2026 Horticulture Internship Placements

Rising Sophomore, Plant and Environmental Science, Agronomy Concentration; Horticulture Minor
Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma

My name is Blake Arias, and I am a rising sophomore majoring in Plant and Environmental Science with a concentration in Agronomy and a minor in Horticulture. This summer, I had the opportunity to participate in the Horticulture Research and Extension Experience for Undergraduates (REEU) program hosted by Oklahoma State University’s Horticulture Department. I worked closely with my research mentor, Dr. Shivani Kathi, and her Ph.D. student, Sathvika Vurelli, to assess which commercial insecticides were most effective at managing squash bugs in yellow summer squash production in Oklahoma. I found this research really interesting because I previously did not know much about squash bugs or how destructive they can be. Through this experience, I was able to learn more about them, squash cultivation, and experiment design while also working toward possible solutions that could support squash farmers.

Rising Junior, Horticulture
South Carolina Botanical Gardens, Clemson SC

My name is Samuel Blake and I am a horticulture rising junior. This summer I got the chance to be an intern at the South Carolina Botanical Garden (SCBG). The SCBG is a collection of landscapes and displays designed to show the beauty and versatility of South Carolinas natural ecosystems. During my internship I worked in most of the public sections of the garden, maintaining landscapes, and interacting with visitors. Through the guidance of each section manager, I developed skills in plant ID, garden design, and natural landscape management. I have enjoyed my time here at SCBG. Being able to apply what I’ve learned in classes to hands on work has been a wonderful experience. And I would recommend it to others looking for a summer horticultural internship.

Rising Senior, Horticulture
Ashlar Outdoors of Greenville, South Carolina

My name is Oliver Dobbs, and I am a rising junior majoring in Horticulture at Clemson University. This summer, I completed an internship with My Titan Services, a branch of Ashlar Outdoors, in Greenville, South Carolina. During my internship, I gained hands-on experience in landscape installation and maintenance while working on both residential and commercial properties. My responsibilities included planting trees and shrubs, while also doing large tree removal, mulching, pruning, sod installation, pressure washing, irrigation, retaining wall construction, and general landscape maintenance. I also learned how to safely operate landscaping equipment, work effectively as part of a professional crew, and solve problems on active job sites. This internship allowed me to apply the concepts I have learned in my horticulture courses to real-world projects while developing valuable technical and communication skills. The experience strengthened my interest in the horticulture industry and confirmed that I enjoy working outdoors creating and maintaining quality landscapes.

Rising Senior
Lichtenfelt Nurseries, Greer, South Carolina

My name is Luka Draganic I am a senior Horticulture major and Biology minor at Clemson University. I am currently finishing out my internship with Lichtenfelt Plant Nursery in Greer, SC. I applied to Lichtenfelt to see how a successful plant retail/brokerage operated. Daily tasks at the nursery normally include fulfilling orders and invoices, loading and unloading trucks, pruning, watering, weeding, greenhouse and plant material maintenance, and selling plants to customers. Working at Lichtenfelt has been such a blast, I was able to work with a great team. I was able to sharpen my horticulture skills and knowledge with practice and being able to talk about plants all day whether to customers or coworkers.

Senior Graduating December 2026
Lab Assistant at Clemson Plant and Pest Diagnostic Clinic, Pendleton, South Carolina

My name is Preston Etheredge. I am a senior Horticulture student, and I spent my summer 2026 internship at the Plant and Pest Diagnostic Clinic (PPDC) in Pendleton, South Carolina. My position as a Lab Assistant entailed receiving and analyzing samples, making diagnoses, analyzing and creating agar plates, and writing reports for clients who sent in their plant samples. I had a great experience working for the PPDC. I learned so much practical information that I will take with me into my professional life, and I gained valuable experience that gave me insight into what I want to pursue as a career. I would absolutely recommend this internship to anyone interested in getting hands-on experience in a lab setting, while also working with plants. I had a great summer here and really appreciate my mentor!

Rising Senior, Horticulture & First-year MLA Student
Fondation Claude Monet, Giverny, France

My name is Ella Fales, and I am a rising senior majoring in Horticulture with a minor in Biological Sciences as well as a first-year Master of Landscape Architecture Student. This past summer I was privileged to intern at Fondation Claude Monet in Giverny, France. Here, I worked as a horticultural intern performing duties such as pruning, weeding, planting, and sowing. My time in Giverny was both incredibly rewarding and fulfilling, as I was exposed to the systematic approach of display gardens (or show gardens): meticulously planned, fast-paced, and tedious. I observed how high-maintenance gardens were managed and what specific skills and techniques were applied. I was also fortunate enough to be led by an incredible team of gardeners and staff, who were incredibly insightful and personable, truly enriching my work experience. I am forever grateful for this incredible opportunity and am thankful for those who made it possible!

