So what do you do?

[Barbara]

Good thread. It doesn't surprise me that so many of us are horticulture people.

I went to school for visual arts and now have a BFA. Although I don't paint anymore, (no space) I do some drawing and design work. I have worked in the horticulture trade for the past 7 years and was one of the main pest and disease troubleshooters at the garden center I worked at. That garden center was bought out, so I don't really know where that is going to end up. I also found myself helping with 'on the spot' garden design and planting advice. For this reason I thinking of going back to school for Landscape Architecture. Maybe. Could be getting too old to be a full time student.

I devide my spare time between my orchids, gardens, and pets.

[Tony]

I'm a student, and I valet at night to put gas in my car.

[Ross]

Originally Posted by Tony

I'm a student, and I valet at night to put gas in my car.

And Paphs on your windowsill?

[Ross]

Originally Posted by Barbara

For this reason I thinking of going back to school for Landscape Architecture.

Since I have a degree from Syracuse in Landscape Architecture (BLA) and am retired, I can offer that you might want to re-think that descision. I found that people wanted to do the mini-plan thing by going with the "experts" at Home Depot (or wherever) and never really saw the value of using a trained expert. I eventually migrated to IT as a means of supporting myself. If you are really good at self-promotion or/and can attach youself to another company that can serve that purpose, then maybe the LA career might work. Don't mean to be negative, just realistic.

[sjMagoo]

I'd better hurry and jump on this excursion train! It's fun to see what everybody does to support their addiction

Myself, I'm in finance. Numbers and budgets fill my day, but I have many of my orchids in the office to soften the image.

[Toddybear]

Dave, the philadelphus was trialed in Olds and suffered some die-back but recouped each summer. For the most part, Philadelphus are boring after they flower...ours is slightly less boring...guess I need to work on breeding a deep purple-leaved one!

[esungirl]

I trained horses and gave riding lessons while earning a BS in Kinesiology at Cal Poly SLO. Which, after a stint teaching HS in Kauai, I came back to SLO and went through an Ultrasound program. During which I landed a job as a phlebotomist at the County Hospital. They closed the hospital, left the lab open, so to avoid cuts, 5 of us left and started a clinical lab in the North County, which my friend and boss funded. I'm the Phlebotomy / Lab Assistant supervisor. And kudos to those chefs and cooks, my good friends are private chefs in Reno. And BTW Bolero, my mom works for the US government, and if she told me what she did, she'd have to kill me

[terrestrial_man]

Yo! How about a retired accountant who got started in checking out the natural world when still knocking about and out of the way of the folks when being 12 was fun! But the days of bliss were soon gone once i hit the bus to our local Hi and discovered the world of accounting while learning how to type as a sophmore. But with my heart and hands in the earth pushing button on a calculator was not for me (then!)! To JC and an AB to UCSB and
Lets see there was the beach, the booze and I was not prepared for this level of insanity!! Dropped out, worked, got some bucks and a commitment from my dad to help pay my way back to college at HSC in Arcata, CA.
Got a BA in botany-didn't offer a BS. It was great there. Mosses, Darlingtonia, solitude, real wilderness (not anymore ),and FREEDOM!!!! At least for a semester and 2 quarters!! Landed a job at SBOE. Divided and potted alot of cymbidiums over the course of a year, then a couple of years growing all the non-cymbidiums-QUIT. Hated to quit but click on link below V

An annotated history of Copeland's Bookkeeping-The Early Years

will explain what was happening.
Past few years been dealing with my mom who developed Alzheimers (actually it had progessed to dementia) who I lost in Feb. 2005. Got on SSA and quit the business. Needed time for a life and to start getting it back!
Learned HTML, and started writing!!!
So back to YO!

[Barbara]

Originally Posted by rsfrid

Since I have a degree from Syracuse in Landscape Architecture (BLA) and am retired, I can offer that you might want to re-think that descision. I found that people wanted to do the mini-plan thing by going with the "experts" at Home Depot (or wherever) and never really saw the value of using a trained expert. I eventually migrated to IT as a means of supporting myself. If you are really good at self-promotion or/and can attach youself to another company that can serve that purpose, then maybe the LA career might work. Don't mean to be negative, just realistic.

Thank you for the feedback, this is exactly what I was wondering. The same can be said for horticulture in general, people always want plants cheap no matter how they have been grown. I was thinking of research too, since I do a fair amount of this as it is.

[TerrynFlorida]

I live in Florida and never made it through college for a degree so,
I spent 10 years at Disney World in retail including fine jewelry.
After leaving there did some more years selling, making and designing jewelry.
Worked as a Graphic Artist at the local school district.
Worked in the Procurement department at the same school district.
Now finally I am a Customer Care Rep at the school district specializing in SAP software. I hope this makes my final career path change!