Horticulture Program

Agriculture Department

(940) 668-7731 x 4488

(940) 665-1231

Anytime by Appointment

Ashley grew up on a ranch south of Muenster where she first developed a love for agriculture, particularly horticulture.  She attended Texas A&M University where she earned a Bachelors of Arts in Psychology and a Master's Degree in Horticulture Science.

She began her horticulture career in Pine Mountain, Georgia where she worked at Callaway Gardens, one of the South’s premiere gardens and resorts and the home of PBS's "The Victory Garden."  In their Department of Horticulture Education, Ashley focused on teaching various horticulture, environmental, and natural history seminars as well as leading hiking excursions where she taught about Appalachian flora and fauna.  While in graduate school, Ashley taught several horticulture labs in the Texas A&M Horticulture Department and was then chosen to be a lecturer in the department, teaching Floral Design. 

After earning her Master's Degree, Ashley went back to Appalachia and served as an Americorps volunteer and missionary.  After completing a two-year stint in the remote, coal-mining mountains of West Virginia as well as the hustle and bustle of Brooklyn, New York, Ashley decided to once again make Cooke County her home. 

Ashley began teaching at NCTC in the Fall of 2004 and has overseen the Horticulture Program since that time. Her greatest joy as a teacher is interacting with her students and seeing them form class "families."

Outside of the classroom, Ashley enjoys spending time on the farm, playing the guitar, backpacking, cooking, volunteering at church, traveling, beekeeping, sudoku puzzles (they’re so addictive!), and spending time with her family. She also enjoys refinishing her home, a 100-year old farmhouse that was her grandparent's.

Classes Taught