As our Landscape Specialist Scheme has been attracting members since 2015.. If you're a garden maintenance professional and haven't joined yet, then take a look at the benefits for your business.
Promoting the industry together
In 2017, we introduced our ‘Better together’ initiative at Futurescape. Our vision was to bridge the gap between hard and soft landscaping. Award-winning horticulturalist Jamie Butterworth also joined us for a stint as a consultant to help share skills across the industry.
Since then, we’ve worked hard to encourage a united horticultural industry, with the transfer of skills and promotion of understanding between hard and soft landscapers. It’s become clear that a vital part of increasing the regard in which the profession is held lies in ensuring that the importance of garden maintenance is promoted and recognised.
“We feel that horticulturists don’t get the credit they deserve and aren’t seen as important as they should be,” says Director Steve Walley. “Including garden maintenance as a category to the Landscape Specialist Scheme highlights their importance. Suppliers, landscapers, horticulturists - without one, the whole industry is poorer.”
The importance of garden maintenance
With the garden increasingly regarded as an extension of living space, it’s not entirely surprising that sometimes people forget that it needs a bit more attention than an indoor room, where a quick dust, vacuum and tidy restores its freshness.
Claire Vokins is one professional gardener who is determined to see her profession recognised by industry associations and, in turn, have its value increased in the eyes of the public.
As Claire says, “In time you will need to feed your garden and add water; regularly. You will need to clean the hard-landscaping areas and at regular intervals determined by the plants you will need to dead head, cut back, prune as well as many other tasks as-and-when required.” For many home-owners, taking time and skills into account, it’s just not possible to maintain the standard they see when the garden design is first complete.
If you're wondering if you need expert garden maintenance, take a look at Why You Need a Professional Gardener.
Are you already a Landscape Specialist Scheme member?
If you’re already a member of our Landscape Specialist Scheme and also offer garden maintenance as a service, then make sure that you've added this category to your company profile. Back in 2019, when we opened up the scheme to this side of the profession, Butterworth Horticulture was our first member to sign up under Garden Maintenance. Take a look to see how your LSS profile page could look.
Not a member yet?
If you’re not yet a member, there's really no reason not to sign up. Taking a free business page on our website adds a good whack to your SEO credentials. With our high domain authority status, a link from us to your website can help raise you up the search rankings. “For quite small operators,” says Steve, “this is a way of getting or enhancing a digital profile.” And adding your business to the scheme will also help members of the public to see garden maintenance professionals on an equal footing with landscapers and garden designers.
Don’t forget that for every new member we donate £10 split between Perennial and Greenfingers - two highly relevant and worthwhile charities. For more information and to sign up for free membership, visit our Landscape Specialist Scheme.
Post updated: July 2024
