Horticulture Students See 'Green' During Educational Field Trip

Fifteen Pennsylvania College of Technology horticulture students along with horticulture faculty members Carl J. Bower, instructor, and Dennis P. Skinner, assistant professor took a field trip to Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh on March 17 and stopped for a planned visit to tour Eichenlaub Landscape Contractors.

Owner Dan Eichenlaub took the group on a tour of his facility and showed the students many innovative ways that a landscape company can operate. Students and faculty were impressed by the facility and what it had to offer. In business formore than20 years, Eichenlaub's serves many high-end residents in the Pittsburgh area.

With 50-plus employees, Eichenlaub is proud that more than10 percent of his employees are Penn College graduates; three alumni were on-site during the tour.

Set amid one of Pittsburgh's largest green spaces, Schenley Park, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens has served as a cultural and architectural centerpiece of the city's Oakland neighborhood since 1893.

In recent decades, Phipps has evolved into one of the region's most vibrant, thriving cultural attractions, bringing fresh perspectives and artists into the historic glass-house environment of the Victorian Greenhouse.

Phipps has also become a strong advocate for advanced green-building practices, sustainable gardening and a new environmental awareness.

The students got a tour of the "green" side of Phipps, showing them the many ways Phipps is a leader in sustainability, including the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified visitor center in a public garden. The students also got a tour of the state-of-the-art production greenhouses.

Photos by Carl J. Bower, horticulture instructor