Interior Plantscaper
Interior plantscapers are indoor plant specialists. They supply and install plants into a building, maintain the health of those plants and replace them when necessary.
What They Do
The work may involve growing and caring for container plants in a nursery situation (perhaps an at-home base), selecting plants, loading them onto a truck, transporting them to a client’s building, moving them inside, maintaining plants inside the building (e.g. watering, fertilising, feeding, controlling pest and disease, removing unsightly foliage or flower, pruning, etc.), maintaining irrigation systems, keeping written records, and removing plants that need rehabilitation or disposal. It may also include trhe design of interior gardens.
Interior plants are commonly grown in containers, from small to large, in a potting soil or media. Some are grown in soil beds (e.g. in an atrium created within a building), others are grown as a “green wall” and sometimes plants are grown in a hydroponic system.
Where They
Work
Interior plantscaping firms operate in larger population centres. Some plant nurseries may operate an indoor plant supply department (hiring or selling) as part of a larger business. Some government departments or other larger enterprises which regularly need interior plantscaping may employ permanent or part time staff to provide their needs.
Interior plantscaping is used for events (e.g. on the stage at a concert, a wedding reception, a conference, a trade show), and as permanent installations in public buildings, offices, retail shopping malls, airports, and other such locations.
What is Needed
Interior plantscapers must have very good knowledge of plant species and how different plants
are affected by different interior environments, root environments and maintenance techniques:
- Air conditioners and heating
- Artificial light and poor natural
light
- Drafts and frequent temperature changes
- Low humidity
- Watering
- Pot culture
None of these things are
natural, and it takes a knowledgeable horticulturist to appreciate how
to keep plants looking good in an interior environment.
Some people enter this industry by learning on the job; starting out as
an unskilled nursery hand, moving up to being an assistant on a truck
and progressing from there. Others take a course of study then build on
that knowledge with experience. You will always progress faster if you
study first.
If you want to become a manager or business owner, you also need business and management skills.
Opportunities
Interior plantscaping can be a relatively obscure industry, but in reality it is a bigger business than most people (even other horticulturists) appreciate. Some interior plantscaping firms employ dozens of staff and operate a fleet of trucks, visiting and attending to clients plants once or twice every week. There are businesses that do nothing but supply large decorative containers for plants, and others that supply the infrastructure (excluding plants) for green walls.
Some businesses may only employ one or two people; but even as an owner operator, a plantscaping business can be quite lucrative if you offer a good service and organise your business well.
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