(Temporary) Horticulture Assistant, Formal Gardens

University of North Carolina System•Asheville, NC

1d•Onsite

About The Position

At the The North Carolina Arboretum, our Formal Gardens help shape how the community experiences and connects with the Arboretum year-round. As a Horticulture Assistant, you’ll play a hands-on role in maintaining these highly visible spaces while learning alongside an experienced horticulture team. This is an opportunity to build practical skills, work outdoors, and be part of creating a place people return to again and again. Horticulture Assistants are temporary positions that can work up to 24 months in duration throughout the North Carolina Arboretum’s Horticulture Department. Your work will mainly specialize in the Formal Gardens area and on occasion you will be assigned to additional group work tasks within the horticulture department. The Horticulture Assistant, Formal Gardens, reports for daily supervision to the Formal Gardens Crew Leader. The primary focus of this position is all aspects of garden care and maintenance to include planting, watering, mulching, weed removal, sheering, pruning, perennial cut back, leaf and litter removal, floral displays, grooming of perennial and annual plantings, equipment operation and light carpentry.

Requirements

High School Diploma or equivalent
Able to move a work load of 50 pounds of force occasionally
Moving plants, trees and shrubs
Lifting bags of soil, additives and mulch
Mixing fertilizers
Using ladders to reach the upper limits of plants while pruning and shearing
Place decorations
Pulling water hoses
Digging and planting with at least 60 70 percent of total work time involving some kind of physical activity
Standing on hard and/or uneven surfaces while working
Lifting
Climbing ladders
Squatting
Twisting
Using sprayers
Walking on a variety of surfaces
Digging
Planting
Exposure to the elements
Direct exposure to sunlight, heat, humidity, cold temperatures
Use of machinery can make it a noisy environment
Highly physical, finite visual attention skills
A high level of mental concentration and manipulation