Education: MSc

Scott Simpson, Owner of Earthwise Horticultural Services, graduated from University of Florida with a Master of Science degree in the field of Environmental Horticulture. Scott’s time @ UF was both the most difficult and the most rewarding. Scott’s graduate advisory board challenged him at every turn. Again and again Scott was forced to re-examine commonly accepted views concerning landscaping.

Scott’s conclusion: Although there is no substitute for experience, working side by side with people who are passionate about this topic taught Scott more than any amount of time he could have spent in the field. The one single thing Scott knows for sure is that there is always something more to learn.

Scott Simpson currently puts his education, experience, and skills to use offering landscape design and project installation services in the East Orlando, Winter Park, Winter Springs, Longwood, Altamonte Springs, Sanford, Lake Mary, Heathrow, DeBary, and surrounding areas of Central Florida.

Landscape services include:

  • Design & consultation

  • Installation of new landscapes

  • Hardscaping with natural stone and pavers

  • Landscape lighting (low voltage outdoor lighting)

  • Irrigation system assessment, modification, and improvement (in conjunction with projects)

  • Custom built wood landscape structures such as pergolas, arbors, and trellises

Research Thesis

Want to know more about Scott Simpson’s, owner of Earthwise Horticultural Services, Master of Science degree thesis? Click <here> or search this phrase:  "scott simpson deficit irrigation coefficient" on the web. Basically, Scott Simpson worked on this project with a team of people across the state for several years. It was an honor and Scott really learned so much more than he expected. Scott would credit this as the single most rewarding endeavor of his education. Why?  Because Scott and his team found that homeowners could put down about half as much water as they do now and still have a good looking St. Augustine lawn.

Just think if we designed our landscapes for water conservation ... wait … Scott Simpson with Earthwise Horticultural Services LLC can help with that!

Favorite Courses

In all fairness, that would be all of them! Seriously, Scott Simpson, owner of Earthwise Horticultural Services, enjoyed them all. Everything Scott studied prepared him for what he does now.

  • Landscape plant establishment:  What to do after installing a new landscape

  • Landscape & turfgrass management:  An overview of best practices

  • Turfgrass culture:  Dr. Unruh was tough but fair

  • Annuals and perennials:  Dr. Henny was on Scott’s committee

  • Residential landscape design:  A introduction to the topic

  • Sustainability in residential landscape design: Likely Scott’s favorite class

    • Dr. Hansen de Chapman was also on Scott’s committee and taught both these classes

  • Independent Study

    • Worked again with Dr. Hansen de Chapman

    • Focus on development of Florida Friendly landscape documentation

    • Contributed to content on http://fyn.ifas.ufl.edu/

  • Plant material selection for ecosystem restoration

    • A topic outside of Scott Simpson’s major

    • If Scott wanted to choose a second career, this would be it

    • Learned respect for this specialized field

    • Scott’s paper was based on the theory of TAS

      • TAS is a concept Scott developed: Throw Away Sites

      • It concerns those uncared for areas where invasives thrive

  • Integrated pest management - IPM

  • Plant morphology and identification, basics, and terminology

  • Horticultural physiology and cell biology

  • Environmental nutrient management and soils introduction

  • Plant nutrition:  a lot of chemistry one of Scott’s toughest classes

  • Plant pathology: 1st grad level class with Dr. Strandberg

  • Weed Science:

    • A full semester of pulling weeds!

    • mechanics of weed control

    • glyphosate ...

      • Scott is not a fan of chemicals, but learned a lot here

      • herbicide details diffs/usage

      • Maybe it's not the chemical but the misuse of it...

  • Plant propagation: a very fun class

  • Advanced woody plant water relations

    • This topic is the core of Scott Simpson’s research thesis research

    • Scott will never look at a landscape the same way

    • Dr. Beeson was Scott Simpson’s primary advisor and chair of Scott’s committee

  • Problems in Environmental Horticulture - Independent study and writing

  • Landscape construction

    • A topic at the heart of what Scott does now

    • This was Scott’s teaching assistant class

    • Greatly enjoyed working with Dr. Pearson

  • Critical thinking:

    • an interesting debate style class

    • one of the best experiences while @ UF

You can view the website for UF Apopka MREC here: http://mrec.ifas.ufl.edu/

Thank you to the staff and faculty at the Mid-Florida Research and Education Center!