Senior Horticulturist/Horticulturist

About the role

The Scott Arboretum & Gardens at Swarthmore College is seeking a Senior Horticulturist or Horticulturist to provide horticultural support for the care and maintenance of the plant collections, gardens, and landscaped areas of the Scott Arboretum & Gardens and the entire Swarthmore College campus and properties.

Responsibilities

• Maintains the plant collections by performing timely planting, weeding, mulching, pruning, fertilizing, irrigating, leaf raking, and other plant cultural practices with minimal supervision in order to maintain campus aesthetics and provide proper horticultural care.
• Assists in design modifications as needed to the Arboretum’s landscape and gardens.
• Maintains specialty garden areas consisting of Glade Garden, Harry Wood Garden, Nason Garden, Pinetum, Pollinators Garden, Singer Hall landscape, Winter Garden, magnolia and holly collections, green roofs, various courtyard gardens and major horticultural collections.
• Keeps campus areas, turf, roads, sidewalks, and patios maintained in an efficient way.
• Performs trash removal, irrigation, turf renovation, turf mowing, snow removal, and leaf raking in order to efficiently maintain safety and high horticultural aesthetics on campus.
• Assists with special function set-up and tear-down in order to prepare the facilities in a timely manner for College- and Arboretum-hosted events.
• Is present for and assists in College emergencies, bad weather occurrences, and special College functions in order to maintain campus safety for students, staff, and visitors.
• Develops, leads or assists with Arboretum classes and lectures open to members, the public and volunteers; gives lectures as requested; assists with guided campus tours open to the public.
• Provides horticultural information to the public, members, and volunteers. Leads or assists with various educational programs (Arboretum tours, lectures, conferences, sales and events, and Alumni weekend tours) as needed.
• Lends support when requested to the College’s professors, students and educational departments in their classes and laboratories that utilize the plant collections, gardens, and Crum Woods.
• Safely and proficiently uses all hand gardening tools and can train others to do the same. With proper training, safely and proficiently uses a variety of grounds power equipment and can train others to do the same.
• Conducts educational sessions as requested by the Learning and Engagement staff. Occasionally writes articles for the Arboretum's quarterly Hybrid newsletter and contributes to the annual year-in-review report and departmental brochures as necessary.
• Cooperates in the function of the entire Facilities Management Department and assists in meeting the department’s goals. Performs other job-related duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Horticultural Tasks: Bachelor’s degree in horticulture or related discipline; or, practical horticultural training course (two to four year program) plus three to five years of job-related experience. Must possess a Pennsylvania pesticide applicator’s license for the appropriate categories in order to legally and safely apply pesticides or organic control materials, or is willing to do so. Must possess a valid driver’s license.
• Groundskeeping Duties: Ability to frequently lift objects weighing up to 50 pounds and possess the physical strength to perform groundskeeping/gardening operations. Ability to carry a 35-pound backpack sprayer for extended periods. Hand, arm, and back strength to shovel, prune, and rake for extended periods of time. Ability to manipulate vibrating, hand-held power machinery for extended times. Ability to perform kneeling, bending, squatting motions for extended times. Ability to work from a ladder doing pruning and other plant care. Visual ability to do detailed pruning. Ability to read and interpret pesticide labels, machinery safety manuals, and new information related to horticultural practices. Ability to maintain written maintenance records and keep a journal of daily work.

Qualifications

• Senior Horticulturist: Bachelor’s degree in horticulture or related discipline; or, practical horticultural training course (two to four year program) plus five years of job-related experience. Must possess a Pennsylvania pesticide applicator’s license for the appropriate categories in order to legally and safely apply pesticides or organic control materials, or is willing to do so. Must possess a valid driver’s license.
• Horticulturist: Bachelor’s degree in horticulture or related discipline; or, practical horticultural training course (two to four year program) plus one to three years of job-related experience. Must possess a Pennsylvania pesticide applicator’s license for the appropriate categories in order to legally and safely apply pesticides or organic control materials, or is willing to do so. Must possess a valid driver’s license.