capricorn, they attain a height of several feet, if the seeds are sown in the spring, before flowering in the short days of autumn and winter. Poinsettia is a short-day plant that may be seen in flower in Singapore on any day of the year, while in Trinidad it is a blaze of glory only in late December.If you’re undertaking the RHS Level 2 Certificate in the Principles of Horticulture there are a number of potential book titles to choose from. This course is part-funded by the ESFA (Education and Skills Funding Agency) or Greater London Authority (GLA) for those that are eligible.

This qualification allows learners to develop plant knowledge deemed essential by the horticultural industries. You will be equipped with the knowledge and understanding to progress to employment within the horticultural sector. Everything you need to know to help you pass the RHS Level 2 Certificate in the Principles of Horticulture. View course All Gardening coursesIf you're looking for supplementary reading around the RHS Level 2 course in preparation for the exam, here are Tom Cole's top four recommendations. The Four Best Books for RHS Level 2 1. RHS Encyclopaedia of Gardening RBGE does not offer the RHS Level 2 Practical Certificate. If you wish to complete the full level 2 certificate you must study this part elsewhere. The course assesses the knowledge of the scientific principles underpinning horticultural practices and supports career development. Temperate zones for horticulture cannot be defined exactly by lines of latitude or longitude but are usually regarded as including those areas where frost in winter occurs, even though rarely. Thus, most parts of Europe, North America, and northern Asia are included, though some parts of the United States, such as southern Florida, are considered subtropical. A few parts of the north coast of the Mediterranean and the Mediterranean islands are also subtropical. In the Southern Hemisphere, practically all of New Zealand, a few parts of Australia, and the southern part of South America have temperate climates. For horticultural purposes altitude is also a factor; the lower slopes of great mountain ranges, such as the Himalayas and the Andes, are included. Thus, the temperate zones are very wide and the range of plants that can be grown in them is enormous, probably greater than in either the subtropical or tropical zones. In the temperate zones are the great coniferous and deciduous forests: pine, spruce, fir, most of the cypresses, the deciduous oaks (but excluding many of the evergreen ones), ash, birch, and linden.