Economy Flashcards
Briefly describe what is meant by ‘garden tourism’, and outline some of the ways in which this may benefit local economies.
Garden tourism refers to tourism carried out for the primary purpose of visiting gardens open to the public, and to some extent specialist plant nurseries. Since many open gardens are in places where there is often a low level of economic activity, there are clear benefits to employment and increasing local income, most of which will not be directly from the gardens
but from local hotels, B&Bs, restaurants, souvenir shops, garages etc.
Garden design is a profession that has a variety of
aspects, and can involve several different areas of skill and knowledge. Name and briefly describe THREE of these.
Landscape forming – working with gradients, moving soil to create new planting areas, making ponds etc.
Planting design – selecting and arranging locations for new plants
Hardscaping – designing, selecting materials and overseeing construction of paved surfaces and other features which use stone and concrete
Name and briefly describe THREE types of business
involved in commercial plant production, and explain how they are linked.
Seed suppliers, may grow or may simply distribute, seed. Specialist wholesale distributors usually have contracts with growers all over the world.
- Wholesale nurseries will obtain starter plants or propagating material from a variety of sources. For seed-grown plants they would usually buy their seed from a wholesale seed distributor. They grow plants in large quantities for sale to businesses that need lots of plants.
- Garden centres sell plants to retail customers. They buy nearly all of their plants from wholesale nurseries. Garden centre chains may be linked to a wholesale nursery company, but they will inevitably buy plants in from various sources.
List THREE of the skill areas involved in garden
maintenance which might be thought of as more
‘advanced’. How might someone learn and gain
experience in these areas, in order to advance
professionally and increase their earning power?
Propagation.
Pruning.
Wild flower meadow making and management.
Subjects like this are frequently included in the programmes of ‘garden schools’ or those colleges that have outreach programmes, or organisations
like the RHS. It is often possible to attend a day workshop, if time can be arranged, and the day is affordable. Courses with some sort of certification to
show that you have completed it, are especially valuable.
Online sources are increasingly useful for self-taught training. Videos on You Tube are especially good for practical and very physical skills like pruning, and
are a much better medium than the traditional book.
Specialist propagation and pruning techniques may not always be covered in online videos, which tend to be quite basic. So books are still useful, particularly reference books, often older ones.
In some cases, and wildflower meadow making/management is a good example, suppliers (seed supplier in this case) will often provide detailed
information in their seed catalogue or website.
How much did ornamental hort contribute to the GDP in 2017
£24.2 billion contribution to national GDP
figures are not just the sales of plants and garden-related products but also the contribution of garden tourism
How many jobs were supported by ornamental hort in 2017
568,700 jobs
landscaping has about half the jobs and retail
about a quarter.
figures are not just the sales of plants and garden-related products but also the contribution of garden tourism
What are the ‘ornamental horticultural industries
Supply of garden goods
Ornamental plant production
Wholesale of garden products and flowers
Retail sales of garden products, plants and cut flowers
Landscape services
Arboriculture
Garden tourism
Define supply of garden goods
industries manufacturing gardening tools and
equipment, garden ornaments and furniture, fertilisers and agrochemicals, garden structures like fences, sheds and greenhouses.
What is ornamental plant production
Growers and sellers of all ornamental plants,
including bulbs and live Christmas trees
Traditionally, this sector has been divided between seed producers, large-scale plant producers and
smaller specialist nurseries, along with specialist producers of other ornamental plant material, such as cut flowers and Christmas trees.
What are Wholesale of garden products and flowers
The suppliers of garden products who buy from producers and then distribute to the retailers who sell
to the public or to other businesses.
What are the Retail sales of garden products, plants and cut flowers
This covers a range of businesses that sell plants and garden-related products, whether through nurseries, garden centres, DIY stores, supermarkets and other general retail
outlets.
what comprises landscape services
The companies that build and maintain landscapes for local and national government, corporate owners and private households, including landscape architects and designers, and those involved in the
implementation and construction of these schemes.
What is aboriculture
Tree-related activities, including forest management, as well as urban trees, tree surgeons etc.
tree maintenance and felling, as well as the planting and management side of forestry.
There were around 20,900 workers engaged in
arboricultural activities during 2017
What is garden tourism
International and domestic visitors to parks and gardens as well as all the economic boosts for small businesses: hotels, restaurants, transportation, gift shops etc.
It is about jobs and every job created creates further jobs in terms of what that person is able to consume, and of course, tax revenue. On all of these levels, horticulture can be a big earner.
Tourism spending, especially in more remote areas, can also benefit small businesses: bed and breakfasts, cafés, craft shops and of course nurseries.
Garden tourism has a great role to play in regional economies.
Ornamental plant production and retail now?
Originally local nurseries close to cities and towns,
produced for their local market.
Now specialist nurseries, which concentrate
on a particular range of plants, often of interest primarily to garden enthusiasts; concentrate
on a particular range of plants, the internet has been a boon to them, enabling them to sell far more widely, reviving what was once an important part of the nursery industry – mail order.
