When you drive down Route 30, through downtown, or even past the street you live on, you can see the beautiful scenery that is blooming all around the City of Valparaiso. This is all thanks to the horticulturists who work within the city limits and serve the Valparaiso Parks Department.
A horticulturist is an expert in garden cultivation and management. These individuals assess plants and forests, harvest seeds, cultivate trees and plants, and collect field samples.
The horticulturists of Valparaiso consist of a core team of Jon Jahnke, Steve Martinson, Paul Chen, April Swinford, Vaso Stojic, and their seasonal workers, each one having a different responsibility to maintain Valparaiso's natural beauty.
Jahnke is in charge of everything north of the railroad tracks, which includes street features and three roundabouts, the one along Calumet Avenue, Vale Park, and Silhavy Roads. Chen is the assistant horticulturist superintendent who takes care of the botanical garden and greenhouse operations. Martinson is the horticulture superintendent and takes care of the dog park, ValPAWraiso, that neighbors the horticulture center. Stojic takes care of the downtown area, Central Park Plaza, Westgate, and City Hall. Swinford takes care of many features along the roads in Valparaiso such as the roundabouts near Valparaiso University, Aldi, and the two along the Vale Park Road bridge. Pretty much any street feature you see in Valparaiso, the horticulturists have something to do with it.
“I'm good at it and my people are good at it,” said Martinson. “I like the people that work for me; I have a really good crew.”
In 2016 they bought the property where their current center and greenhouses are located, and from January of 2017 to the end of 2018, they renovated the property and built their shop and greenhouses. The greenhouses located on their property are built from scratch, and their propagation house is recycled. The greenhouses used to be 96 feet long but they added on to it, making it a total of 144 feet long.
Within Valpo Parks’ greenhouses, they can easily grow over 1000 flats of flowers. But they do not plant everything, and they keep extra around just in case plants become damaged. They also have a large tree stash that they will spread around the city when needed.
The job of a horticulturist is never-ending as they are always working on a new or continuing project. A consistent project that never ends is regulating and controlling the weeds.
“We live in a part of the country where you've got people bragging about the plant diversity at the southern tip of Lake Michigan,” said Martinson. “A lot of those plants in the wrong place can be weeds, and then there's a whole bunch of invasive species that have been brought to this continent that unfortunately are thriving. So, it's a constant battle to deal with weeds.”
Another project they have worked on is the renovation of City Hall. The team completely pulled out all the landscaping and installed an irrigation system, which helps keep the newly planted landscaping alive much easier than before. That’s not the only place they installed irrigation systems; they have placed a handful around the city which makes their jobs easier.
Being in the middle of a drought, the Valpo Parks Horticulture team has met a few challenges, but the irrigation system running through town helps to maintain the hydration levels of the plant life in Valparaiso.
Not many people wind up in public horticulture. Those who study horticulture go to school thinking they will open a garden center, but they soon realize that it is an extremely difficult career to get into. Most of these people end up in plant breeding or food production industries instead. Those who do have an environmental science degree often end up in the horticulture industry to maintain and protect the environment and surrounding wildlife.
“The environmental science focus in the parks is more about the environment and wildlife,” said Martinson. “Our brand of horticulture, known as public horticulture, is more about aesthetics and emphasizing the beauty of our city.”
For more information about what horticulturists do and their work within Valparaiso, check out Valpo Parks.
