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Horticulture Business or Career Courses

Course Listings

Diploma in Landscaping

Give yourself a truly competitive edge with this unique landscaping course.

It not only covers all that you need to know about landscaping - it also gives you essential and extensive training in horticulture fundamentals and workplace practices and requirements. Gain truly solid landscaping knowledge and skills from one of the most respected schools in this field.

This course is hands on and relevant to the needs of today's world; and for the right candidate, will lay an outstanding foundation for a professional career in landscaping.

Garden design is both an art and a science. Being a good garden designer requires several things (as follows), and this course focuses strongly on just that.

  • An understanding of horticulture and how the component parts of nature fit and interact together.
  • Familiarity with a wide range of garden components (e.g. knowledge of thousands of different plants, different building materials features etc). The more components you know intimately the more you can select from and use to compose a garden.
  • Knowledge of artistic and design principles and ways of using them to achieve a pre conceived goals.
  • Knowledge of a wide range of garden styles, in different countries and throughout history.

This is a comprehensive course developed by a team of highly reputable and qualified landscapers from Australia and the UK headed by our principal John Mason (Editor Landscaping Your Backyard Magazine; author of Starting a Garden or Landscape Business - published by Simon and Shuster).

Environmental Assessment

Help to identify and report on problematic environmental issues

The most important knowledge for a career in environmental consultancy or as an environmental officer is the assessment of the environment and its resilience to changes. Work in this area has expanded greatly in recent decades, and when combined with a knowledge of plant or animal identification and ecology, this course develops an extremely valuable skill.

Foundation Certificate II in Horticulture

A highly prestigious and well rounded starting point for anyone wanting to work in horticulture

Student Comment: "I have found the course material to be comprehensive and informative and have learnt a lot and really enjoyed my year of study. The office staff at ACS have always been helpful and efficient and quick to respond to requests or queries. My tutor, Adriana, was encouraging and supportive, as well as being really thorough in the way she marked my assignments. I had not studied for 20 years before I started my RHS Certificate 2 in Horticulture and the feedback and reassurance I received from my tutor made all the difference." Katherine Parry, Australia - studying this course).

This vocationally oriented course comprises core studies in general horticulture plus specialised elective studies. The course is designed to lay a foundation for a long-term career in horticulture by developing the ability to identify a large range of plants, knowledge of essential horticultural principles and practices and practical skills in plant propagation, growth and care.

This course was originally developed and run as the RHS Certificate II  up until July 2010, when it was replaced by the RHS due to changes in the UK accreditation system. Due to popular demand from students, we continue to offer this as a 'foundation certificate' examined and awarded by ACS Distance Education in Australia (It no longer holds any endorsement from the RHS).

Horticulture I

Start your horticulture studies with this broad, practical course

The ideal course for the beginner, this is a basic, yet thoroughly practical course which gives you a sound broad technical grounding in horticultural principles and practices. A section of each lesson involves plant identification.  

 

YOU WILL LEARN:

  • To identify, propagate and care for 80 different types of plants.
  • The systematic way plants are classified.
  • Structure and parts of a flower.
  • To identify different leaf shapes. 
  • Different ways to control weeds.
  • Simple soil tests.
  • Making propagating and potting mixes.
  • Identifying pest and disease problems.
  • How and why to prune different plants.
  • Drawing a simple garden sketch plan.
  • To plant or repair a lawn; and lots more.

Managing Ecotourism

Learn to manage ecotour businesses

Ecotourism is a natural, if not always obvious place, for horticulturists to find employment
When you understand and can identify plants; you have valuable skills that can be used in ecotourism;  perhaps setting up a a display garden, conducting tours of gardens or wilderness areas, or establishing and managing themed events.
 
Special interest tourism is a growing sector of the tourist industry, and with some creativity and plant knowledge, opportunities abound for horticulturists. This course helps you explore those possibilities.

Managing Notable Gardens

Expand your skills to manage notable gardens

  • Discuss appropriate management strategies to ensure the long-term survival of plants and garden features.
  • Identify and evaluate sources of funding and associated issues.
  • Identify and discuss the issues concerned with the presentation of a site to visitors.


Nursery Growers Course

A great introduction to the nursery trade

An introductory course which shows the beginner how to get started in the nursery business. You learn how to propagate plants, decide what to propagate, how to start a small inexpensive operation, and to go about selling what you grow. Part of every lesson is devoted to the important area of building up your knowledge of plants. Through six lessons you will learn how many established nurseries have started out slowly as a small part time operation, and how you can follow the same path. (If you intend studying propagation and wholesale nursery management, do not do this course!).

Operational Business Management II (Horticulture)

Learn to better manage legal and workforce matters in a horticultural enterprise

Study legal, contractual and staff management considerations.
Understand interpretation and analysis, critical thought processes and complex issues relating to management of any sector of the horticulture industry.
 

Professional Practice for Consultants

Train as a consultant - relevant to any enterprise

This course is a valuable guide to setting up and operating a consulting business in any profession. Experts are always in demand by business, government bodies, public organisations and private individuals.

