Assistant Horticulturist

Overview

Title: Assistant Horticulturist (Circle Garden, Heritage Garden, or Fruit & Vegetable Garden)

Exemption Status: Non-exempt

Department: Display Gardens

Reports to: Senior Horticulturist or Horticulturist

Seasonal: Full-time, anticipated to start mid-March

Supervises: N/A

Seasonal Full-time employees with a six or more month assignment and scheduled to work at least 30 hours per week are eligible for the following Benefits:

• Medical, Dental, Vision, Health Savings Account (HSA), Life & AD&D insurance, Legal Shield, Commuter Reimbursement, Wellness initiative benefit, Employee Assistance Program (EAP), Retirement plan
• Personal days, Holidays, Holiday Thank you pay
• Garden membership - free to employees at Household Plus level
• Discounts to Garden Shop, Cafe, Garden-sponsored educational classes
• Employee events such as Night of 1,000 Jack-o'-Lanterns, Lightscape employee & friends preview night

Compensation Philosophy:

At the Chicago Botanic Garden, our compensation philosophy is rooted in our core values:
Growth, Understanding, Resilience, and Trust through Transparency. We are committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels respected, valued, and appreciated.

Our objective is to create compensation and growth opportunities for our employees that are highly competitive, internally equitable and transparent. The foundation of our efforts is a straightforward approach that can be easily communicated by managers with defined pay ranges for all positions. When posting job openings, we share the minimum salary up to the budgeted amount.

The starting salary for new staff members is determined by considering the salary range assigned to the position and by reviewing the candidate's qualifications for the job as compared with job responsibilities. Prior work experience should be considered in determining the salary offer, provided that it is relevant to the job. Additional factors such as secondary language proficiency or advanced degrees that enhance performance may also be considered.

A candidate's salary may exceed the minimum amount based on factors such as experience, additional skills (e.g., secondary language proficiency), or pertinent degrees that enhance the individual's contribution to the role but are not required. Opportunities for increased compensation are provided through referral bonuses, shift differentials, Thank You Pay, promotions, and periodic pay increases based on the Garden's overall performance and financial budgets.

Our total compensation and benefits package is people centric. We prioritize employee wellness across three pillars: physical, mental, and financial. Our goal is to offer innovative total rewards that support continuous professional growth, personal development, and provide the flexibility needed to balance personal and professional commitments.

Works closely with the supervising Horticulturist to maintain a diverse collection of plants in different display gardens with high attention to detail. Oversees the work of Groundskeepers and volunteers with the direction of the supervising Horticulturist. Spends most of the time working out in the gardens. This is a seasonal, full-time (average of 40 hours per week) position. Typical working hours are Monday through Friday from 6:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

• General landscape maintenance and construction of landscape beds including weeding, watering, mulching, planting and transplanting, pruning trees and shrubs, mowing, grooming perennial borders, raking, digging, deadheading, basic integrated pest management (IPM) monitoring, organizing tool storage areas, sharpening and maintaining tools and equipment, picking up trash, and edging.
• Oversee the work of Groundskeeper seasonals and volunteers with the direction of the supervising Horticulturist.
• Assist with the maintenance of ancillary gardens assigned to their supervising Horticulturist.
• Safely operate small equipment such as Bobcat Mini-loader, golf carts, push mowers, blowers, snow blowers, and tillers.
• Respond to public and staff questions for general information.
• Provide current information to the Horticulturists regarding plant accessions, removals, transfers, and label requirements. Label plants and assist with installation of accession tags.
• Inform the Horticulturists of disease, insect, weed, and animal problems.
• Assist with public programs (minimal due to current schedule of public programs).
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Our ideal candidate will have the following:

• Three years of experience in landscape maintenance and construction of landscape beds and plantings required.
• Completed horticulture training program, taken classes in gardening, or commensurate experience required.
• Ability to recognize most weeds within complex mixed herbaceous and woody plant borders. Ability to identify common ornamental plants, as well as learn to identify new ones encountered in your work.
• Competency in general landscape maintenance and construction of landscape beds.
• Ability…