landscape designer

maintenance crew

associate designer

laborer

floral designer

Calloways Nursery

Working in a nursery is an interesting mix of a relatively laid-back hobby, and potentially high dollar purchases and serious customers. It is not difficult for someone with little or no knowledge of plants and lawn care to catch on, and the company has plenty of resources to teach you, but it is almost entirely driven by your own initiative to do so. Compared to other retail jobs, you're more likely to deal with customers who want to discuss the products for long periods, rather than trying to rush through a large volume. The difficulty and business of the job fluctuates with the seasons. The best thing you can do when starting out is ingratiate yourself with one of the department managers and learn as much as you can directly from them.

Every store has a different culture to some degree, and the general managers can make them a completely different experience from those of other GMs. In my opinion, every one was a mixed bag with different priorities that may or may not make sense. Unfortunately, the erratic nature of seasonal retail made it so available hours, particularly in the summer and winter were barebones; the opportunities for new hires are mainly in the spring and to a lesser extent, the fall.

One of the best things about working at the nursery versus other retail jobs is that each season involves a lot of completely new product, and new priorities for customers, so it is much less repetitive in the long term. However, pay rates have been lagging behind compared to other retail jobs, and since most stores do not have overnight stockers, you can expect to get very physical, especially whenever trees or pottery deliveries arrive.

Your day can be ridiculously stressful and exhausting depending upon your general managers mood or knee jerk reaction to change how something is done. Decisions are made by those who do not actually work in the stores so while it may look good on paper, in reality it increases the workload on the actual worker but provides no compensation financially to account for the added work. Certainly does not take into account the amount of time that will now be needed to achieve the extra work required to make the store run smoothly. 
If in management, pay increases are subject to the general managers discretion and wether or not they think you work hard enough. 
No accounting for cost of living adjustments, which is crazy over the past 3 years. 
New hires are brought in for more each year at starting pay but anyone who has been there for any length of time are not given regular salary increases to account for their continued efforts, dedication and hours to the job. Sometimes going 2-3 years before any kind of increase takes place. 
Managers of stores put in a huge amounts of hours without overtime pay or cost of living adjustments to their salaries year after year. 
No one should have to go 2-3 years without a raise. Appreciation and acknowledgement are best shown through regular increases in pay. Words are very shallow without the $$ to back it up. 
Huge amounts of money flow through these stores annually and the workers in these stores are subject to intense heat, cold, severe weather conditions, truck after truck of product to unload get checked in and displayed without knowing if they will even be recognized through actual raises each year for their continued efforts on a day to day basis. 

On Tuesdays and Fridays i would get the shipments of plants in, so along with customer service I would spend most of the day restocking the tables and reorganizing them as well. On Saturdays I always gave a gardening class at 10:15. They would range on subjects such as maintaining your lawn, to how to create a butterfly and hummingbird garden. The rest of the days I would spend my time really focusing on customer service and making sure my department was clean and organized. I learned a lot working there, after working there for 1 year I became a TCNP (Texas Certified Nursery Professional) then 6 months later I became a TMCNP (Texas Master Certified Nursery Professional). Management was great, very professional but also laid back. always made a point to make customer service our #1 priority. Co-workers were nice, I had the privilege of working with very knowledgeable people who taught me a whole lot through out the years. The hardest part of the job was unfortunately the pay, and the most enjoyable part was working around plants in general. Plants make me happy, especially when customers needed opinions on designing their yards and what soil and plants to use. I loved helping with that.

