Depends on what you mean by "horticulturist".

Such a title or "job" is pretty much exclusive to large estates and botanical gardens, arboreta and zoos. Getting into these establishments is usually a matter of having some schooling and then doing an internship.

If you're simply meaning "someone who works with plants", you'll find out that there are LOTS of job opportunities. Many times, it requires nothing more than having a love for plants.

If you do want some formal education, look into the many community colleges throughout California (see list). Many of them have two-year degrees and/or certificate programs in horticulture. I work for one. Cost is minimal and there are often scholarships available that can take you to a four-year school, if you desire.

If you could be a little more specific about your idea of "horticulturist", I could offer more help.

Joe

Here is a link that might be useful: Listing of California Community Collegs

Also check out the 'Professional Topics' and 'Design' forums--there are or used to be quite a few world-weary professionals over there, and this type of question is often asked.

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/ggg?query=gardener
tho ppl will try to cheese you out.
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/jjj?query=gardener
they will, too.

if you're young enough to grunt cheap, there's your "internship".

if you're good enough at sales to sell used shoes (but are you?), you can make big bucks doing whatever you want (in the usa)

i hope i'm not being too world-weary..

some great resources at this website

Joe

Here is a link that might be useful: Pro Resources

With a little investment money, and a day job for a few years, you could buy some land, find a niche market item, or several, and sell at farmerÂs markets and on line, starting at eBay. With fuel costs becoming prohibitive, and a green movement to buy local, this may become an important market in the years to come. Who would have thought the heirloom tomato market would have become so big? Or the farmers markets? Heirloom apples seem to be making the same inroads as heirloom tomatoes, as the health benefits of fresh fruits become more important, and consumers become fed up with the awful tasting fruit at the supermarkets. My dream would be to buy land in San Diego, grow gourmet mangos such as Alfonso, Edward, Gouveia. Perhaps even lychees, other delicious tropical fruit crippled by import restrictions, as the Florida sources become more devastated by hurricanes. There is a large SoCal immigrant community becoming more affluent, who might support such an enterprise. But I could be wrong.
Another angle is that there are some nurseries in the North East that are frozen in for the winter, and would benefit from a California division that grows and ships year round, and could bypass the out of state agricultural restrictions to ship to a busy California market. I saw one advertising for such help a few months ago.
Good luck with your new enterprise. A brave new world awaits you.

Another idea would be to produce good quality "sun" dried tomatoes for high end restaurants. The ones used at most restaurants are sour and salty, which is not good, considering the importance of the flavor in many dishes. They are my son's favorite food, so last summer I grew some San Marzano Redorato tomatoes, picked them ripe, dried them in a home food dryer. The taste blew away anything we had ever eaten before. Sweet, rich, with a depth of flavor consistent with home grown heirloom tomatoes. It's completely spoiled us to eating store bought sun dried tomatoes, which are really expensive to begin with. Just another idea.