Rising Junior, Horticulture
Infuse Organics, Leavenworth, Washington

I’m Eliza Frederick, a junior Horticulture student at Clemson University. This summer I had the opportunity of working at Infuse Organics, a small family-run business located in central Washington that primarily makes skin and body care products to sell locally and online. Infuse is focused on growing holistically, and carries that mindset from growing herbs to making the products themselves. On the farm, I had a variety of duties, including weeding, pruning, mulching, harvesting flowers such as calendula, echinacea, and chamomile, picking berries, making and packaging products, assisting with educational blog posts, and maintaining organized spaces. This experience was extremely rewarding. It provided me an entirely different ecological environment than I’m used to, and taught me about horticulture on a small scale, plus what goes into running a small business. I’m excited to take this learning and apply it to classes, as well as my future career in the horticultural field.

Rising Junior, Horticulture
The Greenery Inc. Hilton Head Island

This summer, I completed an internship with The Greenery, where I worked on commercial landscaping in the Hilton Head Island and coastal South Carolina area. I helped install and maintain landscapes at many different properties and learned more about plants, irrigation, and landscape maintenance. In this picture, I am with the other interns (last person on right) standing in a flower bed on Daufuskie Island, where The Greenery manages the landscaping. This internship gave me hands-on experience, helped me improve my landscaping skills, and taught me what it is like to work for a large landscaping company.

Rising Junior, Horticulture
Growing Green Family Farms, Anderson, South Carolina 

My name is Annabelle Horton, and I am a junior majoring in Horticulture at Clemson University. This past summer, I interned at Growing Green Family Farms to see directly how a regenerative market farm operates. During my internship, I experienced nearly every stage of production, including preparing garden beds, adding compost, sowing seeds, transplanting, harvesting, greenhouse work, irrigation, tomato pruning and trellising, and postharvest care. I also learned how to properly store and cure root crops, so they maintained their quality. Throughout the summer, I saw in practice how different management practices contribute to the overall health and operation of the farm, such as how the length of time an area remains tarped affects weed suppression. I also helped thin trees along the forest edge to reduce the risk of damage to greenhouses. Additionally, I saw how the farm repurposes waste by feeding the majority of leftover produce and plant material to its chickens, ducks, and cattle. I also learned more about the business side of farming by seeing how produce is harvested, packed, and efficiently delivered to customers. This internship gave me a greater understanding of regenerative agriculture, small-scale farm operations, and crop production while still supporting my interest in plants and natural resources.

Rising Senior, Horticulture
Musser Fruit Research Farm, Clemson, South Carolina

My name is Ash Kelly and I am a senior at Clemson University in Horticulture! This summer I was an intern at the Musser Fruit Research Center, I took this internship because of my previous experiences on the farm during my Just Fruits class (Hort 4550), I am extremely interested in the process of growing peaches and small fruits and behind the scenes of upkeep on a farm. While working on the farm I mainly picked and sorted different peach cultivars, participated in general maintenance of the land, aided in data collection, and assisted in general manual labor. This internship was a fantastic opportunity, and I thoroughly enjoyed completing my daily tasks, it is a great way to immerse oneself in the different facets of farm life and upkeep! I feel as though I have learned a ton of useful skills that are applicable in my field of work, entomology. I 100% recommend this opportunity to any incoming interns!

Rising Junior, Horticulture
Graduate Hydroponic Lab at Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina

My name is Karlie Krueger, and this fall I will be a junior Horticulture student at Clemson University. This summer I have had the pleasure to work as a lab technician growing tomato, basil, and lettuce in a graduate mechanical engineering lab. We are working specifically on hydroponic systems, testing to find optimal nutrients, CO2 concentration, and water frequency that allows for the most economically efficient growth of tomatoes, lettuce, and basil plants. My tasks at this job include sowing seeds in rockwool, transplanting plants into NFT hydroponic systems, maintaining foliage, mixing nutrients, designing and building systems, and doing research. I am so grateful for the opportunity I was given to be able to gain valuable knowledge and experience about growing in and maintaining hydroponic systems during my time working in this lab.

Rising Senior Major Horticulture/ Minor Business Management
Turner and Sons Nursery, McMinnville TN

My name is Tyler Morrow, and I am a rising senior horticulture major at Clemson university. I went to a great nursery in McMinnville, TN called Turner and Sons Nursery, with John and Terri Turner. Overall, my experience here was nothing short of great. It taught me a lot of different things about the fruit tree, shrub and ornamental tree industry. We did lots of potting, pruning, fertilizing, chemical spraying and spreading, budding, and a lot of learning. Overall, my experience here accomplished everything and more that I wanted and expected, and I would do it over again if I could. I would also recommend this to someone who is wanting to learn more about the fruit, tree and shrub industry both bare root and container.

