Landscaping Career Track

Answer 1

Landscaping careers provide a variety of services to improve and maintain the appearance of properties and lawns. Landscapers mow lawns, remove weeds and mulch, blow leaves, plant flowers, trees and shrubs, as well as water and fertilize lawns and gardens to protect them and make them beautiful. Landscapers also install hardscapes such as walkways and gravel, patios, as well as aerate lawns to add grass.

Landscaping jobs require some knowledge of outdoor environments to properly maintain them. Knowledge of how landscaping equipment, such as commercial lawn mowers and other tools are helpful. Many landscapers are trained on the job before they do more complicated work such as gardening, aerating and hardscaping as they acquire the skills needed. Some employers do require coursework and education in majors such as horticulture or landscape design. Continuing education can lead to moving into roles such as a landscape architect. As seasons change, landscapers prepare outdoor environments for the upcoming season.

Landscapers spend most of their time outdoors. Work is generally done in warm weather. Because the job is seasonal, many of these professionals spend their winter months working for their employer and provide snow removal services. Customers generally use the same landscaping organization for snow removal services because they understand the property and ensure their grounds are ready for warm weather. Where landscaping is generally done during the day, the work involved with snow removal is on-call and many landscapers that work in snow removal work the hours their needed, which can be during the day and overnight and sometimes requires long shifts.

The average salary for landscaping workers ranged from $11.25 to $14.60 per hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2011. With continuing education and work experience, some of these professionals move into other careers, because most landscaping jobs are seasonal. Landscape architects earn an average salary of $62,000 per year, which requires additional education and training.