Garden Designer

What they do: Garden design is the craft behind turning a boring patch of lawn into a beautiful garden. Garden designers combine art, design and horticulture to provide a complete design service, including planting plans, so-called “hard landscape” elements (paths, walls, paving, decking) and special features such as water features, lighting and garden furniture. They can produce design-only work for clients, or may team up with a garden contractor to see the job through to completion. Other specialised skills could include historic garden restoration, public spaces or school grounds design.

Career path: Short courses, diplomas and distance learning are all available from various organisations such as the Royal Horticultural Society , English Gardening School  or the Oxford College of Garden Design  as well as horticultural colleges like Capel Manor , Merrist Wood  or Writtle  . Falmouth University College of Arts, in collaboration with Duchy College in Cornwall, offers a BA (Hons) Degree in Garden Design  

Where they work: As one-person businesses, within larger garden contracting/maintenance firms or for the big house-building firms.

More info: Society of Garden Designers , Garden Courses

Horticultural Journalist

What they do: Horticultural journalists write about plants, landscape and the business of horticulture. Most newspapers and lots of magazines have gardening sections which talk about how to garden, what to do when, and which plants to buy, and there is a strong trade press within the sector. Gardening programmes are very popular on TV, with some of the presenters like Alan Titchmarsh or Chris Beardshaw becoming household names, while gardening books are often on the best-seller lists.

Career path: To become a horticultural journalist you'll need to know about both horticulture and journalism. Many people start work as trained horticulturists and move into journalism, while others train as journalists and then learn about the world of horticulture.

Where they work:

• National and local newspapers
• Consumer magazines (eg Gardeners World) of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) magazine ‘The Garden’
• Press officers, eg for the RHS or Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
• Book authors
• Broadcasters (eg the BBC)
• Professional/trade press (eg Horticulture Week)
• Websites (eg http://www.gardening.co.uk )

More info: Garden Media Guild , Guild of Agricultural Journalists

Interior Landscape Designer

What they do: Even the dingiest office space can be livened up by living plants. A developing market exists for indoor plants that brighten surroundings and generally improve the quality of life, served by interior landscapers. They bring colour and greenery indoors by designing indoor planting schemes in offices, atriums, shopping centres, restaurants and health clubs.

Career path: Qualifications range from NVQs to MAs in interior landscaping.

Where they work: Within private interior landscaping or landscape maintenance firms, including franchise opportunities.

More info: European Federation of Interior Landscaping Groups , Urban Planters

Landscape Architect

What they do: If architects design the buildings where we live and work, landscape architects create the open spaces inbetween: places where people can live, work and relax, as well environments in which plants and animals can thrive.

Landscape architects study, plan, design and manage spaces which are both sustainable and beautiful. They work with architects, town planners, civil engineers and lots of other professionals.

Some British landscape architects live and work abroad and many of those based in the UK have overseas clients. Travel can be an important part of the job.

Career path: Landscape architecture is a chartered profession like architecture, accountancy or surveying. This means that in order to pursue a career in the profession, you will need a degree followed by a period of study at work in order to qualify fully as a chartered landscape architect. You will also need to be a member of the Landscape Institute, the professional body, qualifying authority and regulator for the profession.

Where they work: Around half of landscape architects in the UK work for private companies. Other employers include local authorities and government agencies such as the Environment Agency, Natural England, Scottish Natural Heritage, the Countryside Council for Wales and environmental charities such as Groundwork.

More info: www.iwanttobealandscapearchitect.com

Related job titles: Landscape Designer, Urban Designer, Landscape Manager, Landscape Ecologist