questions:

How did you get into what you do?
I've always done this work. I've never had an indoor job and I've always done some form of manual labor

What do you specialize in?
Construction, landscaping, irrigation, wholesale fern nursery (keeps me busy between jobs).

Can you easily make money?
I'm sure someone could. It's never been me tho. Not that I'm starving, I probably live better than many, but I've always chosen to put more money into the business than my own pocket.

I would try, in some way to make an easy adjustment....
Today for instance I spent the majority of the day kneeling on a concrete patio stapling together lattice for a custom fence for a customer. It was probably 105 at head level and the concrete made it feel ohh so much nicer.
This obviously requires a different physical extertion than working a keyboard all day.

best of luck, let us know how it goes.
Drew

A year or so after I left college with an AA degree because I did not know what to major in I realized I wanted to go into landscape design as a major. It took another 6 years and I had to move back home but I graduated with a degree in ornamental horticulture from the University of Florida. I worked 2 summers at a 22 acre apartment complex doing the landscape maintenance, one semester at a Sears garden center, and one of my create your own classes was working at a local botanical garden and I continued to volunteer there afterwards. After graduating I immediatley moved to Maui and answered a gardener wanted ad. Eighteen years later I am on the third property for my first client.

I do landscape design and installation the plant part not the hardscapes, I may need to reconsider that, landscape maintenance and being very very tired of that have started a tropical landscape plant nursery. I live on the desert side of Maui so I had to learn how to do irrigation but that is mainly for my own clients as part of the installation, rarely as seperate work.

No it is not easy to make money you have to work really hard for it, but yes you can make decent money. You just need to be where enough people have the money and are willing to pay to keep you busy. Horticulture is a vast field though and their are many ways to go that would be less physical.

ilima

work, school, work, school, work, school.............

Kept my day job, took night classes (I was able to work a flex time for a while and get a couple of afternoon classes)for the years it took me just to get an Associates degree. Now I work for myself,and keep one or two part time jobs, which means I depend on my husband for benefits. I'm a long way from replacing the former income! But I smile more.

"My husband and I have three acres in the country and I have a small garden this year. It is my pride and joy."

Gardening for pleasure has very little to do with gardening for a profession ... your really not comparing Oranges with Oranges. So be careful.

"All I can think about, however, is doing what I love and switching professions. My husband thinks I'm a little nuts. "

Maybe a lot nuts ???

Good Day ....

This is an indulgence that professionals dream of too. Finding people to finance your dream is a real challenge. Send the guy out to work whilst you play in the three acre garden. Yeah!

I have been a grower for eighteen years, and one year hearing all the hype about heirloom veggies, I decided to "go for it" and offered 36 different varieties of tomatoes alone. roflmao. After the end of each season, hubby and I always take a few hours over an iced tea and discuss what sold and what sucked eggs. I can tell you I sold all the big boys I could grow and had a small truck garden with 36 varieties of tomatoes instead of pitching them in the windrows. IOW find out what your market wants to buy, not what you want to grow. Then grow it.

I started by weeding gardens in grade school for $.35 an hour.

Forty years later I still spend most of my time weeding.

I can easily make money...but money is not easily made. Money is made by hard work.

Bruce

Haard Work? I have to work hard doing this? Why didn;t anyone tell me?:)0

I can easily make money...but money is not easily made. Money is made by hard work.

Bruce

I love that adage! Is that original? It could go on a sampler. How true, how true.

Why don't you try becoming a Master Gardener first, and see how you like that work as a volunteer?

LOL @ landman!
My DH thought this would be easier than driving 2 hours both ways to Chicago... putting in 8 and crashing on the couch when he got home. NOT!!!!!!!!! hahahahahahahahaha

You can make money, but not easy money right off the bat. If you know the market you are trying to sell too, educated enough to sell, hard working ethic, have the ability to be an effective salesperson, and have excellent business sense, then you can make it in this industry. To answer your other questions, I grow and specialize in perennials and selected shrubs, hardy tropicals, drought tolerancy, deer proofing, certain specie of plants( Agastache, Salvia, Musa, Hedychium, many OG specie including Panicum, Miscanthus, Eragrostis, Muhlenbergia, and Schizachyrium to name a few), and Nelumbo are my main focus, but not limiting too), plant pest and disease identification and control, containerized and open crop production, micro-propagation, landscape design and custom hybridizing to explain a few that I specialize in. How I got into the business was that I was born into it. After horticulture and botany, I dove into professional propagation and hybridizing and didn't look back at any other career. The green industry is my life and my passion....

