Temple University’s “green” majors have long been planted at the Ambler campus in the School of Environmental Design, which offers a variety of environmental-themed majors.

Now they’ve added five new minors, as well. Two are new interdisciplinary emphases: sustainable food studies and ecological planning and design. The others — community and regional planning, environmental horticulture and landscape studies — are extensions of existing majors.

“Our majors reflect a range of scale,” says Pauline Hurley-Kurtz, interim chair of the department of landscape architecture and horticulture. “Community and regional planning looks at large-scale environmental issues. Landscape design has a smaller focus, and horticulture is smaller still.”

“These new minors extend opportunities for students in different majors to develop expertise in areas we can serve,” adds Deborah Howe, chair of the department of community and regional planning. The majors will strengthen graduates’ skills for future careers or help prepare them for graduate studies.

All of the majors are designed to deepen what Temple Ambler is already doing. “The sustainable agriculture minor furthers our emphasis on urban agriculture,” Howe says. “We look at production, distribution and land use.”

This weekend on campus

In a tradition dating back 100 years, the Temple University Ambler campus will host a spring plant sale on Saturday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the campus greenhouse at 580 Meetinghouse Road. Plants will include annuals and perennials, vegetable starts, herbs, native plants and hanging baskets.

Members of Pi Alpha Xi, the national honor society for horticulture students and Ambler Arboretum’s staff and volunteers will be available to answer questions.