Money could grow on Trees

If you've got green thumb, you could transform your passion for gardening into a full-fledged profession. After all, landscape gardening is now a lucrative career option. Since a landscape garden designer has to spend hours outdoors, you need to have the stamina and be ready to take on some amount of physical work. "You should also have the creativity of an artist and the flair of a designer," says Anjani mehta, environmentalist and owner of Veena nursery. "You must possess some basic knowledge about the cultivation of plants (indoor and outdoor), variety of soil, pruning, trimming, propagation, seedling transplantation, use of fertilisers and insecticides, et al."

Obviously, the more knowledge you have, the better. For instance, many offices keep indoor plants to beat stress. One such plant is chlorophytum, which if placed between oneself and the computer screen, absorbs the harmful rays emitted by the monitor. "Little nuggets like this make all the difference between a good landscape artist and not such a good one," says Mehta. An aesthetic sense is essential as also good communication skills - after all you will be working with a team and for someone whose wishes you have to translate effectively. At the same time you also need to be aware of the environment.

"With the threat of global warming looming large, there is a growing awareness about greenery," says Bharat Soni, founder of Go Green Academy of Garden and Nursery Management. "Malls and multiplexes are including landscapes as part of their elevation plans to pep up the ambience. Townships want to boast of gardens within their clusters of shadeless concrete structures. Residential complexes get a unique selling point by projecting the greenery in and around their premises. Corporate centres portray their concern for the environment by bringing in trees, plants, and lawns," he adds. In other words, gardening could be a lucrative profession. Surely, their is money growing on trees.

List of Agricultural Diploma Courses :
Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University, Nasik - Diploma in Landscape Gardening and Master of LA) to graduates in architecture, civil engineering and town planning.
The Punjab Agricultural University, (Department of Floriculture and Landscaping) It is available as undergraduates and postgraduates.
National Institute of Small Industry Extension Training, (NISIET) Hyderabad - The Interiors and Landscape Design ( A PG Diploma).