/ˈhôrtiˌkəlCHər/
Noun
1. The science, technology, and business involved in intensive plant cultivation for human use. It is practiced from the individual level in a garden up to the activities of a multinational corporation. It is very diverse in its activities, incorporating plants for food (fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, culinary herbs) and non-food crops (flowers, trees and shrubs, turf-grass, hops, medicinal herbs). It also includes related services in plant conservation, landscape restoration, landscape and garden design/construction/maintenance, horticultural therapy, and much more. (wikipedia.org)
2. The art or science of cultivating gardens; gardening. (wiktionary.org)
3. Small scale agriculture. (wiktionary.org)
Word origin: Fabricated from Latin hortus “garden” + cultura; probably on model of agriculture.