Plant Science

About our author Margaret (Peg) McMahon is a fourth-generation horticulturist who grew up on the family farm, which she still co-owns. While growing up, she worked in the ornamental and tomato greenhouses her family owned and operated. She earned her BS in agriculture with a major in horticulture from The Ohio State University in 1970. After graduation, she worked as a grower and propagator for Yoder Bros., Inc. (now Aris Horticulture, Inc.) at their Barberton, OH, Salinas, CA, and Pendleton, SC, locations.

While in South Carolina, she earned her MS in horticulture and PhD in plant physiology from Clemson University in 1988 and 1992, respectively. Her research included early detection of chilling injury in tropical and subtropical foliage plants and the use of far-red absorbing filters as a potential technology to reduce stem elongation in greenhouse-grown ornamentals.

In 1994, she started a faculty position at The Ohio State University in the Department of Horticulture and Crop Science. She retired in 2015 but continued teaching classes until 2017. The undergraduate classes she taught included both the introductory and senior capstone classes in horticulture and crop science, basic irrigation, basic and advanced greenhouse crop production, indoor gardening, and interiorscape, a field experience in floriculture. The graduate-level classes she taught included advanced greenhouse crop production, photomorphogenesis and teaching methods.