Salary
Average Salary: $23,940
Expected Lifetime Earnings: $999,000
Even though landscape design isn't very lucrative, it's perhaps the most lucrative of the horticultural industries. Unlike the majority of horticultural industries, including those that install and maintain the newly designed landscapes, the landscape design industry is not yet overrun by those who really don't know or care much about what the work requires.
Landscape designers can't profit in this business by pumping out cheap and hastily-slapped-together plans just to make a buck. Eventually, shoddy work catches up with them (as it does for all professionals). As a field, this one is still dominated by those with some degree of education.
However—and that's a big "however"—those starting out may be frustrated by the less-than-exciting pay for draftsmen in big design studios. Yes, the jobs are stable, and often include good benefits, but the pay is only about $30,000 a year (source). The work isn't much fun either, since it involves a lot of drafting or or modifying some other designer's original plans.
The next step is to become a landscape designer, which pays a bit better. Most earn about $40,000 to $50,000 by the time they make that transition, and start to earn more as they gain experience and design more desirable landscapes (source). Some of the better landscape designers earn about $100,000, plus some sweet benefits (source).
Those who start out on their own from the beginning have a hard time getting known and established in the early years. Most of their business is for contractors building average single homes or small commercial buildings instead of tract homes or malls, so the work, although fun and stimulating, is sporadic and unreliable. There may be quite a bit of time between projects.
On the other hand, when their businesses get going, self-employed designers don't need to share their profits with the rest of a larger firm. They're The (Wo)Man.
If neither of those options seems all that great, there is a middle route. You can start out with a reliable firm and enjoy that relatively good job, stable income, and good benefits for the first few years; and then, after gaining a following of happy clientele, you can strike out on your own. It's not uncommon for the best landscape designers to earn more than $100,000 annually at this point.
Many of the best clients who pay the most don't want to mess around with finding the right designer. They see what they want at one of your former clients' homes or businesses and want it for their own...and don't mind paying to have it done properly. They may not necessarily want the same style, but they appreciate how a particular landscape conforms to the building that it was designed for. It's great to be appreciated...and getting a nice, fat paycheck doesn't hurt either.
It's good to be known for a distinct style, but even better to be known for adaptability. Not everyone needs to be a Frank Lloyd Wright of the landscaping industry. For example, those guys who design thick rain forest-like landscapes that are purported to save water (like we believe that) are well-known for that particular style, but aren't very useful to a client who wants a stark contemporary landscape to frame a sleek modern building without obscuring it.
Your style may be well-known, but it won't get the job like your reputation for adaptability will.