Fox is no stranger to working at a garden. He works seasonal jobs at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. With more than 1,100 acres of land, Longwood Gardens has about 10,000 different species of plants compared to Betty Ford’s 3,000. 

At Longwood Gardens, Fox has done numerous tasks, from picking weeds to pruning shrubs and identifying plants. At Betty Ford, Fox spent the summer planting, watering and learning how to maintain gardens in a high altitude, alpine environment.

“My internship was focused on saving and showcasing alpine plants,” Fox said. “A lot of Betty Ford Alpine Gardens’ work is conservation based, education based, and showing these plants that can’t really be grown elsewhere in North America.”

The plant and shrub species Fox worked with over the summer, spanned from penstemons to gentians to spruce trees.

“In Vail, you can go up into the alpine region of the mountain and find all these little Penstemons growing out of crevices and rocks, and they are also showcased in the gardens,” Fox said. “There are so many more than I ever thought existed. It’s been really cool to see all the varieties of Penstemon.”

Some of the key differences Fox noticed between alpine plants in Vail and the plants he has worked with in Pennsylvania are the alpine plants are less susceptible to fungi and mold because there is less humidity and moisture like there is in the East. 

One of Fox’s biggest takeaways, he said, is how temperamental gardening is. Colorado has colder and longer winters as well as hot and dry summers. While the Colorado plants have adapted to the cold, Fox said the weather extremes still take their toll on the plants.

“It’s just a very different way of gardening,” Fox said.

James (JD) Zimmerman, UD assistant professor of landscape horticulture and design, said Fox’s internship presented a great opportunity to apply the skills he learned at Longwood Gardens to a different type of gardening in a new place, “which will provide a broad range of additional experiences that he can bring to the classroom and into his career in the future,” Zimmerman said. “It gave him some time to explore and learn different types of plants and garden scales that will allow Jackson to understand his interests when entering the professional field.” 

When landscape architecture students pursue internships in unfamiliar landscapes and gardens, they broaden their “ecological literacy” and “design adaptability,” Zimmerman said. New environments help them grow as a student, elevating their technical skills and plant knowledge.

“Encountering new plant communities, climate conditions, and cultural relationships to land challenges students to move beyond region-specific knowledge and assumptions,” Zimmerman said. “This kind of immersion compels them to think critically about site-specificity.” 

And, Zimmerman said, the opportunity for students to work closely with garden professionals, including horticulturalists, garden managers and educators reinforces communication skills and sheds light on collaboration.

“These internships ultimately help students bridge the gap between design intent and long-term performance,” Zimmerman said.

Fox said he is taking a lot from his experience back to UD, both inside and outside the classroom. The various alpine plants in Vail may have given him an idea or two for the annual Philadelphia Flower Show. The annual show features diverse floral and landscape displays made by designers from around the world. Fox is the president of the UD Flower Show Club, and said he was especially inspired by Betty Ford’s stone work and crevice gardening — using skinny rocks to create crevices that can hold soil.

“Seeing all the plants out there has been really inspiring,” Fox said. “I’m excited to get back into design work and designing the flower show this fall and am feeling good about it.”