Horticulture & Gardening Courses & Certificates

Lay the foundation to succeed in the landscape industry.

Founded in 1974 by world-renowned botanist Dr. Mildred E. Mathias, UCLA Extension’s Horticulture & Gardening program has a long history of excellence.

The Horticulture Certificate provides a solid foundation in plant biology, soil health, plant identification, and horticultural care. And our three specializations, Arboriculture, Gardening, and Plants for the Landscape, give you skills you can learn and apply immediately.

If you're looking for a career in the “green” industry, we have a robust series of offerings that can help further your goals.

Our programs are comprehensive, with courses that combine environmental stewardship with the art and science of horticulture.

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New! UCLA Extension's Horticultural Therapy course series, approved by the American Horticultural Therapy Association (AHTA), equips you with the skills to implement evidence-based techniques in specialized treatment and wellness care settings. Learn More.

Horticulture & Gardening

Courses

The Business of Selling Plants

For individuals interested in selling plants, this course provides you with the knowledge and skills to help you succeed.

The Study of Trees

Trees provide shade, food, habitat, and clean our air. Selecting and caring for trees is the study of arboriculture.

What our students are saying.

Horticulture Certificate — Turning Challenges into Career Success - YouTube

(00:07)
- Being an immigrant, it's really hard to believe that you can create a career out of anything. believe that you can create a career out of anything. Becoming a gardener was out of necessity, more than “I love it.” I don't remember a time when I wasn't doing something with gardens. The program really gave me that structure to become a professional in something that I absolutely love doing.
(00:31)
- So I've been gardening for about 15 years and it was difficult to commit to a program because I thought that I knew everything that I needed to know in gardening. But joining the program, every single class, every step that's taken on the guided path of the program, it taught me so much. I was honestly surprised about the information that you can acquire with the professors, the books that are recommended and also as a community.
(01:00)
- In the landscape industry, being able to create documents related to a garden, the status of plants, trees, their health, the health of the soils, it gives me authority to be able to competently talk to the clients and be able to help them in that way. The next step, I'm already doing amazing jobs. Two, three, four, five, ten acre properties.
(01:27)
- So it's — on horticulture — I am doing what I want to do. The next step is the landscape architecture program at UCLA Extension. In the future, it's going to be me, rock and rolls, landscape architecture.