Rising Junior Horticulture, Biological Sciences Minor
South Carolina Botanical Garden, Clemson, South Carolina

My name is Reagan Nelson. I am a rising junior horticultural major here at Clemson University. This past summer, I interned at the South Carolina Botanical Garden (SCBG). My experience consisted of a rotation between six different garden area managers, where I learned about how to perform large scale maintenance in a state garden. I mostly performed a lot of weeding, planting and mulching of garden beds where guests walk on a daily basis. Some of my time was spent where no one will ever walk, but the work was still important, like on invasive species removal team. This was a unique experience that made me appreciate the importance of research before introducing new species into foreign landscapes. Failing to understand how some plants grow could result in generational consequences. The work I performed was difficult due to heat and other weather conditions; however, it felt rewarding because I was doing something that gave me experience, improved some of my plant identification skills, and was satisfying to come home from at the end of the day. I would recommend working here for those who are interested in managing public garden areas.

Rising Senior; Horticulture Major, Sustainability Minor
South Carolina Botanical Gardens; Clemson, SC

My name is Constance Nobles and I am a horticulture major at Clemson University with a minor in sustainability. This summer, I stayed in Clemson to intern at the South Carolina Botanical Gardens. During this internship, I rotated through all of the departments in hopes of gaining a better understanding of what I want to do with my degree after college. During my summer camp rotation, I fell in love with horticultural therapy. It was an honor to help teach children more about nature and how to respect and appreciate it. Seeing the children’s appreciation for the outdoors grow throughout the week was truly unforgettable and rewarding. This summer was extremely valuable to me because it helped give me a more clear path for my future and will benefit me greatly in the years to come. I am very grateful for this experience and would highly recommend this internship.

Rising Junior Horticulture Student
Growing Green Family Farms LLC. Anderson, SC

My name is Trenton Peterson. I did a long internship at Growing Green Family Farms LLC from November 2025 to May 2026. While I was there, I had the pleasure of experiencing harvesting produce grown pesticide free, planting seeds, transplanting seedlings, washing and bagging produce for market, and constructing green houses and a controlled environment agriculture (CEA) room. I could not have asked for better mentorship from Nathan. The experience he provided me with will be one I never forget. Having the opportunity to experience pesticide free market garden farming during all four seasons was incredible and has me feeling prepared to confidently manage a farm whether it be my own or someone else’s.

Rising Junior, Horticulture
Terra Green Precision Landscapes, Concord, NC

My name is Rylee Ricketts, and I am a rising junior majoring in Horticulture at Clemson. This summer, I completed my internship with Terra Green Landscapes in Charlotte, North Carolina. Throughout the internship, I gained hands-on experience in landscape installation and maintenance by working alongside professional crews while also completing several independent projects. My primary project was creating a flower catalog to help standardize annual flower designs and improve the customer experience. I also assisted with property inspections, landscape enhancements, and daily crew operations, which strengthened both my technical and leadership skills. This internship allowed me to apply concepts I learned in the classroom to real-world situations while expanding my knowledge of the landscape industry. It was an extremely rewarding experience, and I would gladly choose to intern with Terra Green Landscapes again.

Rising Junior, Horticulture
The Fridley Lab at Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina

My name is Keziah Roberts and I am a junior Horticulture major at Clemson University. This past summer I assisted graduate research in The Fridley Lab, through the Research Experiences for Undergraduates program. We collected data in the Clemson Experimental Forest as well as The Great Smoky Mountains. I used an expansive amount of LICOR technology to measure photosynthesis and carbon output of native and invasive species. I had the opportunity to work in a lab setting as well as in the field. I thoroughly enjoyed my summer with The Fridley Lab. The hands-on experience this internship provided has helped me grow academically, professionally, and socially.

Rising Senior, Horticulture/ Art
Musser Fruit Research Center, Seneca, South Carolina

My name is Abishag Varvara, and I attend Clemson University as a rising senior in Horticulture with a minor in Art. This summer, I worked at the Musser Fruit Research Center because I wanted to learn more about fruit. At the farm, I had the opportunity to learn about peach varieties, picking and sorting peaches, viruses, insects, fungus, grafting, backing trailers, driving tractors, fertigation, sanitizing, pruning, thinning, root picking, strawberry diseases, and blueberry varieties. This internship was a lovely opportunity to expand my knowledge and create connections with others. Although working in the heat can be exhausting, having a good crew has made the whole experience enjoyable. I recommend working here if you enjoy heat and eating peaches.