Sustainable Cultivation and Performance of Ornamental Plants

Dear Colleagues,

Ornamental plants represent an integral part of every landscape, fulfilling numerous functions and contributing to healthier, more aesthetically pleasing environments. Recently, climate change and its consequences have disrupted the stability of ornamental plant production, affecting multiple stages of cultivation and increasing associated costs. Other challenges, such as resource depletion, environmental degradation, and rising pest pressure further strain the production process. The demand for novel traits that broaden the services of ornamental plants, including their use in food or the development of nature-based solutions, has stimulated extensive research. Efforts in plant breeding and selection focus on developing ornamental plants with improved traits, while sustainable practices promote efficient resource use and support high adaptability and resilience to both abiotic and biotic stressors. Native plants are increasingly recognized as a source of resilient and highly decorative genotypes. Moreover, the inclusion of non-standard ornamentals, such as fruit and medicinal plants, can enhance greening efforts. Thoughtful management of ornamental plants can limit the invasiveness of introduced species and support biodiversity.

This Special Issue aims to explore recent findings on adaptation strategies and sustainable cultivation practices in ornamental plants, with a focus on scientifically robust, mechanism-oriented studies that span topics from individual plant performance to ecosystem-level outcomes.

Topics of interest include, among others, the following:

• Plant morphology, anatomy, and physiology;
• Plant responses to stress;
• Selection of adaptable and dwarf genotypes;
• Edible plants in landscaping;
• Plant growth regulation;
• Biological plant protection;
• Propagation techniques;
• Biodiversity conservation.

Dr. Tijana Narandžić
Dr. Mirjana Ljubojevic
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Horticulturae is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• cultivation physiology
• growth regulators
• in vitro propagation
• indoor cultivation
• nature-based solutions
• ornamental traits
• plant breeding
• stress tolerance
• sustainable practices
• trait improvement