Blooming life

Horticulture usually refers to gardening on a smaller scale, unlike agriculture, which involves largescale cultivation of crops.

The lowdown
Horticulture usually refers to gardening on a smaller scale, unlike agriculture, which involves largescale cultivation of crops. A horticulturist is a professional who uses his/her knowledge of the science of plant cultivation. Horticulturists work to improve crop yield, quality, nutritional value, and resistance to insects, diseases and environmental stress. They work and conduct research in the areas of crop production, plant breeding and genetic engineering (cross-breeding of crops), plant biochemistry and plant physiology

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Clock Work
7am: Brief the gardeners and supervisers
9am: Call and meet vendors
1pm: Take a round of the field and perform status check
2pm: Lunch
3pm: Explore the best varieties of seeds and plants
5pm: Last field visit of the day

The payoff
The starting salary is about R12,000 a month as superviser/ horticulturist. At the middle level, which is manager/senior manager, one can earn around R40,000 to R50,000 a month. As a director, the pay package can be as high as R1 lakh a month. The salary also depends on the kind of company and work profile

Skills/TRAITS
. Ability to work hard as the job involves a lot of leg work
. Ability to retain information as you have to deal with plant nomenclature
. Love of the outdoors as you spend most of the time there

Getting There
Study agriculture science at the undergraduate level and specialise in horticulture in masters, from any of the State Universities. A doctorate is mandatory for research. But a postgraduate degree would suffice if your interest lies in consultancy or landscape designing