Choosing a career is a major decision, one that can be both exciting and challenging.
Skills, experience, education and interests all play into this decision.

It's hard to know what the right choice is. You may find your answers in horticulture. As a career, horticulture offers opportunity, growth and personal satisfaction. It has many branches to choose from. It is among the fastest growing industries in America and can provide a dynamic future for the career-oriented young person.

Across the nation, people everywhere are planting, beautifying and enjoying the results. Retail lawn and garden sales along with landscape and maintenance companies continue to experience steady growth each year.

California's horticulture industry sets the pace for the nation with a large portion of the wholesale production and retail sales. The state's economy also benefits from the industry's contribution of approximately 10,000 new jobs and 1,300 new business start-ups each year in a $6.5 billion industry.

Recent studies show that California horticulture sales will continue their upward trend helped by new concerns about our environment and by more people with increased leisure hours and disposable income to spend.

All of these facts and figures tell the story of the dynamic horticulture industry. They suggest long term growth and opportunity future career development and job security. They describe an industry that is stimulating, evolving and responsive to initiative.

What is Horticulture?

Horticulture, by its very nature, is an environmental occupation. Men and women who work in horticulture share an enthusiasm for being outdoors, improving the land and beautifying the landscape. They enjoy the diversity and creative challenges that horticulture offers and feel rewarded and satisfied after a day's work.m

The horticulture workplace is filled with options, offering a broad range of both urban and rural locations. These include retail and wholesale nurseries, landscape management companies, garden stores, florist shops, golf courses, and parks.

Positions within the industry are varied, allowing an individual to find a comfortable niche through technical, creative and administrative outlets. Members of the horticulture profession provide landscape services and sell garden products and equipment. They grow myriad varieties of colorful flowers, specimen trees, ornamental plants and lawn grasses. They research and test plants under various conditions for water and soil requirements and pest and disease protection.

Horticultural professionals are marketing managers, nursery owners, golf course superintendents, plant breeders, extension agents, researchers, horticultural therapists and greenhouse growers. And that's just the beginning.