Finding Your Calling in Horticulture

Posted in Learning Experiences on November 18 2008, by Plant Talk

Dachell McSween is Publicity Coordinator at The New York Botanical Garden.

During this time of rising unemployment rates and slow economic growth, thoughts turn to job security and the possibility of having to find a new career.

Tonight and tomorrow evening, The New York Botanical Garden is offering free Career Information Sessions to help people discover “green” job opportunities in landscape design, horticulture, floral design, and horticultural therapy.

The Garden’s Continuing Education instructors, who are experienced professionals, will talk about each of these disciplines, and former students will discuss what it is like to be employed in these fields and how NYBG gave them the skills and knowledge needed to be successful.

For more than 80 years, the Garden has been helping people achieve their horticultural education goals. Many students who attend are career changers from a variety of occupations, including marketing, information technology, law, and medicine. They come to the Garden to follow their passions and explore new job opportunities. “Not only is it something they can be passionate about, but it is an area where there are opportunities,” Jeff Downing, Vice President for Education, told the Daily News.

Read about some of NYBG’s successful “graduates”: Margaret Ryan, who went from corporate speechwriter to floral designer; Curtis Eaves, who shifted from textile design to landscape design; and Bonnie Johnson, who worked as a package designer for two decades and in just two years found success as a floral designer.

If your dream job is to get out of the office and become closer to nature, the Career Information Sessions will get you started on the path to a new career.