I was well warned through this forum 2 years ago when I quit my job and began a similar venture. It is very hard work, minus most of the financial/social/respect/vacation rewards of the office culture.
But,
I am amazingly healthier and suprisingly more cheerful than I have ever been in my life. And, every dollar you don't spend is a dollar you don't have to earn.
I'm not hanging up my hoe, but I am supplementing with part-time nursery work.
My advice: multiple income streams and no debt.

I have a bachelor's in urban hort/natural resources, a master's in communications, a 4-day-a-week 9-5 dayjob as a marketing writer, work Fridays in garden maintenance for a landscape architecture firm, and Saturdays as a horticulturist-sales person for a wholesale nursery-garden center. Oh, and Sundays and evenings and vacations I and design and install bamboo gardens in my small business.

Hello Shazzer- are you there?

Cady ...

Eeek .. thats too much for me !! LOL

Good Day ...

It's too much for me too. ;^)
My fiance (landscaper/gardener) and I will be consolidating our assets, so to speak, and eventually I'll work in our new business fulltime.

I have multiple income streams too.I just started as pro gardener last year. I keep my part time job which is an at home work by beeper type of thing.My husband also provides the medical benefits.I home school my kids so growing slowly works for me.I will take the advice not to get into debt with the venture as the most important step.

I've got twice as many clients as I did last year so I'm satisfied.

Calliope, we also grow and sell heirloom tomatoes. The first year, (6 years ago) we threw almost all of them away. This year, we kept our numbers small, grew about 25 varieties and sold out. In fact, we didn't even get any for our own garden.
We don't grow any other annuals or vegetables, but tomatoes have proven very popular, though it's been a slow build. We advertise them, but it still seems to be a word-of-mouth thing.
We've kept almost all our first customers and new customers are added every year. We use them as a draw - not sure we make much money from the tomatoes, but they sure are fun. And almost everyone who comes here for their tomatoes ends up stocking up on perennials.
We ask that customers keep the tags from their tomatoes and report back on performance and taste. This works very well, as it keeps customers coming back and helps us narrow our line into what performs well in this area.
Don't give up yet, but consider growing just a few to see if the customers you made the first year return for them.

I'm sure you are right, Ninamarie. We are primarily a wholesale facility, however so I don't miss the tomato customers. This is also a very conservative area and new introductions are hard to sell. Most tomato purchasers are like smokers..they'd rather fight than switch. LOL.

We have done away with veggie starts completely, but congrats on your success. I love it somebody makes a go of a niche market like that.

I'm cooling down as I write this it is at least 92 outside right now!!

I have gardened since I was 10 years old. When I entered college I had to decide, Horticulture or Nursing. I decided on Nursing as a career and my gardening was to stay a hobby.

I was a nurse for 20 years in Intensive Care Nursery and then worked at a hosta farm for 5 and made and sold planted troughs from home.

Last April 2004 my niece asked me to go into business with her and in Nov. we opened our business. At our shop we sell antigues, art, garden and vintage treasures.

Our garden treasures include shade plants- hostas, ferns, wildflowers, miniatures and alpines, container and trough plantings.

We have been pleasantly surprised that the shop is paying the bills!! Our start up costs have been really low. The property is small, we are in an old historic neighborhood, some consider us inner city.

This April I started moving divisions from plants I have collected in my yard to this property. Slowly but surely I am making progress.

