Visit the Urban Horticulture Institute website.

Faculty contacts: Nina Bassuk, Tom Whitlow

Founded in 1980 with the explicit mission of improving the quality of urban life by enhancing the functions of plants within the urban ecosystem, the Institute program integrates plant stress physiology, horticultural science, plant ecology and soil science and applies them to three broad areas of inquiry. They are:

• The selection, evaluation and propagation of superior plants with improved tolerance of biotic and abiotic stresses, and enhanced functional uses in the disturbed landscape.
• Developing improved technologies for assessing and ameliorating site limitations to improve plant growth and development.
• Developing improved transplant technologies to insure the successful establishment of plants in the urban environment.

The Urban Horticulture Institute website provides more information about Cornell Structural Soil, trees, shrubs and woody groundcovers for urban areas, bareroot transplanting techniques, and more. 

See also Woody Plants Database.