EX: Cuttings in East Africa rooted, and seedlings grown by plug producers, who then sell on trays of young plants to growers who ‘finish’ the plants,
Belgium/Netherlands: notably in bulb and young plant production. The cut flower trade is also dominated by Dutch growers.
HOWEVER: carbon footprint cutting into these trades.
How much does the sale of ornamental plants in the UK support the GDP in 2017?
£1.35 billion were produced and sold
Production supported around 15,700 jobs
Garden centres and other retail outlets, including the cafes and other non-horticultural merchandise retailers they host directly supported 84,800
jobs – 2.9 percent of the UK’s retail workforce that year.
Garden centres’ own employment totalled an estimated 48,700 people.
spending with the UK’s general retailers helped to support a further 36,100 job
What difficulties do garden centers face and how do they deal with it?
75% of business occurs in March/April
developing other ranges of products to sell (even to those that go to the centers, despite not being gardeners)
‘garden’ in garden centres gets diluted, and businesses that in any case have a poor reputation
for knowing about the products they sell, are under pressure to further dilute their core business.
Just under half the income generated by selling garden related products comes through non-specialist shops; meanwhile it shows that garden centres get around 40% of their income from selling non-garden goods – reflecting the trend for garden centres to diversify their sources of income.
What are the advantages of regional flower shows?
Shop windows for customers
direct plant sales at these events are the focus
interact with knowledgeable nursery staff from many different parts of the country in one place
What do people spend the most on in ornamental hort in order?
Cut flowers
Garden plants/trees
Garden furniture
Sheds
Lawnmowers
Compost
Seeds
BBQ’s
Fertilizers
Power tools
Pots and containers
Hand tools
Greenhouses
What does garden maintenance and landscaping include in the category?
individual self-employed and part-time gardeners as well as the employees of large amenity horticulture companies and gardeners at private
estates.
groundsmen and greenkeepers who are retained by other firms and public sector bodies.
It is also hard to quantify because it merges
with what could be described as countryside and environmental management – the care of semi-natural and natural environments.
It was estimated (in 2017) that there were 196,300 workers across the UK in this sector
What are other forms of employment in the landscape sector and are they good?
landscaping professionals within firms that plant and manage green spaces as part of broader service contracts, or those that work within construction companies that design and prepare green space around housing developments, employees of central and local government bodies who carry out landscaping work, as well as workers retained by other businesses to tend to and maintain their grounds.
They are poorly trained “mow and blow” people who use the same plants and trim too often. Impacts on the sustainability of the and biodiversity.
Repetitive and unnecessary mowing of grass and trimming of shrubs are two activities that need a
particularly harsh light shone on them.
Define silviculture
planting, growing and management of trees , whether in natural or planted forests, or in tree nurseries
What is the National Garden Scheme
Started in 1927
aim of “opening gardens of quality, character and interest to the public for charity”;
the scheme has raised over £60 million since it began, and now opens thousands of gardens a year.
Gardens have played an important, and increasing role in heritage tourism
What is heritage tourism?
At the larger end they tend to be part of a wider heritage business – a castle or stately home nearly
always has a garden attached.
Visiting gardens is a major hobby in the UK,
and heritage gardens attract tourists from all over the world.
There are major multiplier effects: hotels, restaurants, gift shops etc. all benefit and provide employment.
What tops the list of places people visit in Britain
Parks and Gardens
Followed by:
Museums/Art galleries
Castles/historic houses
Religious buildings
Countryside/villages
Theatre
Coast
National Park
Festivals
What is the difference between horticulture and agriculture?
There is no clear distinction
Originally small local producers sold. Then went to supermarkets and small producers faded.
Now, organic, local farmers markets are reappearing due to taste and quality.
Climate change and the disruptions it will cause, is only likely to increase the importance of this sector.
How much does Britain produce in the way of food?
Britain currently (2021) produces around 56% of the vegetables we consume and 16% of the fruit.
There is much media discussion about
increasing the proportion of homegrown produce, largely because of a desire to reduce ‘food miles’.
The expanding local food production sector inevitably
benefits. This could well be a very important area for future horticultural employment and expertise.
Integration: How does this help you in hort?
Horticulture and the associated landscape industries play a major, but under-appreciated role in national life. Imagine if there was no-one to cut grass, manage damage trees, or tend parks and roadsides!
What is a ‘fine textured’ economy?
one where there is a lot going on at a local level, with a high degree of differentiation between different businesses, and close integration between suppliers of products and services and consumers.
Much of horticulture is like this, and has the capacity
to be more so. It offers an enormous amount of scope for small business and new initiatives at neighbourhood level.
What other metrics are used to consider the value of horticulture with regard to the economy?
social inclusion
increased biodiversity
reduced crime (less cost to society)
improved health and wellbeing (less cost to NHS) (stress reducing)
Growing own veggies (financial benefit)
jobbing out gardening (supports low income - less burden to society)
