HOLLY SCOGGINS BIO
Holly Scoggins, Ph.D., is an associate professor Emeritus from Virginia Tech. She retired in January 2020 after 20 years in the Department of Horticulture with teaching, research, cooperative extension, and administrative responsibilities.
Holly received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Georgia and her Ph.D. in Horticultural Science from North Carolina State University. In her career at Virginia Tech, Holly taught Greenhouse Management, Herbaceous Landscape Plants, Ornamental Plant Production and Marketing, and Plant Propagation, and advised countless undergrads. Her research and graduate students focused on propagation and production of perennials and annuals, and later field production of hops. Amongst other professional appointments, Holly served as Director of the Hahn Horticulture Garden from 2002–2014 overseeing its expansion from 1.5 to 7 acres of teaching and outreach gardens and the construction of the Peggy Lee Hahn Garden Pavilion.
Her passion for teaching and research has been recognized with honors and awards, including Professional of the Year from Virginia Nursery and Landscape Association, the Academic Award from the National Perennial Plant Association, a teaching award from the Virginia Tech chapter of Gamma Sigma Delta Honor Society of Agriculture, a Certificate of Teaching Excellence from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and the G. Burke Johnston Teaching Award from Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society.
After “retirement,” she joined the educational staff at AmericanHort, the horticulture industry’s trade association. Her current role is as Program Manager for NewGen Boxwood, the national brand of Saunders Brothers Inc., a large nursery grower of quality ornamentals in central Virginia.
Holly currently serves as President of the Perennial Plant Association and enjoys sharing her love of plants and the green industry at professional conferences and symposia. She’s outdoors at every opportunity gardening, hiking, fishing, and beekeeping. Because she does not have quite enough horticulture in her life, Holly and her husband Joel Shuman run Bee Berry Farm, a you-pick blueberry farm and apiary in southwest Virginia. You can find Holly on LinkedIn and Instagram (@hollyhort) and the farm @beeberryfarm.
SHOW NOTES
Holly’s entrance into the world of horticulture and economics.
Her experiences at the University of Georgia at Athens and her fame of being in Michael Dirr’s Manual of Woody Landscape Plants under Campsis
Creating a family environment at Virginia Tech for students and faculty
Cultivating the passion of the students in the horticulture club
Classes that Holly taught and techniques and strategies she used
Her roll in directing the Hahn Horticulture Garden
Strategies for managing students and volunteers in the Hahn Horticulture Garden
How Holly honed her plant teaching skills
Leading student tours to help enrich the learning experience
Advice Holly would give her younger professional self
The Downward Trend in Postsecondary Horticulture Program Availability between 1997 and 2017
Holly’s thoughts on the downward trend in institutions offering horticulture degrees and how we can strive to reverse the trend
How Holly cultivates her horticulture skills through her hobby gardening
Holly’s role of being Perennial Plant Association president and being active in International Plant Propagator’s Society and American Public Gardens Association
Holly’s current role of working with Saunders Brothers NewGen Boxwood
The myths associated around native versus non-native plants
Spreading the love of plants by cultivating passion