It is a valid question despite it seeming simple to answer. But perhaps it is not such a simple question. According to Merriam-Webster, the verb to landscape means to modify or ornament by altering the plant cover of a natural landscape. Gardening, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is an activity or pastime of planning and cultivating gardens. Of course both of these definitions simplify the concepts of the words down to very basic not helpful meanings. As a client deciding if I needed a Landscaper or a Gardener, Merriam-Webster would not have helped me decide.
There are so many variations on what kind of skill, knowledge and character, you may encounter when seeking a Landscaper or a Gardener. There is also a wide spectrum of quality in businesses that offer landscaping services. I worked for many small landscaping/gardening companies and two corporations before starting my own business. I interviewed with many business owners from different backgrounds related and not related to the industry. And, I have met many individuals who identified themselves as Gardeners or Landscapers, including those who as children mowed their neighbors’ lawns. Like contractors, plumbers, electricians, and all service industries the range of character you could get when you hire a professional varies a lot.
Categories of Landscapers
Landscape Architects are a degree based title of professionally due to the need to be able to use computer programs like CAD, which is also used in other formats of architecture to produce scaled images and plans that can be given to a contractor who will have people install the plan. Often the installation process is done by the same people building the building, general laborers.
The architect and the contractor do not usually have any backgrounds in the sciences related to growing and maintaining plants, few ever touch soil. A Landscape architect will design a very structured image of an idea of a landscape. They tend to be expensive because they have the academic title to be able to sell as some type of elevated sense of knowing, but from my experience as a laborer maintaining their gardens, they always forget plants grow. I can’t tell you how many expensive landscape architects have placed large trees and shrubs in front of windows and too close to the foundation of a house, only resulting in structural issues to the home later, because they simply forgot to consider, plants grow.
Landscape designers are similar to landscape architects in that they have an artistic background versus a science background. They may or may not use CAD and usually stick to the principles of what grows best in shade or sun, and are limited by that criteria due to the way landscape design is taught in higher education programs, as if it is an abstract art for the academic mind to ponder instead of a practical tactile science that requires getting dirty over many seasons to really be able to design.
Some designers do their own installs, like myself. Some designers were once laborers like myself, and so they have a bit of a better understanding, but I have met too many designers who used the title as a status symbol of career and when such an ego is involved in making life grow, there tends to be a high budget and a low rate of a successful design. Often the biggest mistake made by designers is not taking into consideration the long term cost of care of a garden and how much input is necessary weekly to keep the garden looking like the original design.
Mowers and blowers are usually the teams of men who do not have any academic background in land care or design, but are hired as efficient labor. They mow the lawns and blow the leaves. They do not tend to be the companies to hire to do pruning, often they prune at the wrong time and the wrong way which has also earned them the title of Hackers and Slashers. There is an unfortunate attitude among these companies that knowledge is not necessary, just do the job. Don’t think, just do. All shrubs and trees require pruning at different seasonal points of the year based on their growth patterns and flowering time. I have seen many large old shrubs be hacked down to nothing when the client asked for a trim. , mowers and blowers are not the guys you go to to have your perennial garden looking beautiful year round. They are labor, not skill. They are hard working and efficient broad stroke workers that are perfect for leaf clean ups in the fall and regularly scheduled mowing visits.
When having a new lawn installed, be judicious in interviewing companies. There is a misconception that creating a lawn is just about putting down grass seed, but the perfect lawn requires lots of chemicals. Without the knowledge and experience, a mow and blow company might sell you a lawn that ends up killing off your perennial garden because they did not think ahead about the slope of the land and the chemicals running into the garden beds. Any mower and blower who tries to sell you a lawn or a pruning in October or November, just say No. In New England, this is too late for those processes to be occurring and they are just trying to make money.
Arborists and Tree Service Companies are the highly skilled professionals you call to take care of your trees. I, as a small company with limited knowledge on trees, can prune trees up to 12ft, which is what most trained Horticulturists, Gardeners and Landscape companies will offer. Hackers and Slashers, and some random dude with a chainsaw should not be the characters you hire for tree work. Trees need to be pruned in very specific ways and often at specific times in the year to prevent a series of cuts killing off a whole tree and becoming a more expensive tree removal project. Tree care is a very high liability sector of the industry and the guy with the chainsaw, or the Hackers and Slashers might be cheaper than the Arborist or the Tree Service Company, but if the branch falls on your car, house or on them, they most likely won’t have the insurance to cover the problem without problem to you. Always ask for proof of insurance when having tree work done.
