thinking about leaving Florida and moving to Oregon (Portland, Sherwood: jobs, retire)

[plantlover]

I currently live in south Florida and have done so for more than 30 years. I am getting tired of hurricanes and the terribly flat terrain down here. I am a horticulturist and know lots about propagating/growing plants. I love hiking and biking but not sure about really cold winters. I am not ready to retire, so I will need to find employment. Is there a part of Oregon that has moderate seasons? Any ideas as to employment opportunities for a horticulturist?

[freedom]

The south coast has moderate winter temperatures, rarely freezes. The the further north and east you go the colder it is.

The Rogue valley has the most balanced 4 seasons and outdoor activities IMO.

[plantlover]

Does anyone else have a comment or suggestion?

[Rainy]

Yeah...the Willamette Valley has a lot of horticultural jobs, lots of ornamentals being grown there; the same with Yamhill and Multnomah counties.

This is the link to the Oregon Association of Nurseries:

http://www.oan.org/

This will give you a good idea of what the industry is like there and it also has some classifieds on it to give you an idea about what sort of jobs are available.

[karambabrown]

The Tillamook, Clatsop, and Lincoln counties are all growing really fast if you like the coastal area. If you want to be inland I would suggest the Willamette Valley. Usually we do not get that much snow in the witner time. I would suggest looking at sites such as realism.com to get some ideas of what the different areas offer. I am a REALTOR(r) in Tillamook County Oregon and try to put as much information as I can on sites like realism.com, wannanetwork.com, and activerain.com - I know that others do as well, so that's one of the first places I would start.

If you do move up here, chances are you will be in for a little bit of culture shock at first, but I have found that most get used to the changes. I grew up in Northern California and my mom moved me up here (where she was raised) when I was fifteen. I would not go back to Northern California to live if someone paid me. Keep in mind that the closer you are to our rain forests - the more it rains.

[LarryMorris]

Plantlover, I agree that there are a lot of horticulture opportunities in the Willamette, Yamhill valleys. I've lived in much of the state over the years and would agree with the other posters.

I currently live in Sherwood and love it. It's a small town near Portland.