Horticulturists are professionals involved in the growing, selling, and maintenance of plants for indoor and outdoor use. Some specialize in plants indigenous to Southern Africa. They seek to beautify cities, towns or suburbs and provide better recreation facilities. It requires a lot of research in the field to understand the conditions under which plants grow.
Horticulturists’ work can be divided into different spheres:
Commerce: plants are propagated and seeds produced for marketing by nurseries and in greenhouses or hothouses.
Parks and decorative areas: a park administrator concerned with layouts and cultivation of plants in landscapes, parks and public gardens and also with the beautifying of areas such as pavements and entrances of towns and cities, areas adjacent to freeways and railway stations.
Conservation: Horticulturists / Specialist Horticulturists / Curators of Botanical Gardens work in association with scientists and develop plant collections from all over Southern Africa to get to know how to conserve them, grow them and develop an appreciation for indigenous plants.
Supplementary products: as researchers, advisers, or salespeople of chemicals, fertilisers and horticultural products / elements.
Research: involved with the development of improved varieties of plants. Horticulturist scientists, those with university degrees in horticulture, are the most likely to work for various agricultural research institutes conducting research on vegetables, fruit and flowers as well as on grape and wine preparation.
They also work on environmental and pest control and some work on improving and cultivating plant varieties, hybrids.
Horticulturists often work with engineers, landscape architects, environmental conservationists and town planners. They could provide plant decorations for functions and offices or be involved in the creation of recreational areas such as botanical gardens, nature reserves and hiking trails, where people can relax or exercise, and also for research, conservation and the education of the public. They may contribute to the conservation of the environment through the provision of green zones, the establishment of vegetation in certain areas and soil stabilisation.
Horticulturist work mainly outdoors, at research institutes, production farms, nurseries, parks and botanical gardens, and in conservation areas where they might propagate rare and endangered plants, including those used for traditional healing.