Senior Horticultural Garden Supervisor

Job Description

Work with Garden Manager to supervise team of gardeners, interns, and volunteers; develop strategies and increase work efficiency; accomplish garden maintenance and curatorial projects at Juniper Level Botanic Garden.

About Us

We are Plant Delights Nursery/Juniper Level Botanic Garden, a perennial plant nursery established in Raleigh in 1986, offering unique, rare, well grown, and properly named perennials to passionate gardeners around the world. Despite being best known as a nursery, we actually exist for our work as a private 28-acre botanical garden and plant research facility focusing on ex-situ plant conservation, plant exploration, breeding, and making plants available via propagation. We are a family-owned company with a mission to support research, education and the exploration of plants through the sales of unique perennial plants.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Train and lead garden crews of part-time staff, volunteers and interns to perform garden tasks (planting, raking, mulching, weeding, watering, fertilizing, lawn maintenance, plant removal and other duties as assigned)
• Provide feedback to Garden Manager about garden needs and work progress
• Continually scout for problem areas in the gardens regarding weeds, dieback, pest pressure, pruning, stressed/declining plants, and irrigation needs
• Work with Garden Manager in planting, transplanting and watering to establish plants in the garden
• Maintain good visitation conditions (clear/safe pathways and garden aesthetics)
• Issue tools to garden staff and ensure their return to storage at day’s end
• Take inventory of tools and supplies (garden tools, mulch, amendments etc.) and work with Garden Manager to order as needed
• Comprehend present and future needs to plan for efficiency in ordering of materials and assigning tasks
• Apply chemical/biological controls as prescribed by the Garden Plant Health Specialist in the display garden
• Turf Maintenance
o Work with Garden Manager to apply appropriate fertilizers, pesticides and other chemicals as needed
o Monitor turf for pest/disease pressure
o Monitor turf for overly dry/wet areas and work with Garden Manager to make corrections as needed
o May assist in installation, repair and maintenance of irrigation systems
o Work with Garden Manager to coordinate application of new grass seed each year
o Coordinate annual turf maintenance with Garden Manager
• Work with garden team during seasonal Open Gardens Days (8 weekends per year)
• Other duties, as assigned

Education and Experience

Formal education in a plant science/horticulture-related field and/or extensive experience in horticulture is highly preferred. Applicants with the following will be strongly considered:
• Valid NC Pesticide Applicators License (or ability to obtain one)
• Supervisory experience
• Experience with Microsoft Office Suite
• Strong communication skills
• Self-motivation

Additional Information

Standard Hours: Monday – Friday 8 am – 5 pm, some Saturday mornings to oversee volunteer crew, and eight Open Nursery and Garden sales weekends each year.
Employee Classification: Permanent full-time exempt

Compensation: Begins at $38,000 – $44,000 per year

Application Instructions

Send cover letter and resume with a detailed description of work history along with three professional references to jobs@plantdelights.com