Growing and designing with plants: nurseries and greenhouses, parks and yards, golf courses and stadium fields, giant trees and tiny flowers.
Top pay: highest pay, longest training
Landscape Company Owner: Runs a business that designs, builds, and maintains yards, commercial properties, and outdoor spaces. Typical pay $110k.
Botanical Garden Director: Leads a botanical garden or arboretum, overseeing plant collections, research, education, and fundraising. Typical pay $115k.
Mid pay: solid pay, degree or apprenticeship
Golf Course Superintendent: Manages everything that grows on a golf course, keeping greens perfect for thousands of rounds a year. Typical pay $100k.
Landscape Architect: Designs parks, campuses, plazas, and green spaces, deciding where paths, plants, water, and buildings go. Typical pay $80k.
Consulting Arborist: Diagnoses tree health, decides if a tree is safe or dangerous, and advises cities, builders, and homeowners. Typical pay $70k.
Sports Turf Manager: Keeps the grass on pro, college, and school sports fields in perfect shape, including those mowing patterns you see on TV. Typical pay $65k.
Greenhouse / Nursery Manager: Runs a commercial greenhouse or nursery that grows flowers, vegetables, or trees for sale. Typical pay $70k.
Vertical Farm / Hydroponic Grower: Grows lettuce, herbs, and berries indoors under LED lights in stacked racks, with no soil. Typical pay $57k.
Landscaping Crew Supervisor: Leads crews that maintain and install landscapes, planning jobs and keeping quality high. Typical pay $57k.
Horticulture Professor: Teaches plant growing at a university and researches crops, landscapes, and greenhouse production. Typical pay $99k.
Horticultural Therapist: Uses gardening to help people heal, from veterans with PTSD to seniors with dementia. Typical pay $63k.
Arboretum Curator: Manages the living plant collection at an arboretum or botanical garden, deciding what to plant, track, and protect. Typical pay $63k.
Starter: fastest way in
Landscape Designer: Designs residential gardens and yards, choosing plants, patios, and layouts (without the full architect license). Typical pay $54k.
Tree Climber / Tree Trimmer: Climbs trees with ropes and harnesses to prune and remove them, often near houses and power lines. Typical pay $50k.
Irrigation Technician: Installs and repairs sprinkler and drip systems for homes, parks, golf courses, and farms. Typical pay $48k.
Public Garden Horticulturist: Cares for the plant collections at a botanical garden, zoo, or estate, including rare and exotic species. Typical pay $47k.
Interior Plantscaper: Designs and maintains indoor plants, living walls, and greenery in offices, malls, hotels, and airports. Typical pay $40k.
Pesticide Applicator: Applies fertilizers, herbicides, and pest treatments to lawns, trees, and crops safely and legally. Typical pay $46k.
Groundskeeper / Landscaper: Mows, plants, mulches, and keeps yards, campuses, parks, and cemeteries looking good. Typical pay $38k.
Floral Designer: Creates flower arrangements for weddings, events, funerals, and everyday gifts. Typical pay $36k.
Garden Center Manager: Runs a garden center, ordering plants, managing staff, and helping customers grow successful gardens. Typical pay $49k.
Nursery & Greenhouse Worker: Plants, waters, and cares for plants grown in greenhouses and nurseries. Typical pay $36k.
Lawn Care Technician: Treats lawns with fertilizer and weed or pest control on a regular route of homes and businesses. Typical pay $46k.
Tree Spade Operator: Drives a truck with giant hydraulic blades that dig up whole trees with their roots and replant them somewhere else in one move. Typical pay $48k.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.