The Red Seal exam for landscape horticulture isn’t a straight knowledge test; it tests both your knowledge and experience. While I’ve been saying this to all potential Red Seal candidates I meet, until now I never really had a good example to give them.
Irises
Now, please take a look at the picture above and note that I shot it with my iPhone6 in mid-May 2019. It’s spring and the flowers are starting to pop. The irises look fine to me.
Of course, the Red Seal exams are super-secret and there are several versions. To avoid complaints I won’t tell you the exact wording or Iris species of my exam question. Let’s just say that I did have an Iris on my exam. The question asked something like if the Iris was grown for spring foliage or summer flowers.
Testing experience
This nicely illustrates how the Red Seal exam tests your experience. It’s not asking you to identify an Iris species. It’s asking if you’ve seen the plant in the field and why it was planted. And now you have the answers, thanks to my picture above.
Let’s recap: the Iris is grown for spring flowers and summer foliage.
Not just another paper
The Red Seal Journeyman Horticulturist trade papers are the culmination of many seasons in the field. That’s why it’s a great piece of paper to have. It tested your knowledge and experience.
My one-day challenge preparation course was full of experienced people. Some were company owners, some were Kwantlen Polytechnic University educators, and the others were green industry workers. Now, after passing, I feel more like I belong. And I obviously feel like I’ve earned it in the field.
Advice for Red Seal candidates
Allow me to give you one critical piece of advice: because the Red Seal exam tests your knowledge and experience it’s absolutely critical for new Red Seal candidates to learn as much as they can on the job.
Yes, it will take you beyond your comfort zone. So what? Learn to use every machine you can get hands on, make plant identification notes, prune as many plants as you can and volunteer for everything.
Finally, the learning never stops. I firmly believe that all true Red Seal journeyman horticulturists love learning already.
Good luck!
