The Horticulture and Garden Centre Operations Vocational Program prepares individuals for the profession of a horticultural worker.

Horticultural workers operate in various environments, including private landscaping and maintenance companies, municipal services, garden centres, nurseries, non-profit organizations, large gardens, etc.

The tasks involved in landscaping and maintenance include, among others, receiving plants and inputs, preparing soils and substrates, planting and maintaining plants, preparing and applying phytosanitary products, designing planting plans, and opening and closing gardens. The landscaping projects carried out are diverse and may include, for example, landscape gardens, vegetable gardens, flower beds, landscaping with a focus on food production, pollinator gardens, permaculture gardens, medicinal gardens, indoor gardens, green walls, or mosaiculture. These plants may be grown in the ground or in containers.

In the garden centre sector, the work generally involves receiving merchandise, presenting plants and horticultural products, maintaining plants, monitoring and maintaining the sales area, advising customers, and selling plants and horticultural products. Some individuals may also perform tasks related to plant production.

To perform their tasks, horticultural workers use electric and gasoline-powered tools (rototillers, tillers, hedge trimmers, mechanical brooms, leaf blowers, etc.), as well as manual tools (shovels, spreaders, wheelbarrows, rakes, trowels, pruning shears, hoes, etc.).

The job requires the ability to work in a team with good communication skills and with customers and community members.