I just thought it would be interesting.

We have a family run pot in pot tree wholesale tree nursery.... shade trees and other ornamental trees.

After dealing with one particular contractor this morning I would have better luck having a flock of geese fly out of his butt than to have him show up on time with the correct materials.

And...new entrepeneur. Urban gardener. Small back yards, widow boxes, sidewalk planters, balcony & rooftop gardens. Basic design, purchasing & planting, irrigation installation (simple do-it-yourself types). Some maintenance. Whatever I can get as a new gardener here in the city.

Lately I've been doing mostly pruning, some planting design.

Going back to school at the ripe age of... third child entering college.... to learn landscape design.

Hey Deb Join the club at the ripe age of 43. Never too old or too long in the tooth. (Teeth if more then one exist):) whcih I do have:)

Kirk

On the side I grow several hard to find plants and sell them online. I would like to sell them wholesale to local nurseries, but the city has a problem with it. Basically, they want to make it hard on anyone that doesn't have $250K to spend on a larger business. I do this because I like it. I do a little better than break even. If at some point I can sell more than I can propagate I may look into renting/leasing space for a small greenhouse operation.

It's actually a lot more fun than it sounds! All the benefits of having thousands of "houseplants", some huge, without having to fit them in my house. All of the pleasures of gardening all day, without having to deal with sun, heat, snow, rain, etc.

One of my favorite benefits is that I spend minimal time dealing with clients. I mostly stick to plant care and let the office staff deal with the clients. I find that the plants tend to be much more rational and complain a whole lot less than some clients do!

Doing too much at once, but loving it.

I'd trade a few years of experience for more youth, however.

Full time in a land planning office (Falmouth) that can find me doing a lot more civil engineering than landscape design. A lot of the landscape design is conservation revegetation or mitigation. Some of it is ornamental. Some of it is getting people out of jams from their illegal alteration of wetland buffers (usually cutting trees or shrubs for a view). It is a small office where we all do everything and each of the licensed people check the work of the others, but might work on the entire project without anyone else drawing on it. Some projects are condominium developments, affordable housing, banks, police stations, fire stations, and a lot of big homes, many of which include the razing of the old one (add in the conservation issues on waterfront houses). The closer to the ocean, the more the land is worth, the more the owner feels the house has to justify the lot, the more wetland resources,....

On Saturdays I do plans for a high end landscaper (Orleans)at the othe end of the Cape. That is lots of stonework, custom pools, large homes, lots of plants, and not a lot of budgetary woes. And the engineers already have the work limits permitted (usually). The limiting factor is that I have to work within the style of the company, but it is very much in context with the market it is in.

Wetlands regulations in my area are growing a cottage industry that moves a lot of money.

Landscaping is a diverse field as I always say. But you may be surprised how diverse the landscape design field is as well. It has been an interesting past five years when my career path had a detour when I found myself in a civil engineer's office. I had no idea I'd do what I do. Coming up with strategies to satify the regulations and help the client get what he wants is interesting. I never knew that psychology was actually going to be relevent when it was a requirement in landscape architecture.

My task resume is pretty broad (and everyone likes a pretty broad, irrisistable joke, sorry).

In my sparetime (ha!) I'm a wannabee jazz musician.

All in all this thread has been a fun read.

My usuall response is that I "put the whore in hor-ticulture! if it has anything to do with gardening I'll do it or sell it."

But other than that, it has been quite fun and interesting work. I have a few jobs lined up currently (which I consider to be decent business :P ), but that's mainly because of school and lack of time.

I'm not sure what type of business I plan to have once I get out of university (hopefully for a degree in Landscape Architecture), but one I would like would be with the National Capital Commission (basically a government organization formed to make the Capital attractive). I've heard many graduates from Guelph (where I'm hoping to go) often get contracts with the government for public spaces. But even if I don't work with the government, a small business that brings in enough for a comfortable living would be great. :P

-Audric