Formal Garden Curator

Job Description

Are you a passionate horticulturist with a keen eye for design and a deep appreciation for the natural beauty of the Southern Appalachian region? We are seeking an experienced Formal Garden Curator to lead the design and care of our meticulously maintained formal gardens. In this dynamic role, you will be instrumental in crafting visually stunning and ecologically responsible garden spaces, drawing on your extensive knowledge of both indigenous and cultivated plant species. As a key member of our team, you will also serve as the backup for the Director of Horticulture, ensuring the seamless operation of our garden’s horticultural programs. If you are excited by the opportunity to blend artistry with horticultural expertise in a vibrant and closely knit community, we invite you to join our team.

The formal gardens help promote The North Carolina Arboretum’s mission to connect people, plants, and places through curation, interpretation, education, and public engagement and to steward the collection by leading all management and development activities. The primary goal of the curator is to nurture for the established collection while further expanding the specimens represented and deepening the curation of the collection, all the while building and sustaining a robust program focused on the appreciation of plant communities and habitats through curated displays.

About Us

The North Carolina Arboretum is a 434-acre site in the Bent Creek Experimental Forest just south of Asheville, North Carolina, and adjacent to the Blue Ridge Parkway at Milepost 393. Surrounded and crisscrossed by forested coves and meandering creeks in the botanically diverse Southern Appalachian Mountains, the arboretum is set in one of the most beautiful natural settings in America.

The Formal Garden Curator is part of the Horticulture Department of The North Carolina Arboretum. The Horticulture Department promotes public engagement and interaction with the wealth of plant life, both indigenous to and cultivated in the Southern Appalachian region through world-renowned garden demonstrations in cultivated and natural landscapes. Horticulture activities include curation, installation and maintenance of all gardens, landscape, turf, grounds and trails, the production within the greenhouse and nursery areas, and all other horticulture aspects relating to the use of the property. The specific program areas that are responsible for executing these activities are: Production, Plant Records, Bonsai Curation, Native Azalea Curation, Natural Resources / Landscape, Grounds and Gardens. This position falls within the Horticulture Department area and is responsible for the curation and management of the Arboretum’s Formal Gardens, associated plant communities and landscapes.

Duties & Responsibilities

This role will need a creative visionary who has the right expertise and design eye to place herbaceous and woody plants along with hardscape elements to create beautiful forms and functions for Arboretum spaces. The Curator will seek order and balance within the garden spaces, along with structure, symmetry, asymmetry, simplicity, and creative design. Specifically, this role is responsible for the design and plant selection for three seasonal landscape exhibits annually. This position will work closely with the Formal Gardens Crew Leader, Greenhouse Production Manager, and Director of Horticulture, all as members of the Seasonal Landscape Exhibit (SLE) Team with a focus on exhibit implementation.

The curator will keep detailed records of existing and newly acquired specimens represented within the collection and ensure that the specimens are properly identified and clearly labeled. This position also works with the Arboretum’s Mission Orchestration Team to manage existing interpretation within the formal garden and further expand and deepen interpretive signage and materials focused on plants and habitats.

The Formal Garden Curator leads educational efforts associated with the collection to include classes and workshops, public speaking engagements, and group tours for both adult and youth learners while promoting interest in the collection through collaboration with TNCA’s Communications & Marketing Department. The Curator will also work with TNCA’s events team to orchestrate a member & guest event centered on horticulture elements to create plant enthusiasm.

Working closely with the Arboretum’s Development Department, the Curator is the primary Horticulture contact for donor interaction when soliciting meaningful support for landscape improvements and program development within the formal garden spaces. This relationship with Development is also essential when pursuing grant opportunities.

This position also acts as a backup to the Director of Horticulture, providing some administrative and leadership support when needed.

Education and Experience

Minimum Education, Experience, and Skills
Graduation from a two-year technical school with a horticultural science degree or relevant degree and four years of experience working in the field of Horticulture. Or, an equivalent combination of education and experience. A significant part of this job includes horticultural design, and the applicant will be asked to provide examples of design concepts and projects. This role will also act as a backup to the Director of Horticulture which will require excellent project management skills and administrative talent.

Preferred Education, Experience, and Skills
The preferred candidate would have a higher level of education in the field of Horticulture, Environmental Science or Biology and prior Public Gardening experience.

Competencies, Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Required in this Position:

Technical knowledge:

Design:  Command of landscape and horticulture design principles and processes and the ability to apply them across several functions.

Landscape Architecture:  Knowledge of the principles and practices of landscape architecture.  Ability to develop landscape designs that preserve the environment while satisfying user needs.  Skills in garden layout.  Drafting skills.  Ability to read maps and plans as well as design scales.

Horticulture:   Depth of knowledge of regionally appropriate plant species, both indigenous to and successfully cultivated in the Southern Appalachians with a working knowledge of horticulture practices and principles with the ability to apply and communicate general and specific gardening topics.  Knowledge of greenhouse production practices, principles, and crop scheduling. Depth of knowledge of horticultural practices and techniques and the tools and equipment necessary for implementation and execution.

Project Management:
The ability to plan and manage multi-faceted and specialized projects. Must be able to create and implement landscape designs, organize, direct, and follow-up on assignments, and monitor and manage project costs to budget. This position must be comfortable assigning, supervising, and reviewing work crew members under deadline pressure. The Curator should have strong organizational skills and the discipline and resourcefulness to advance multiple time-sensitive projects concurrently.

Communication:
Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with Horticulture Staff, other TNCA Departments, and professional peer groups;

Ability to communicate complex information clearly and concisely, both verbally and written, to arboretum members and guests, program participants, community partners, and individual donors; and,

The ability to provide excellent customer service and communication to the general public.

Physical Environment and Abilities:
The incumbent must be able to move a workload of 50 pounds occasionally. Typical activities include moving plants, shrubs, and trees, lifting bags of soil, moving large quantities of mulch, wood chips, using ladders and high tree work, pulling water hoses, digging and planting with at least 50 percent of total work time involving some kind of physical activity. The Gardener will be exposed often to direct sunlight, heat and humidity, and cold temperatures, machinery can make it a noisy environment and this role spends a significant amount of time standing on hard and/or uneven surfaces. Lifting, climbing ladders, squatting, twisting, using sprayers, walking on a variety of surfaces, digging, planting and exposure to the elements are commonplace. This role requires highly physical, finite visual attention skills, a high level of mental concentration and manipulation.

Additional Information

Hiring Range is between $56,000 and $63,000.

Application Instructions

All applications must be submitted through the Arboretum’s website at https://www.ncarboretum.org/about-us/employment/. Applications will be accepted through 5 p.m. on Sunday, October 13.