Lead Gardener

Lāwaʻi, Kauaʻi

General duties and responsibilities

• In addition to being able to perform the following duties, can oversee and train employees and volunteers in the following tasks.
• General plant maintenance: water, fertilize, weed, mulch, prune, and stake plants. Willing and able to apply organic and chemical fertilizers as needed. Ability to diagnose plant biotic and abiotic disorders and take action as needed to ensure collection health.
• Operate a variety of garden power tools including lawn mowers, string-trimmers, chainsaws, blowers, hedge trimmers and others as directed.
• Practice good planting practices, (site selection, site prep, staking, mulching, fertilizing, watering, pest control). Monitor new plantings to ensure the highest survival rate possible.
• Safety: perform all tasks safely following JHAs/labels/ manuals. Use proper PPE for each task and maintain PPE in good working order. Adhere to NTBG’s safety policies.
• Helps manage living collections records by maintaining signs and tags. Removing signs from dead plants and reporting them. Requesting new signs and tags that are missing. Works with Living Collections as needed to ensure proper record keeping. Properly fills out planting paperwork.
• Plant ID- ability to identify key plants in the garden
• Pest ID- ability to identify key plant pests (insect, mite, weed)
• Perform lawn maintenance by mowing and/or string trimming.
• Keep collections weed free and pest free as possible through applied Integrated Pest Management practices. When necessary must be able willing to apply herbicides and pesticides in accordance with the label. Recognizes when treatments are needed.
• Communication: communicate issues seen in a timely manner to foreman and or horticulture manager (disease, pests, water stress, broken tools etc.). Make suggestions to solve observed issues.
• Control weeds in landscaped and other designated areas without damaging living collections.
• Keep all areas of the garden looking neat, well-kept and debris free.
• Maintain all garden tools and vehicles responsibly, and in a safe manner. Must keep tools and vehicles clean and in good working order.
• Assist visitors, researchers and other garden guests as needed. Willing and able to share our mission with guests and carry out other tasks as assigned by garden management.
• Professionalism: conducts self in a professional manner and follow “standards of conduct” at outlined in the employee handbook
• Able to perform maintenance and adjustments of irrigation systems.

Education and/or Experience

High School diploma or equivalent preferred.  Landscaping and/or horticulture experience preferred.

Language Skills

Must be able to communicate clearly with all staff; primarily verbally.

Reasoning Ability

Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists.  Ability to interpret a variety of instructions furnished in oral and sometimes written form. Ability to use good judgment regarding safety.

Physical Demands

Must be able to work outdoors all day in variable weather conditions at tasks demanding walking, kneeling, stooping; machinery operation, and lifting heavy objects to 50 pounds or more.

Work Environment

Extensive exposure to outdoor elements including sun, heat, wind and rain. Noise level may be high due to hand tools and heavy machinery in the area. Exposure to hazardous chemicals is frequent.

Other Skills and Additional Information

Ability to identify and treat for plant insect and diseases preferred.  Ability to identify native Hawaiian plant species is preferred.

Pay Range: $21.50-$22.75 per hour

This position is open until filled.

NTBG is an equal opportunity, equal access employer. A copy of NTBG’s Drug Free Workplace Policy can be found here.

Employment applications are accepted by email, mail, fax, or in person at the Garden’s national headquarters, unless otherwise indicated, at:

NTBG
Attn: Human Resources
3530 Papalina Road
Kalaheo, HI 96741
Fax (808) 332-9765
(808) 332-7324, Ext. 229

Applications may be submitted via email to careers@ntbg.org in PDF format. All jobs are posted or removed on a timely basis.