RANCHO SAN DIEGORANCHO SAN DIEGO — Cuyamaca College’s ornamental horticulture program now has building and classroom upgrades worthy of the study of the applied natural science that is focused on growing and caring for plants.
Last week, the Rancho San Diego school officially heralded the completion and opening of its expanded ornamental horticulture complex, marking a new chapter for one of the flagship programs on campus.
The $19.4 million project renovated indoor and outdoor classrooms and facilities, doubled the square footage of building spaces, and added a state-of-the-art, high-tech greenhouse. A separate building housing the nursery’s retail shop, along with office and meeting rooms was also added.
With the renovation, students have updated facilities and upgraded technology, including pan/tilt/zoom camera systems and dozens of large video screens throughout the complex.
The project included the gutting and renovating of the school’s Building M to accommodate a design lab and a lab prep room on one end and a large classroom on the other. Other key additions include a storage facility and a cooler large enough to store flowers and delicate arrangements created in the floral design program.
And that’s great news to instructors like Diane Citrowske, who has been teaching floral design classes at Cuyamaca since 2002.
“The renovation and new construction have been a long time coming, but well worth the wait,” Citrowske said. “One of the most impressive additions for me is a temperature/humidity-controlled expansive walk-in floral cooler for our fresh flowers and foliage.”
The project started in August 2019 and was funded by Proposition V, a $398 million construction bond ed by East County voters in 2012 to improve and add facilities at Cuyamaca and Grossmont colleges.
“This project is a milestone for the campus because of the significance of the program and its link to the history of Cuyamaca College,” Cuyamaca President Julianna Barnes said. “Ornamental horticulture has a storied past at our college and with the modernizing of facilities and the new greenhouse in particular, students have a lot to be excited about.”
Tricia Daley started with the ornamental horticulture department in 1996 and graduated in 2002 after studying landscape design, nursery technology, landscape technology and irrigation technology.
She has returned to Cuyamaca to further her studies in floral design and landscape architecture.
“It has been very special coming back to Cuyamaca College, especially being here as the newly renovated (ornamental horticulture) department opens,” Daley said. “An impressive number and quality of classes have been added to the program since I was a full-time student.”
Larry McLemore, dean of Career and Technical Education, said the new technology “will make learning and teaching more engaging and will provide students an experience that reflects the industry.”
McLemore said the campus’s old greenhouse was outmoded and had an east-to-west orientation instead of north-to-south — the latter of which provides the most benefit from the sun’s exposure. The new greenhouse has environmental control features to improve plant life and an irrigation system connected to a central computer that will more accurately measure water usage and forecast needs.
Ornamental horticulture coordinator John Thomas said the new greenhouse and retail space will be a big boost to the program’s retail nursery. Proceeds from nursery sales fund scholarships and pay for educational class trips. About 30,000 plants, including vegetables, herbs, California native plants, a vast array of annuals and perennial flowering plants, as well as trees and shrubs, are sold annually.
Cuyamaca College is at 900 Rancho San Diego Parkway in unincorporated El Cajon.
