Horticulture

What is horticulture?

We find that there are a number of recurring myths about horticulture:

• Horticulture is just a fancy word for gardening.
• You can't get a highly paid job in horticulture as it is an industry dominated by unskilled labour.
• Horticulture is only worth considering if you have not done very well at school

Let's look at the facts.

Horticulture includes the growing and selling of food crops and ornamental plants, garden design and landscaping.

The horticulture industry is the largest employer in the UK. There are 18.5 million gardens in the UK. Over £2,000 million is spent on plants and other gardening products each year.

Millions of tourists come and visit the British Isles each year. Often the main reason for their visit is to see and enjoy our wonderful parks and gardens.

In addition there are sports facilities including golf courses to care for.

We are only really scratching the surface, but this should give you an idea of the enormous potential a career in horticulture can offer.

Commercial Horticulture

This covers the growing and selling of food crops and ornamental plants. A commercial horticulturist faces the challenge of growing the fruit and vegetables that we eat. Horticulturists also grow the flowers and pot plants that decorate our homes and gardens. Nursery men are involved in the production of trees and shrubs for planting the public spaces and recreational areas which are enjoyed and used by most of us.

Gardening is now the number one active leisure pursuit, and gardeners are demanding new plant types and ever increasing quality.

Producing these crops is a highly technical business, involving automated systems, combining state of the art technology with traditional husbandry skills. Commercial horticulture also includes retail horticulture, selling and distributing products from nurseries, garden centres and DIY outlets. Working in retail horticulture outlets is challenging and requires creativity to design and build eye-catching displays for marketing plants. In addition you need the 'personal touch' as you deal with other customers and enquiries.

Working in retail horticulture is probably more interesting and demanding than many other types of retail activity.

Amenity Horticulture

This covers gardening, garden design and planting and the maintenance of decorative plantings.

The British are renowned for being amongst the best in the world for in the design and construction of recreational areas, including parks, gardens and landscaped grounds.

Our public areas, including the Local Authority parks, and roadside plantings, are designed to provide additional habitats that are very important to wildlife. Privately owned grounds, such as the large gardens of the National Trust for Scotland and stately homes have been particularly influential in building the prestige that British gardens enjoy with our overseas visitors.

The botanic gardens such as Edinburgh Botanics house collections of rare and unusual plants. If you fancy looking after a rare collection of orchids, or perhaps travelling the world looking for new plant introductions, amenity horticulture may be for you!

Sportsman have a lot to thank the horticulturalist for. An amenity horticulturist is likely to have designed, constructed and maintained their playing field, tennis court, bowling green or golf course. There would be no Hampden or Murrayfield if the amenity horticulturist had not been there first.

Landscape design is a fast evolving and exciting area of amenity horticulture. More and more demand is being placed on designers to meet the needs of individuals who want a full design service for their garden. This type of work is highly creative and takes a real 'flair' to succeed.