Typical day at work for a male will include lifting plants and putting them in their location, as well as continuous customer service to help people find the plant they need!
I learned a lot about plants, but it was through the grapevine, there was no training involved. And you could get scolded for not knowing information you were never taught lol
At my location there was one positive and loving manager and one narcissistic anxious one. The narcissist spread their anxiety to all my coworkers every day we worked with them :/ I would pray to only work with manager #1 but they were not the lead. Be cautious.
Hardest part of the job was dealing with that manager and the racism, there are little to no brown skinned or cultured people working with you (only applies to POC)
The most enjoyable part was the purpose I got from helping customers, but some are definitely difficult and entitled. I loved learning about plants, its super interdisciplinary and throughout my daily life I loved recognizing plants and being able to care of my own. (Would never be able to do that without working there)

I enjoyed working there. I got to interact with customers, recommend flowers and plants to grow in their specific yard areas. 
A typical day included the watering and care of all plants under the bedding department section. I learned what plants belonged in what light, the best direction they should be facing, weather or not it gets morning or afternoon sun. 
I was able to participate in teaching classes on various subjects. Everything from roses, how to prune them, when, feeding suggestions and what light they grow best in.
Demonstrations on how to plant a color creation, that's a pot planted with other plants that all require the same light watering needs, and care.
I assisted in stock loss. Arrainging plants on the tables in a orderly manner. Participating in cleaning up and making the floor was clear of hazards.
I cashiered and helped keep the cashiering area clean and full of boxes for plants, making sure customers had all they had been looking for.

The people that work there are beyond passionate and love plants. That’s the only upside to that job. They’ll promote you to positions requiring more responsibility with no pay increase, even if you don’t want the job. They start new people at the same rate some employees have been at for the last decade. You’ll never make a livable wage here, and the occasional discounted plant isn’t worth the compensation. The stores are ALWAYS understaffed, and if you ever have to call out, management will abuse you for it by docking hours/revoking raises/verbally berate you. Corporate is the worst with the highest expectations and zero appreciation for anyone at the store level. You will not get adequate training, they’ll throw you in and hope you last more than two weeks. The customers are entitled and will verbally abuse you and management will never back you up, even if you are threatened because they’re just that greedy of a company. Overall not worth it. 

A typical day at work involved cleaning up all the floors sweeping washing etc, cleaning up deadheading, and watering plants, zoning, assisting customers in plant info, suggestions, purchases, loading vehicles. 
I learned more about the types of diseases and or insect issues that affect plants in hot environments such as TX.
Management was great and very attentive to any needs anyone has.
The culture was hard work but fun, coworkers were great management was great.
The hardest part of the job was sometimes working in adverse weather conditions. 
The most enjoyable part of the job was being able to genuinely impact customers in a positive manner and seeing the results that were often shown to us by customers.

We learn a lot about plants and how to care for them in store. We all get along very well and the atmosphere is great in store. This is all absolutely cancelled out by how horrendous the corporate company is as a whole. In-store employees are treated as expenses to be exploited day in and day out. Nothing ever works in store and it is a pain to get the corporate company to approve buying necessary materials to actually complete our jobs effectively. Corporate buyers constantly waste money on product the stores absolutely do not need, while in-store employees are still severely underpaid for the expectations they have for us.

The work is highly physical for $11 an hour. In spite of a record sales season in the spring, upper management enacted budget cuts that slashed our hours all while jacking up product prices. The result punished loyal workers and customers alike while scaring away new customers. I had to quit because my hours were cut to the point I couldn't pay my bills. The people I worked with were fantastic, and I definitely believe that every single one of them deserve better. 

Basically, if you just need to be busy and active for a little cash, this is a good place for you. 
If you're trying to support yourself, this isn't a good option while scheduling is so uncertain. 

I learned a lot about plant diseases, deficiencies, and insect damage, but the stress isn't worth it. Managers sit around in the office all day on their phones, only occasionally doing work on the computer while their employees need help out on the floor. As a department manager I felt insulted with how little pay I got after going out of my way to get different certifications, and working much harder than I needed to while my managers sat around. There is no respect for your hard work here, better off getting a fast food job where they pay more on entry and get just about as much appreciation.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Landscape designer 2 salaries reported	$52,126 per year
Maintenance crew 2 salaries reported	$47,500 per year
Associate designer 4 salaries reported	$13.50 per hour
Laborer 2 salaries reported	$18.25 per hour
Floral designer 3 salaries reported	$13.50 per hour

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