The Chemical Companies are the Pesticide, Herbicide and Fungicide Applicators who are often recommended by a landscaping company, if they don’t offer the service themselves, when your garden is facing an insect infestation, fungus or disease. Unfortunately, most of these applications lead to longer term issues for the soil system your plants are growing in and are a money making industry. They spray once and then have your garden on a schedule of being sprayed with chemicals that are actually making your garden’s immune system and their ability to fend off insect infestations, fungus and disease on their own. Creating new problems that then are treated with more chemicals. There are better ways to deal with unhealthy gardens. If you notice your garden struggling or being eaten by an insect, start by fertilizing with an organic slow release complex fertilizer. Make sure water is sufficient for that species, and that it is living in the right environment. Most common issue of a dying plant is “wrong plant, wrong place”. Or call a horticulturist.
Horticulturist is an academic title with greater science involved in their education. Currently the system of education surrounding horticulture is much like agriculture where the diagnosis of an ecological issue is treated with a mass produced chemical, but there is a certain kind of human that decides to become a horticulturist that predicts the potential of them having a curious and scientific mind when it comes to designing and nurturing the ailments of your garden. Horticulturists study plant physiology, genetics, ecology and soil science to different degrees. Their experience in the field will vary and occasionally because of their heady nature, they have a lackadaisical attitude towards efficiency of labor skills. They often do more consulting than manual labor, but when it comes to understanding what is really going on in the garden on many levels of life existing, they are the best option in the industry to date.
Botany is the study more so of the nomenclature of plant phylogeny (categorization of plant species). I once worked for a woman who could name every plant by its scientific and common name, but she could not keep a garden alive and often forgot to have irrigation installed when planting thousands of dollars of material in the heat of mid July. Under her guidance, I realized I wanted to understand who each of the plants were and how they behaved under different circumstances and then I would learn their names. Botany was a field of antiquity when there was a world of plants to name and discover under the explorative and colonial mindsets of civilizations prior to our own. We can thank many famous botanists for their introduction of invasive species to our gardens and natural ecosystems.
The Gardeners
From my experience, companies that label themselves Landscapers tend to be more male dominated in labor force and management, whereas Gardening Companies are more diverse in genders, ages, and backgrounds. There may be a stigma of confidence or perhaps it is a marketing ploy to acquire the kinds of clients they hope to serve. Many of the smaller female owned gardening businesses I interviewed with when I first entered the industry were owned by women who’s husbands had suggested they open landscaping businesses because they loved gardening and were suffering from empty nest syndrome. I avoided working for these women, who would share this information in an interview, because I knew that meant they might not have a background in running a business efficiently enough to be a long term investment. I also worked with many of these women when working for other companies. Oddly, it was always women that presented themselves as Gardeners or Master Gardeners( meaning they did some program online or once a week for a few months). They did not understand that playing in your own garden is not the same as working as a gardener professionally. When the client is paying and the garden is large, efficiency is more important than the dedicated attention to trimming every flower petal on one flower for an hour. As a foreman, I was labeled abrasive when trying to help these women understand the role and goal of the day’s work.
Perennial Gardens, meaning gardens with plants that return after the winter and continue to grow and flower year after year, require a level of attention and knowledge that many landscape companies cannot address, or they don’t have the patience and knowledge to address. This is where a Gardener is important. They should have a level of efficiency necessary as a business but also a nature of patient attention to detail that allows for continuous blooms throughout the season and conscious consideration to helping the garden thrive. Gardeners will often care for more than just the Perennial Garden. They may also offer Annual Container or Inground Design Installments. Gardeners are associated within the industry with doing more of the artistic beautification of a garden, perhaps because they tend to have more flowers to care for. Gardeners, like Horticulturists, often come from a passionate perspective and are eager to learn all the pieces to the puzzle that make a garden thrive.
Ultimately, whether someone has labeled themselves as a Gardener or a Landscaper is irrelevant if you know the services you need and feel confident they have expressed the ability to communicate their skill level and understanding of the task presented. Always seek a professional who enjoys talking about their craft and explaining how and why they do what they do, to you the client. Those of us in the industry that really love what we do, do the research, we pay attention to the successes and failures in our own work and others because we are obsessed with the ability to create gardens and landscapes that thrive.