Landscape and Horticultural Technicians and Specialists

(NOC 2225)

in All Engineering, Math, Science, and Information Technology

This group includes those design, develop, and maintain landscaped spaces and who advise clients on issues related to horticulture. They work for landscape designers and contractors, lawn service and tree care businesses, golf courses, nurseries and greenhouses, and municipal, provincial, and national parks, or they may be self-employed.

Job Outlook

Average

Read more

  • Estimate Strong growth employment change, 2021-2023
  • Estimate 65 openings due to growth and retirements, 2021-2023
  • Estimate High rate of unemployment in 2022

Compared to: All Engineering, Math, Science, and Information Technology

  • Estimate 3410 employment change, 2021-2023
  • Estimate 5690 openings due to growth and retirements, 2021-2023
  • Estimate rate of unemployment not available for these occupation.

Outlook: average, mostly balanced conditions in the labour market.

Size of the occupation: small, with infrequent job opportunities.

Demand: Employment growth will lead to several new positions. Some positions become available due to employee turnover. A moderate number of positions will become available due to retirements. There are several unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

Work hours: full-time, usually. Most jobs are permanent positions. Employment can be seasonal with more opportunities available in the summer months.

Hourly Pay

$14.50

Minimum

$17.00

Median

$22.00

Maximum

Annual Pay

$4,292

Minimum

$21,117

Median

$65,654

Maximum

Compared to: All Engineering, Math, Science, and Information Technology

Hourly Pay

$18.00

Minimum

$34.90

Median

$54.10

Maximum

Annual Pay

$13,568

Minimum

$60,422

Median

$107,009

Maximum

About the job

Nature of work

This group includes those design, develop, and maintain landscaped spaces and who advise clients on issues related to horticulture. They work for landscape designers and contractors, lawn service and tree care businesses, golf courses, nurseries and greenhouses, and municipal, provincial, and national parks, or they may be self-employed.

Job duties

Arborists and tree service technicians:

  • Examine trees and shrubs to diagnose problems and disease, and apply various treatments like pruning, spraying, repairing damaged areas and injecting with treatment solutions.

Golf course superintendents:

  • Direct crews who maintain the health and appearance of golf courses and their surrounding landscapes, plant and move trees, and apply fertilizers, fungicides, herbicides, and pesticides.

Horticulturists:

  • Plan and coordinate the growth and use of plants for landscaping, ornamental uses, and other purposes.

Landscape designers and landscape architectural technicians and technologists:

  • Survey and assess sites, prepare drawings, sketches, and reports, and perform other duties to help landscape architects design landscaped environments.

Landscape gardeners:

  • Plant and maintain private and public lawns and gardens.

Landscapers:

  • Plan and construct landscaped environments that may include trees, shrubberies, lawns, fences, decks, patios, and other landscape structures.

Lawn care specialists:

  • Visit clients, assess the health of lawns, and apply fertilizer, pesticides, and other lawn care products.

Sample job titles

  • arborist
  • cultivation technician
  • greenskeeper
  • horticulture technician
  • horticulture technologist
  • hydroponics technician
  • irrigation technician (except agriculture)
  • landscape architectural technologist
  • landscape horticulturalist
  • lawn care specialist

Skills

  • An interest in developing natural and created environments
  • An interest in computers and design-related applications
  • Spatial awareness
  • Communication and interpersonal skills
  • Creativity
  • Analytical abilities
  • Decision-making skills
  • Organizational skills
  • Problem-solving and critical thinking
  • Time-management
  • Ability to work alone and as part of a team
  • Physical stamina

Job requirements

  • A university or college program in agronomy, arboriculture, horticulture, landscaping, landscape design, or landscape technology is usually required.
  • Experience as a landscape and grounds maintenance labourer may be required for golf course superintendents, landscape gardeners, and landscapers.
  • An apprenticeship program is available for horticulturists, arboriculturists, and landscape gardeners.
  • Landscape horticulturalists require training through a 6,000-hour apprenticeship program: to become an apprentice you first need to have a job - enter an apprenticeship agreement either directly through an employer or after graduating from a college-level pre-apprenticeship program; learn on the job, mentored by a certified journeyperson who signs off on skills in a logbook.
  • Trade Qualifier option, 9,000 hours, four practical industry certifications from the Landscape Horticulture Certification Program, and other criteria.
  • Certification for landscape horticulturists is voluntary in Nova Scotia.
  • Write and score a minimum of 70% on the Red Seal exam for landscape horticulturalists; or obtain a provincial certificate without writing an exam.
  • Red Seal Endorsement (RSE) allows for interprovincial mobility.
  • A provincial license to apply chemical fertilizers, fungicides, herbicides, and pesticides may be required.

