Horticulturist (Retail Nurseryman)Odds of Getting In

Jobs in retail nurseries are not necessarily easy to get into. The industry is too overrun by big box store garden centers that prefer to transfer staff from the paint, power tool or bathroom fixture departments into their garden centers, rather than hire someone new who actually knows something about horticulture. (“Yes, ma’am, you should be able to screw that plant straight into the drywall.”) It is possible to score such a job, but it may only be after years of selling carpet or lumber or who knows what. These jobs are not very interesting anyway, because they involve very fast turnover of cheap, “factory grown” plants of inferior quality. The most interesting but often lower paying nursery jobs are for the smaller nurseries that specialize in quality retail plant material. Some such nurseries may even grow some of their own plants, or at least keep certain plants around long enough to improve upon them. Sadly though, there is a bit more competition for these jobs, and they may only be part-time in winter. Not as part-time as Santa, but close.