Everyone needs help from time to time from someone who has greater expertise than themseves. If you have training, and/or significant experience in just about anything;  you may have the potential to become a consultant in your field of expertise.

This course has been developed to complement studies in the various disciplines taught by ACS, including Psychology, Horticulture, Agriculture, Leisure Studies, Business Management and Environmental Management.

Project Management

Learn how to manage projects effectively and efficiently

  • Landscape construction projects
  • Garden renovation projects
  • One off contracts to supply horticultural produce

Qualification - Associate Diploma Horticulture

Become a professional horticulturist with technical skills highly sought after in the industry

This course provides a broad based foundation to allow you to adapt to and work in different sectors of the industry, as a technician, business owner, consultant, etc.

Use our free Career Advisory Service to gain insights into the vast opportunities and possibilities in this fascinating career.

  • A course that focuses on learning rather than assessment
  • Strong emphasis on plant knowledge and scienceAfter finishing, option to upgrade to an advanced diploma with an additional 10 modules.
Taught and written by world leaders in horticulture.  Develop your understanding of horticulture. 

Well respected qualification; developed and taught by industry leaders for decades.

 

Qualification - Certificate in Horticulture

 If you want a career in horticulture, this is one of the best starting points

This certificate was developed with a great deal of industry input throughout the 1990's then revised by staff in Australia and the UK in 2004 to ensure international relevance. And undergoes constant revision to keep it up to date.

Graduates from this 600-700 hour certificate have a history of outstanding career success. The course provides a very strong foundation in general horticulture (up to 350 hours) as well as specialised training in a chosen area such as propagation, landscaping or organics. Whilst other certificates have degraded over the years and have less emphasis (particularly on science and plant knowledge), this has remained at a similar standard to training of the 1970's and 80's, but with up to date content.

Qualification - Core - Certificate in Horticulture

Learn the fundamentals of horticulture by taking these core units

This is the first half of our standard certificate.  It covers all the basics of horticulture including: plant identification and the system, planting, pruning, soils and nutrition, irrigation and machinery, pest and diseases, propagation, landscape applications, weeds.
 
After completing these studies you can either achieve a foundation certificate or progress to do further specialised studies to obtain a full, standard certificate.
 
Ask us for more details. 

Qualification - Diploma in Horticulture

For a professional career in horticulture

If you have the time, this course is the ultimate as a foundation for a successful career or business in horticulture.

It equips you with exceptional skills to work as a professional and to adapt to changes in the industry as they occur throughout a long career.

This course will offer the skills and knowledge required of the professional horticulturist to set up your own business  or work in a professional capacity in any of several horticulture industry sectors.

Student Comment: "I have found the course to be interesting and challenging, with great learning materials that really make you research the industry and get involved. It has been a great way to study because it has allowed me to work in the industry and study at the same time. I have found the online resources to be fantastic, the tutors feedback constructive and the fact that assignments can be submitted online makes the process so easy." Tom Wood, Australia - Diploma in Horticultural Science course.

Qualification - Foundation Certificate II In Horticulture

Be prepared to learn a lot!

This vocationally-oriented course comprises core studies in general horticulture plus specialised elective studies. The course is designed to lay a foundation for a long-term career in horticulture by developing the ability to identify a large range of plants, knowledge of essential horticultural principles and practices and practical skills in plant propagation, growth and care.

This course was developed and run as the RHS Certificate II  up until July 2010, when it was replaced by the RHS due to changes in the UK accreditation system. Due to popular demand from students, we continue to offer this as a 'foundation certificate' examined and awarded by ACS Distance Education in Australia (it no longer holds any endorsement from the RHS).

Sales Skills for Garden Centres

A course for anyone who works in a garden centre

Sales skills are crucial for the success of any business. Fine hone your nursery sales skills with this course written with the input of industry professionals who identified a need in this area.

There is more to working in a garden centre or retail nursery than knowing about plants - that is just the starting point. Sales skills are skills that help you to 'open a sale' i.e. how to approach a customer, how to identify a need and offer solutions that will suit them and also most importantly how to 'close a sale'.

Learn how to sell plants, fertilisers, pots and potting mixes and all types of other garden products with this 20 hour course.

Lots of suggested activities throughout, self asessment tests at the end of each lesson with a longer test at the end. If you pass you can download your certificate online!

Starting a Small Business

Learn how to start a gardening, landscaping or horticultural business

Learn under the guidance of a professional business expert to plan and initiate development of a business venture. A large percentage of small businesses fail within the first two years. Make sure your business isn't one of them! This course can help you make sure it won't be.

There are two parts to the course: in the first part, you learn about how to run a business. The second part involves either you starting a business (this may be very small, or larger), or reviewing the running of an established business. Over several lessons, your tutor will guide you through several stages which assess, analyze and improve operations in this 'real life' situation.

Twelve lessons cover marketing, planning, budgeting, reviewing progress, improving profit and more. Give yourself the best chance to succeed in a new business.