If you were considering a career change or helping a youngster to consider a career path, we suspect that few of you unless you were involved in the interior landscaping industry would use this term to look for information.
In fact, despite the recent increased popularity of houseplants, we doubt that many of the general public have even heard of the interior landscaping industry.

Surprisingly it is recognise by Google:
What do you mean by interior landscaping?
Interior landscapers design and care for plants in enclosed spaces like offices, restaurants, hotels, shopping malls and hospitals. It is a fast growing industry, driven in part by research showing indoor plants can bring health benefits like better air quality and generally improve the environment.

And

What do interior landscapers do?
Interior Landscape Job Description

Interior landscaping professionals install and maintain plants indoors in unnatural environments, necessitating special considerations for plant selection, irrigation, fertilization and pest management.

More realistically, we believe that unless you come up with the phrase interior landscaper, any search will not deliver an explanation.

There are some organisations and larger companies linked to the trade which have explanations like BALI and Scotscape and our members such as Urban Planters, Ambius, or phsGreenleaf for example but we suspect it would be luck that would have you find these explanations if you didn't know their names. So this means many people of varying ages could quite easily miss out on the many opportunities our industry offers.

Throughout National Careers Week we will go through some of the career opportunities in interior landscaping.

Interior Landscaping companies
Like all companies, Interior Landscaping companies have a resident team that ensures the company can complete the main core of its business i.e. installing and looking after plants in a variety of buildings. These installations can range from a few plants in the entrance/reception to fully planted indoor garden installations and green walls.

The resident core of these businesses can include sales and customer service departments to marketing departments, delivery drivers, installation teams, designers, and plant technicians. The difference from many other companies is that they are most often dealing with a live product – although artificial plants are used too where conditions won’t allow live plants to thrive.

Plant technicians / Nursery technicians
The plant technicians are the backbone of our industry. These teams care for the plants and make sure they stay healthy and looking good in your business. They ensure that plants are cared for at HQ before being installed and afterward in situ.

Visiting clients where plants are installed is mostly carried out early in the morning to ensure they don’t disrupt the business they’re visiting too much. Plant technicians make sure that the plants are watered and fed as necessary as well as keeping them dust free. They also check for plant problems and infections and treat them as necessary or remove the offending plant so that the disease doesn’t spread.
They need good knowledge of plant care and plant diseases.

What does an interior landscape operations manager do?

David Marriott explains what his role as an Operations Manager involved in some detail. 

• Manage the team - ensure all staff have everything they need to do their jobs to a first-class standard, whether it be maintenance technicians, the delivery team, or nursery staff.
• Planning for future staff and resource requirements.
• Overseeing budgets.
• Correspondence - answer any client questions, prepare and forward quotes or proposals requested, place orders and prepare paperwork for any sales.
• No two days are the same, and there is never a dull moment - it’s certainly not a career where you have time to watch the clock!

David Marriott

Installation teams
Designers work with installation teams to explain what is needed. It can be anything from a few pots and plants to a full-blown planting operation in an atrium or entrance lobby.
Whichever type of design, the installation team will be well briefed so that they know what to take with them.

A few plants
This could be potted statement plants just in reception to plants in pots throughout a building colour coded to differentiate various areas/responsibilities i.e. reception, meeting/conference rooms, hallways etc.

Larger schemes
Larger schemes may need equipment or a team of installation technicians to complete the installation.
If this is a new building, this will happen before the building is occupied but in a building that is already occupied, the installation team will probably work outside of normal office hours to complete this installation.

Depending on the size of this type of installation obviously affects the time necessary to complete this and the number of technicians necessary.

Servicing these schemes
Regular servicing of schemes often takes place early in the morning before offices/centers/hotels etc are officially open.

Designers
The designer holds an important position in the interior landscape trade. He or she works directly with the client to see what they want to achieve, considers the budget and the space available, and then advises on which plants are suitable and how the desired look can be achieved. They also instruct the technicians and oversee the installation of the finished design.

Other roles

At Christmas time to fulfill special Christmas orders, interior landscapers often take on additional staff to install special Christmas designs. In the industry, they are often referred to as 'Christmas Elves.

Supporting roles
Like any business, there are several supporting roles depending on the size of the business from sales and customer service, marketing, delivery drivers, receptionists, and more. Not all of these jobs are customer-facing but as in any business, all are important for the smooth running of the company and satisfied customers.

As you can see there are many avenues to explore in interior landscaping which we hope will tempt some of you.