What a great question. It was very interesting reading all your answers. Some of you have had years of education while others found alternative ways of getting into the business. I've often thought of that same question. It's great how some people know exactly what they want to do and just go for it.
Clemmybug

I just jumped off the high dive from the "security" (pain in the neck) teaching position with a steady paycheck and my first real, salaried job. Now, it's time to swim! I have done gardening on the side at an arboretum... I also worked with a master gardener while I was in college. I have enough experience to do OK but no formal education. But I like what I'm doing for the first time in years. I'm just trying it....I don't know yet whether I'll be able to support myself totally or if I'll have to supplement with other venues.
To start, I printed out a business card. I'm not going to false advertise to anyone....but I also think that there's enough information available that I can look up what I need and use connections from previous experience to figure out ways to handle the individual challenges of a job (i.e. specific tenacioius weeds.) Oh, and since I'm single and live simply, I have less to lose as far as finances go...if I don't make enough then I'll have to work more hours...
BETNET

After reading this thread, it should be clear that there is no definition to professional. Does it mean full time? Does it mean earning enough to support a family? Does it mean having other jobs so that you can have the priveledge of being "professional".

Everyone of these people is happy with there own situation. It works for them. What you have to do is to figure out what situation you need. Then figure out if it is viable.

After 3 and a half years toward a degree that changed from a BA in philosophy, BAA in urban and regional planning, and finally a bachelor of urban design I took a job at the local planning office here and planned, of course, on making the place in which I live healthier and livlier sp? I quickly realized how boring the practicalities of the job were in comparison to the theory and jumped ship. I quit after three months and fought the compulsion to go back to school and decided instead to put together a business plan for a garden design/perennial nursery business. We specialize in perennial plant production using raised beds and a greenhouse. We sell plants through garden designs and at a local farmers market where we make a real killing. I throughly enjoy, no I'm fanatical, about the work I do. I love being in control, my own boss, and being dirty. I ultimately do more good in turning a parking lot/empty space into something beautiful than do bureaucrats drafting arcane laws they don't even understand the implications of. Can you make money? If you know your market and start small with a solid plan expect a good return in 3 to 5 years. And whatever you do listen to that nagging voice telling you to quit. Do it, and now. Then you will have the time and the motivation to make something else happen. Otherwise you're just dreaming.

I'm joining this thread late after having an accident and totaling my work truck this past week. anyway, I started my business 4 years ago after being a Master Gardener for a couple of years. the day I went downtown and got my DBA, I had a few interesting talks with small business owners. One told me that as much as 70% of small landscape businesses go belly up the first year. why? Not because they don't know that a katie petunia isn't really a petunia, but because of the business end of it. I've been fortunate to have a good friend who has "mentored" me in the business end, but if I had it to do over, I would definately take a small business class at the university. I've had my best year ever this year, but I have to constantly commit to learning more about being a good businesswoman. It's hard work all the way around, but I generally set my own hours, I love my work, I sleep well at night and I am a part of creating beauty in a world that really needs it. Not too bad for a days' work!!

I'm joining this thread late after having an accident and totaling my work truck this past week. anyway, I started my business 4 years ago after being a Master Gardener for a couple of years. the day I went downtown and got my DBA, I had a few interesting talks with small business owners. One told me that as much as 70% of small landscape businesses go belly up the first year. why? Not because they don't know that a katie petunia isn't really a petunia, but because of the business end of it. I've been fortunate to have a good friend who has "mentored" me in the business end, but if I had it to do over, I would definately take a small business class at the university. I've had my best year ever this year, but I have to constantly commit to learning more about being a good businesswoman. It's hard work all the way around, but I generally set my own hours, I love my work, I sleep well at night and I am a part of creating beauty in a world that really needs it. Not too bad for a days' work!!

being a professional does not necessarily mean owning your own business.

I have been in the nursery business for 25 years after receiving my BS in horticulture from the Univ of Minnesota. The first 13 years I worked at a local retail garden center, working my way up to manager. Then, I moved to a very large wholesale nursery, and manage the perennial and annual crops. I am very passionate about plants, and am also glad to be able to go home at 3:30 and work in my garden, rather than worrying about paying bills, workers comp insurance, etc. Also do garden talks for local garden clubs and master gardeners groups, as well as garden writing. I love the industry, but I don't make a ton of money, and don't know too many that do. We do it 'cause we love it!

PP

Thanks for this thread... even the cynics. :-) I'm having similar thoughts but more along the lines of going back and getting a second degree in hort (original is in journalism and I'm a tech writer now, working from home). I know I wouldn't make anything close to this much money, but it probably wouldn't bore me to tears either. And DH does really well, so the income dent wouldn't hurt too badly.
I don't really want my own business... not much entrepreneur in my blood... but I want to work with plants, write about plants, grow plants, learn about them, educate people, etc.

