horticulturist

noun

hor·​ti·​cul·​tur·​ist ˌhȯr-tə-ˈkəl-chə-rist 

variants or less commonly horticulturalist

ˌhȯr-tə-ˈkəl-ch(ə-)rə-list 

plural horticulturists also horticulturalists

: a person whose work involves growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, or ornamental plants

As the city horticulturist for the past six years, Burton has made the parks and city areas of O'Fallon bloom.

—Lynn Venhaus

The finest hot chili pepper in Peter's test garden is 'Riot', which does double duty as an ornamental and in salads; it is a graduate of horticulturist Jim Baggett's breeding program at Oregon State University.

—Jim McCausland

I prefer buying plants from a nursery to buying at a garden center, and both are vastly preferable to the garden section of a discount store. Plant quality and accuracy of labeling are usually best at a nursery, where the staff is most likely to include professional horticulturists.

—Jeff Whitehead

De Witt Clinton was a man of parts—a patron of schools, charities, and the arts, a founder of the New York Historical Society, an amateur scientist and horticulturalist.

—James MacGregor Burns

Examples of horticulturist in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Learn about the cemetery’s urban forestry while checking out beautiful fall colors and garden landscapes, led by a horticulturist. —Chris Kelly, Washington Post, 2 Nov. 2023

Greenery’s 21 plant keepers, called horticulturists, typically make their rounds during working hours. —Steven Kurutz, New York Times, 7 Oct. 2023

Dave Epstein is a meteorologist, horticulturist, and regular contributor to The Boston Globe. —Dave Epstein, BostonGlobe.com, 7 Sep. 2023

Nearer our time—nearer than Fuchs and Plumier—were the horticulturists, seedsmen, growers, some older than White, others her contemporaries, behind those nursery catalogues which were once scrutinized by her. —Yiyun Li, The New Yorker, 23 Oct. 2023

Positions to be filled are campground attendant, horticulturist/garden seasonal, horticulturist intern, human resources specialist, mechanic specialist, naturalist intern, natural resources technician, public relations intern and ranger technicians intern/seasonal. —Chicago Tribune, 24 Feb. 2023

Advertisement Landmarks: Richard Allen built Glen Abbey Memorial Park in 1924 with landscaping by Balboa Park horticulturist Kate Sessions. —San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 Oct. 2023

Comparing Florida and California had become a national pastime as popular as mahjong and crossword puzzles, wrote Robert Hodgson, a subtropical horticulturist at the University of California, in 1926. —Smithsonian Magazine, 13 Sep. 2023

His father was a horticulturist and entomologist for the McCormick spice company. —Richard Sandomir, New York Times, 10 Aug. 2023

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Word History

First Known Use

1799, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

horticulturist

noun

hor·​ti·​cul·​tur·​ist

ˌhȯrt-ə-ˈkəlch(-ə)-rəst

variants also horticulturalist

-ˈkəlch(-ə)-rə-list

: a person who specializes in horticulture