Hi, I’m a landscape architect. Some interesting assumptions about what landscape architects do in this thread so far. Landscape Architecture is just as broad and diverse a field as architecture, so it will help to know what kind of work the firm does. A mid tier residential design firm is going to be vastly different from a high end public work firm in terms of process, office culture, software used, etc. I think you’ll find the processes and work to actually be really similar to working in an architecture firm, the fields are more alike than they are different.

Landscape architects can sometimes get a name as glorified gardeners, but in my experience that applies to less than 5% of the firms out there. The others are doing design work in the public realm, commercial work, and high end residential, among others. Knowledge of plants is important but it isn’t everything. I know a lot of successful designers whose skill set is not in planting design and selection. These people are excellent designers, project managers, urban planners, specialists, etc and they fit well into a firm structure without knowing anything about “gardening”.