Probably should go the master gardener route, but as far as I could tell, the one in my area requires you to basically have retiree hours. I'm only 30!

I dunno. Tossing this around in my head a lot lately. I really feel driven towards something in this field, whether it's research or planning or education or nurserywoman... I'm just not sure and I'm not sure how to figure it out.

But that's my long-winded way of saying, Yeah, I feel what you're talking about and I don't know what to do about it either.

hgalindo:

may I suggest that you research the nursery industry in your state a little, before making a decision which route you take? I'm presuming that Texas has some type of Nursery and Landscape association - if so, do they have a winter convention of some type? You might want to consider attending something like that - generally there is a large trade show, and you will get a good idea of the many types of horticulturally related business there are, as well as educational opportunities that might set you on the right direction. Also, you can't put a dollar amount on the networking opportunities, especially if you are outgoing and like to talk to people. Nursery folks/horticulture folks are very generous for the most part in sharing their knowledge, experience, and don't hold back too many 'trade secrets'.

Perhaps garden writing is for you . . . check out the garden writers thread here at gardenweb, or better yet, go to the website of the garden writers association. They have a yearly symposium which you might find to be a great learning and networking experience. The next symposium is in August of 2006 in Pennsylvania - a beautiful place to see great gardens, too!

This is a wonderful industry . . . whatever road you choose, I hope you enjoy it!

PP

I came to be a professional horticulturist in my late-30's, after my hobby gardening had become so obsessive that I was driven to try to make it a career.

I had originally had an Economics degree and a career in banking, didn't like it and quit to start a family. I worked at some piddly little part-time jobs to earn a few bucks and save my sanity while raising my daughter.

I decided to try raising and selling a few plants at the local farmers' market. Fun but I couldn't begin to compete with the prices at the home improvement stores, and my area isn't upscale enough to sell much in the way of unusual plants.

One day the local family-run garden center had a help wanted sign, so I stopped in on a whim. They were looking for someone part-time to work during school hours while the boss was out doing landscaping jobs. The pay stunk, but the hours were flexible and while my child was in school. I liked the work but the company sold out after a year to a larger chain.

The owners of the chain had been impressed with my helpfulness and cheerfulness when they came in to check out the place (they were "undercover" and I had no idea who they were at the time!), so they kept me on and I got a nice raise. The work was physically more demanding but I really liked the new manager and my coworkers. Then we got a new manager and my responsibilities were changed. Took some time off to help my husband recover from surgery, then it was time for the seasonal layoff of all the part-timers and I had no more work for the year.

I was really disappointed. Made the rounds of everywhere I could think of but found nothing that suited me. Started volunteering at the city botanic garden for fun and a possible foot in the door but city budgets were tight.

Finally I realized that since indoor gardening was my first and primary passion, why not look for a job tending indoor plants ("interiorscaping")? Got on the internet, sent out some leads, ended up finding a teeny little ad in a local employment rag and getting a job with a small but terrific company. I've been there a year now and I really like the people and the work.

Not sure what the future holds - I don't like being in management or sales, prefer to be the quiet one working hands-on with the plants, which doesn't leave much room for advancement. My husband is thinking of taking an early retirement, so I might try to bargain into a Tuesday through Thursday part-time arrangement so we can have more time together and do some long-weekend trips if we want to.

I had considered at the beginning of this whole search going back to college and getting a Horticulture degree. While there are definitely bits of knowledge that such a degree would have provided, I'm not sure it would have helped me get a foot in the door, and I doubt I would be getting paid much more salary. Not worth spending the tuition and the years needed at this point in my life. I do read extensively, both books and on the web, so I have a great deal of self-taught knowledge, and I will pick the brains of anyone I meet who really knows their stuff.

I had also considered studying landscaping, but a reality check of this 40-something out-of-shape body told me that I wasn't up to the physical demands of the job and it wouldn't be getting easier as I continued to get older!

That's a long answer, but I bet no one else has an identical resume to mine! It's been an interesting ride...