Plant careers

I didn't really know what forum to place this question under, but here goes...

I have a BA in elementary education (what was I thinking?!) and someday I would like to make a job out of my love for plants. Gardening/Farming/Wild plants, I don't really care.

I am familiar with the fields that people work in with plants, like botany, agronomy, etc. But what actual jobs do people have and what do they do with plants in thier jobs? Is it mostly research and field tests? Experiments? Physical labor? Who do they usually work for?

I know this could have a lot of answers untill I narrow it down to one field of study. If anyone out there has a great job working with plants, could you tell me about it and what you do everyday?

Thanks!

Hopefully you'll get some feedback from people here who work with plants for a living (many of us just do it for fun though!) But I would also try doing a couple of things to help yourself focus:

1) Think about what is it about plants that you enjoy--there are lots of things you could do, so I'd start by thinking about what you really love about plants. Is it cutting and enjoying the flowers? Is it having your hands in the dirt? Is it just simply being outdoors? Planning/designing landscapes? Do you want to interact with people as part of your job, or would you rather be out there by yourself with the plants? Also think about what you don't like (weeding always comes to mind for me!) That may help you focus a bit. You don't necessarily need to link this to a particular job yet--just think about the things you enjoy doing the most and least and jot those down. Or try pretending you have to do nothing but garden related things for 40 hours next week. Write down what you'd want to be doing during those 40 hrs...would you be happy doing nothing but starting cuttings, or do you want to be doing a range of things? Or would having to be in the garden for that many hours actually take the fun out of it? Also consider your physical abilities/limitations here--do you want to be bending, sweating, doing physical labor, or are you more at home in air conditioning?

2) Think about how much money you need to make doing this--there are some jobs that are going to pay better than others so you'll need to think about that before committing to a program of study. There are also some things where you may not make much money starting out, but have the potential to do well if you're really successful (running your own nursery and becoming a landscape designer are two things that come to mind). Also, do you need a job where you get a steady paycheck year round, or are you OK with making more some months and less in others? If you want to make more money, in addition to looking at traditional plant related fields you may want to consider studying something like chemistry or business, and then look for a job developing or marketing new products at a company that makes fertilizers or other garden products.

3) How much time/money are you willing to invest in furthering your education? You could spend as little as a year (or maybe even less depending on the school) in a certificate program, or you could spend a number of years getting another bachelors degree and then a PhD in a particular area. How much time you're willing to commit to education will influence what type of jobs you could look for (you won't need a PhD to work at a local nursery, but you're never going to get a job at Monsanto developing the next generation of Roundup Ready corn with a certificate in landscape design).

4) Once you've thought about those three things, I'd find a college that offers programs in agriculture, horticulture, botany, etc and talk to them about what sort of jobs their graduates typically get--they are probably the single best place to go talk to about what sort of jobs are out there for people with degrees or certificates in these areas, and they can also probably give you some sense of what type of salary to expect in different fields. Many schools will have both regular degree programs and shorter certificate programs so they can tell you what each one would do for you. Share with them the things you've thought about as part of #1-3 and they can give you some ideas of things that might be a good fit.