Trade Programs: Landscape Technician

For more information about this trade, contact the training co-ordinator.

What does a Landscape Technician do?

A landscape technician studies, grows, tends and transplants flowers, shrubbery, trees and other plants, and performs various landscape construction duties.

Many landscape technicians work mainly outdoors on a seasonal basis landscaping grounds around commercial, industrial, residential and other establishments. Another important job requirement is the study of conditions affecting plant growth. Also, because many plants are grown in controlled environments, landscape technicians often ply their trade indoors in greenhouses. As a landscape technician, you can expect to perform a variety of tasks, which include:

• designing and developing landscape plans to suit prospective sites and clients
• surveying sites and altering them to correspond with landscape plans
• hauling and spreading topsoil, analyzing soils and applying fertilizers and other soil enrichments
• cultivating trees, shrubs, flowers, grasses and other plants from seeds and/or bulbs
• caring for plants and grounds by sod-laying, mowing, watering, fertilizing, pruning, and trimming as well as by applying herbicides and pesticides as required
• maintaining stock and facilities in greenhouses and at garden retail centres
• advising customers and clients on plant materials and landscaping products
• constructing walkways, fences, decks and outbuildings
• installing and maintaining irrigation systems
• propagating plants by budding, grafting and other means

What skills/abilities are required?

Your own keen interest in plants and gardens is perhaps the best indicator. As well, if you enjoy work that requires varied duties, wish to use your creative skills and have some interest in applied science, you will find it rewarding to pursue an apprenticeship in this trade. A willingness to undertake physically demanding work out-of-doors is also beneficial to the skills required in this trade. You should also be aware that the availability of outdoors work in this trade varies seasonally.

If your employer’s operation is more oriented to studying conditions that most favour plant growth, you might expect to work outdoors less often. Plant studies require the ability to observe and record information accurately, as well as a capacity for digesting and applying technical/scientific materials.

A landscape technician requires the following:

• an interest in plants and gardens
• creativity
• willingness to undertake physically demanding work, often outdoors

How long is the apprenticeship program?

The apprenticeship for a landscape technician is four years of four levels. Practical and technical training is a minimum of 1500 hours per level. About 80 per cent of the time is spent learning practical on-the-job skills under the supervision of a certified journeyperson and 20 per cent consists of learning the theoretical and technical aspects of the trade through in-school training.

What is taught during in-school/technical training?

The technical training program consists of:

• plant taxonomy
• plant growth and maintenance
• small engine maintenance
• hydraulics
• disease and pest control
• drafting and blueprint reading
• carpentry, masonry and concrete
• irrigation
• greenhouse operation
• landscape and greenhouse design and principles
• golf course operation
• communications and public relations
• tendering and estimating

What is the supervision ratio?

As experience comprises the bulk of apprenticeship training, it is essential that each apprentice has on-site access to a skilled journeyperson and receives the attention and guidance necessary to perform the tasks of the trade safely and efficiently.

For every apprentice working in this trade, the employer is required to maintain a 1:1 ratio of apprentices to journeypersons on-site and must ensure that the apprentice is directly supervised by a certified journeyperson in the trade.

What are the entrance requirements?

Senior Years Apprenticeship Option: Begin your apprenticeship training in high school. A minimum age of 16 years in required.

General Admission: A Grade 12 or equivalent high school academic standing is required including a recommended course in Biology. If you are 19 years or older and do not hold a high school diploma, you can also qualify as a Mature Student. Prior Learning Recognition and Assessment may be required.

Trades Qualification: If you are experienced in the trade, but do not hold a Certificate of Qualification, you may become a certified journeyperson based on years of proven industry experience and successful completion of the Red Seal Examination. A Trades Qualification Application and trade specific work experience form must be submitted. Trades professionals whose entrance readiness is less than that required, must take appropriate upgrading.

For additional details on entrance requirements and how to begin your apprenticeship or obtain certification, see section on "How to Start".

Do I get a certificate?

When you successfully complete your apprenticeship training with a minimum mark of 70 per cent standing in all subject areas, you receive a provincial Certificate of Qualification confirming your status as a journeyperson.

What salary can I expect as an apprentice?

The Manitoba Landscape Technician Trade Regulation states that apprentices while not attending technical school shall receive no less than the provincial minimum wage plus:

• 10 per cent during level one
• 25 per cent during level two
• 35 per cent during level three
• 45 per cent during level four

Apprentices who work for unionized employers are entitled to the wage rate in the collective agreement if this rate exceeds the pay rates specified in the trade regulation.

Employers may also provide other benefits such as group insurance for health, dental and vision care and training benefits. In total, the value of the benefits can range from 20 per cent to 30 per cent over and above the basic hourly pay rate.

Current wage details are available by downloading the training wage schedule

What are my career prospects?

Landscape technicians may find employment in landscape construction, nurseries, greenhouses, garden centres, yard and tree care, golf courses, public parks, cemeteries and in many other horticulture and gardening-related fields. Trade beginners generally find that their prospects for steady work improve with experience. Experienced landscape technicians can expect above-average incomes.