Other considerations

  • Setting: landscape agricultural technologists most often work in an office and on construction sites. They usually work standard office hours with some overtime to meet project deadlines.
  • Setting: landscape horticulturalists work outdoors in all types of weather. Indoor work may involve greenhouse production, interior landscaping, and the sale of plants, materials, and supplies. Employment may be seasonal with long hours.
  • The work may involve lifting, climbing, carrying, and bending.
  • Experienced landscape architectural technologists may become certified in specific areas like irrigation design or contract administration. Some start their own business.
  • Beginning landscape horticulturalists often enter the trade during the busy summer months as labourers or apprentices.
  • Experienced landscape horticulturalists may advance to supervisor, manager, or head landscape horticulturalist positions, or start their own business.
  • Some landscape horticulturists specialize in landscape design, construction and maintenance, and greenhouse, sod, and nursery production. They may work independently or with other professionals such as landscape architects, architects, engineers, and municipal planners.
  • Some jobs may require working with dangerous chemical substances or exposure to unpleasant odours.
  • Apprentices usually earn a percentage of the journeyperson (fully qualified) rate. This percentage increases as each level of the apprenticeship program is completed.
  • Everyone has fair access to participate and succeed in the apprenticeship system. Everyone who develops the necessary skills and abilities should be able to succeed in the trades and trade qualification system. Work environments in the province support women and equity-seeking communities.

By the numbers

Quick look

425

employed in 2016

77.4%

employed full-time

31.0%

self employed

33.3%
Icons/female Created with Sketch.
66.7%
Icons/male Created with Sketch.
44.9

median age

Compared to: All Engineering, Math, Science, and Information Technology

25,875

employed in 2016

91.5%

employed full-time

7.6%

self employed

20.0%
Icons/female Created with Sketch.
80%
Icons/male Created with Sketch.
42.8

median age

Where will I likely work?

42.2%

Halifax

$25,991 median annual income
19.3%

North Shore

$23,062 median annual income
16.9%

Annapolis Valley

$21,201 median annual income
12.0%

Southern

$9,396 median annual income
9.6%

Cape Breton

$18,053 median annual income

Compared to: All NS Occupations

47.0%

Halifax

15.6%

North Shore

12.9%

Annapolis Valley

12.7%

Cape Breton

11.8%

Southern

Top Industries of Employment

43.5%

Administrative and support, waste management and remediation services

18.8%

Arts, entertainment and recreation

11.6%

Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting

10.1%

Public administration

7.2%

Retail trade

What is the age of Employment?

22.0%

45-54

22.0%

55-64

22.0%

25-34

18.0%

35-44

12.0%

15-24

5.0%

65+

Compared to: All Engineering, Math, Science, and Information Technology

24.2%

25-34

23.5%

45-54

23.4%

35-44

16.4%

55-64

7.7%

15-24

Top levels of education

27.4%

Bachelor

$27,613 median annual income
25.0%

College Diploma

$26,006 median annual income
21.4%

High school

$13,259 median annual income
10.7%

Trade Certification

$12,705 median annual income
8.3%

Diploma Below Bachelor

$27,725 median annual income

Compared to: All Engineering, Math, Science, and Information Technology

33.1%

College Diploma

$59,986 median annual income
29.8%

Bachelor

$63,965 median annual income
11.9%

High school

$45,835 median annual income
9.9%

Master

$65,105 median annual income
6.9%

Trade Certification

$57,773 median annual income

Education & training

Applied Horticulture

College, Trades, or University Program

These programs focus on growing and processing domesticated plants, shrubs, flowers, foliage, trees, groundcovers, and related plant materials, managing technical and business operations connected with horticultural services, and the scientific principles needed to understand plants and their management and care.

Institutions providing this program

Nova Scotia Community College

Various, NS

Horticultural Science

College or University Program

These programs focus on the scientific principles related to cultivating garden and ornamental plants, including fruits, vegetables, flowers, and landscape and nursery crops. They include courses in specific types of plants like citrus, breeding horticultural varieties, physiology of horticultural species, and the scientific management of horticultural plant development and production through the life cycle.

Institutions providing this program

Dalhousie University Faculty of Agriculture

Truro, NS

Nova Scotia Apprenticeship Agency

Halifax, NS

Landscaping and Groundskeeping

College, Trades, or University Program

These programs prepare students to manage and maintain indoor and/or outdoor ornamental and recreational plants and groundcovers and related designs created by landscape architects, interior designers, enterprise owners or managers, and individual clients. They include courses in applicable principles of horticulture, gardening, plant and soil irrigation and nutrition, turf maintenance, plant maintenance, equipment operation and maintenance, personnel supervision, and purchasing.

Institutions providing this program

Dalhousie University Faculty of Agriculture

Truro, NS

Nova Scotia Community College

Various, NS

Plant Protection and Integrated Pest Management

College, Trades, or University Program

These programs apply scientific principles of controlling the animal and weed infestation of domesticated plant populations including agricultural crops, preventing/reducing economic loss, and controlling environmental pollution and degradation related to pest infestation and pest control measures. They include courses in entomology, applicable animal sciences, plant pathology and physiology, weed science, crop science, and environmental toxicology.

Institutions providing this program

Dalhousie University Faculty of Agriculture

Truro, NS

Specialized Sales, Merchandising and Marketing Operations - Other

College, Trades, or University Program

This includes any program not listed elsewhere that relates to Specialized Sales, Merchandising and Marketing Operations.

Institutions providing this program

Nova Scotia Community College

Various, NS

Employment requirements & contacts

Regulations

Landscape Horticulturist

Certificate of Qualification (Voluntary): This is a designated trade in Nova Scotia. Employers may require certification, but a certificate is not needed to legally work in this trade.

Regulating body:
Nova Scotia Apprenticeship Agency
Halifax, NS

Contacts

Nova Scotia Department of Environment and Climate Change
Halifax, NS
Landscape Nova Scotia
Dartmouth, NS
Horticulture Nova Scotia
Kentville, NS

Additional resources

There are no additional resources for this occupation.