Grass is always green for landscape workers
Ask Gary Jones to list the career opportunities in landscaping, and he responds with: “How long is a piece of string?”
“Graduates can go into all sorts of options, including landscape design and installation, working with parks boards or municipalities, sports turf management or sales and distribution,” says Jones, co-chair at the School of Horticulture at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey, B.C.
Many landscaping programs also include a strong environmental component, he adds. “Students today want to learn how to manage waste, consume resources and be good (environmental) stewards. We’re even getting some who want to be involved in policy development.”
The environmental aspect of landscaping is something that appeals to Gino Piscelli. He landed a fulltime job with the Region of Peel Environmental Education Group in Ontario after graduating from the environmental landscape program at Toronto’s Seneca College.
He started his career in advertising, but decided it simply wasn’t right for him.
“I wanted to try something where I could feel fulfilled. I really enjoy spending time outdoors so decided landscaping was a good avenue for me.”
In his current technical analysis role, he works on developing landscape programs for residents to help promote water efficiency through the summer months. “A lot of the job involves public education outreach. I really enjoy that part. And it feels good knowing that at the end of each day, I’ve incorporated some environmental education into the world.”
Contrary to what some people might think, not all landscaping jobs are at the end of a shovel, says Brian Speers, program co-ordinator for Seneca College’s environment landscape management program. “Increasingly, students are getting into areas such as conservation.”
Seneca’s two-year co-op diploma program takes students through a number of studies, such as field ecology, terrestrial ecosystems, urban ecology, turf management, arboriculture, pest management, natural heritage monitoring and assessment, machinery operations and business management.
Co-op placements are very diverse, Speers notes. “A lot of students go into private landscape companies. Others work at garden centres and nurseries. Even golf courses will hire landscape students.”
People who excel in the field tend to have solid plant skills, including a good memory for their names and appropriate use. They also have to be able to multi-task, since they often need to manage a number of priorities at any given time, Jones says. “And they can’t be afraid of hard work and have a self-starting attitude.”
Communications skills are necessary because jobs often involve dealing with the public. And since design work is done with computer-aided design (CAD) programs, technology skills are helpful.
The demand for landscape professionals of all levels has been high for close to a decade, says Joel Beatson, manager of industry human resources and professional development for the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association in Milton, Ont., a national trade association for the landscape and horticultural industry.
That demand covers a wide scope of activities from unskilled summer student labour to botanists, architects and designers and every level of skilled trade in between.
There are even some new specialties being added to the landscape list. “Landscape lighting, for one, has become a very interesting sub-sector of the industry,” Beatson says. “Other hot disciplines include green-roof landscaping, brownfield remediation and water management.”