Breadcrumbs
Careers & Training
Information and resources to help you start or develop your career in horticulture, including qualifications and courses for work in plant production, professional gardening, landscape design & construction, arboriculture, greenkeeping, groundsmanship and garden retailing. Information on this page is compiled in association with Grow.
Grow Your Career In Horticulture
Education - Garden design
24 February 2012Course applications are booming despite the recession and high fees, buoyed by healthy work prospects in the sector, Jack Shamash finds.
Arboriculture - education and training
30 September 2011From short courses for craft skills to apprenticeships and even PhDs, arboriculture training providers offer plenty of options, Jack Shamash finds.
CPD - No let-up on learning
13 May 2011Improving skills benefits both staff and employers, stresses Gavin McEwan.
Moving up to management
30 April 2010Having perfected practical skills, if your next step is to manage other people in those roles then training is essential, says Bethan Norris.
The Grow initiative: Promoting opportunities in horticulture
01 May 2009The Grow initiative shows that the horticulture world is serious about the next generation.
Get Into Horticulture
What's it like to work in the different areas of horticulture? What qualifications and skills do you need? Find out here.
- What does a career in horticulture hold for you?
- Ten good reasons to get into horticulture
- Heritage and Conservation - Be a garden guardian
- Business, Production and Food - Growing prospects
- Garden and landscape Design - Changing the landscape
- Health and well being - Turning to horticultural therapy
- Turf, trees and green space - Supporting outdoor pursuits
- Qualifications - Finding your level
- What is a career in horticulture?
- Apprenticeships - A practical approach
- A good foundation: The Diploma in Environmental and Land-based Studies
- Useful organisations and contacts
- Professional bodies - knowledge bases
A Place For Everybody
How your GCSEs and A-levels can help you get into horticulture. Whatever your interests, this diverse industry is bound to have a role for you.
Horticultural Qualifications & Courses
Use our interactive map to find colleges and universities. Then click on the pin to find out what courses they offer.
Career Profiles
How have others built successful careers in horticulture? What attracted them to the world of plants? What training did they do? What are their jobs like now?
Me & My Job - Karl Cooper, nursery manager, Millbrook Garden Centre
18 May 2012How did you get started in the industry? I grew up on a self-sufficient smallholding. We also grew cut flowers, Christmas trees and soft fruits that were sold to local traders. I started working on a production nursery at age 13. With the money I ...
Me & My Job - Amanda Smith, marketing coordinator, Flora-tec
04 May 2012-How did you get started in the industry? After a last-minute change of plan, I was offered a place on the newly started horticultural degree course at Writtle. In our final year, a small group of us placed an advert in The Grower saying several n...
Me & My Job - Katie Cleary, manager, Old Railway Line Garden Centre
27 April 2012- How did you get started in the industry? My parents started the garden centre in 1990 from just a six-by-eight-foot greenhouse. I was involved from a very young age, filling pots and labelling plants. In 2011, I completed a BSc in horticulture a...
Me & My Job - Briony Markham, corporate fundraiser, Greenfingers
20 April 2012How did you get into the horticulture industry? Through the charity Greenfingers, because it combined my passion for helping children and my interest in gardening. What does your typical day involve? There is no typical day and that's what makes...
Events
Floriade 2012
- The Netherlands Horticulture Council
- Date: Thu 05 Apr 2012 - Sun 07 Oct 2012
- Venue: Venlo, Netherlands
Organic Gardening
- Plumpton College
- Date: Wed 18 Apr 2012 - Wed 27 Jun 2012
- Venue: Plumpton College, Ditchling Road, Plumpton, Nr Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 3AE
Introduction to Beekeeping
- Warwickshire College
- Date: Sat 21 Apr 2012 - Sat 26 May 2012
- Venue: Pershore Campus
Movers
- Richard Lockwood, head of purchasing department, Flowerland Garden Centres
- Jon Allbutt, technical director, Britrisk
- Lucinda Compton, president, North of England Horticultural Society
- David Richardson, director, Commonwealth War Graves Commission
- Richard Evans, managing director, Ruxley Manor
- Jurgen Mertz, president, Zentralverband Gartenbau
- Charlotte Styles, product development manager, Smart Solar
- Frank Zeiler, board of directors, Union Fleurs
- Mark Bartram, power products dealer, Kawasaki
- Malcolm Wheeler, national sales manager, Vitax
- Charlotte Case carries out research for Love Your Garden
- Mike Abram, PR and communications manager, Bayer CropScience
- Nick Folland, Kingfisher
- Dr Roger Williams, New Zealand crop levy board
- Kees Jan Groenewoud, secretary, Plant Variety Board
Additional Information
Latest jobs Jobs web feed
- Head Gardener/Manager Worthing Borough Council Competitive, Worthing
- Plant Supervisor/Manager Horticruitment £20K+, Leicester
- Goods In/Warehouse Manager MorePeople £18000 per annum, Cheshire
- RELIEF GARDENER, LANDSCAPE MAINTENANCE TEAM Joseph Rowntree Foundation Rate of pay: £9.60 per hour (£19,470 pa), York, North Yorkshire and Hartlepool
- GARDENER (GRADE 3), LANDSCAPE MAINTENANCE TEAM Joseph Rowntree Foundation Rate of pay: £9.60 per hour (£19,470 pa), York, North Yorkshire and Hartlepool
Latest Tenders
Contract for the Supply of Horticultural Machinery & Equipment
Sunderland City Council
CONTRACTS FOR THE SUPPLY OF PARKS
MAINTENANCE AND TREES MAINTENANCE
Wandsworth Borough Council
In This Issue
NEWS: Garden centre sales start to pick up after relentless poor weather
GROWER: Packaging update
INTERVIEW: Robin Wallis on the Hortus Loci launch
PEST & DISEASE FACTSHEET: Moles
KIT TESTS: Handheld tools
