Sales gardener

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In Germany, a gardener is referred to as a plant consultant or sales gardener who has focused on "consulting and sales" in his training. This is currently only possible in the ornamental plant cultivation , tree nursery and , in some cases, perennial nursery . The "sales gardener" is an additional qualification, but not a separate specialist area, although separate specialist classes are formed during the training.

Training in this new focus first began in 2000 as a pilot project in North Rhine-Westphalia as a reaction to the increasing number of garden centers , horticultural nurseries and purely retail nurseries without in-house production. Another goal was to increase the number of trainees interested in the gardening profession.

The current form of training is a compromise due to the reservations expressed by various parties, such as:

  • Florists fear an approximation of their sales-related job description and therefore oppose the inclusion of floristic activities in the curriculum.
  • Gardeners see the danger that if they do without basic horticultural knowledge, horticultural expertise and flexibility of use will suffer or non-specialist salespeople will compete.
  • If the learning of plant production were foregone, some fear a loss of certain tax advantages of the previous classification of horticulture in the agricultural economy.

In Germany, it is currently only possible in the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria. As with all gardeners, the training lasts three years. Just like all other disciplines, sales gardeners learn the basics of horticulture, including the production and propagation of plants in their specialist field. Therefore, sales gardeners cannot complete their full training time in companies without their own production (such as garden centers or the like). The training companies must prove to their Chamber of Agriculture that they can provide training in the entire occupational profile; if necessary, inter-company training partnerships can be concluded with production companies.

The specialization essentially begins in the second year of training.

Sales gardeners learn there much more intensively than others:

There are also differences in the horticultural subjects: sales gardeners acquire knowledge of plants not only from their respective fields, but from all horticultural fields. Sales gardeners can then advise customers on plants from all areas. Since they have also learned about plant production, after their training they can not only be used in garden centers or other sales areas, but in all specialist areas.

It is also possible, after completing gardening training and two years of professional experience, to take a six to eleven month advanced training course (in full-time form) including an internship in direct sales companies with a subsequent chamber examination as a certified customer consultant horticulture ; Such courses are also offered outside of Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia.

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