Herb Garden, Gardener II

HEH Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery; San Marino (CA); Hybrid; USD 24,000 - 34,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid schedule

Medical, dental, vision benefits

403(b) retirement plan

Free museum admission

Staff store discounts

Job summary

The Huntington in California invites applications for Gardener II, primarily stationed in the Herb Garden. You will lead daily horticultural activities, maintain plant collections, and support garden design and seasonal transitions.

Collaborate with the Curator/Horticultural Manager, educators, and volunteers to promote education through plants. This role emphasizes inclusive outreach and careful maintenance to ensure visitor presentation.

Qualifications

• 2-3 years or more of professional horticultural experience.
• Experience in public gardens or botanical settings preferred.
• Ability to work with volunteers and staff.

Responsibilities

• Maintains the Herb Garden daily with pruning, planting, watering, weeding, and soil care.
• Assesses garden conditions and sets daily/weekly maintenance priorities.
• Maintains perennials, annuals, seasonal plantings, and specialized collections in the Herb Garden.
• Monitors irrigation and communicates repair needs.
• Supports plant propagation and living-collection documentation.
• Coordinates Herb Garden volunteers and interns, including instruction and safety.
• Trains volunteers in horticultural practices.

Skills

Horticultural experience

Plant cultivation

Irrigation knowledge

Volunteer coordination

Attention to detail

Education

Formal education in horticulture/botany/plant science

Tools

Hand tools

Machinery/tools

Job description

About Us

About Us At The Huntington, we believe that having a team of diverse backgrounds and voices working together will enable us to support and promote the appreciation of the humanities, the arts, and botanical science. The Huntington is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and is committed to providing employment opportunities regardless of race, religious creed, color, national origin, disability, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation or any other characteristic protected by local, state or federal law. The Huntington Founded in 1919, The Huntington is a collections-based research and educational institution open to the public, housing world-class library, art, and botanical collections. Its mission is to support research and promote education in the arts, humanities, and botanical science and to display and interpret its extraordinary resources for diverse audiences. The Culture Here we are committed to the highest of standards in all that we do - from preserving and protecting the collections, to exhibitions, educational and scholarly programming, visitor and reader services, and beyond. Achieving excellence across these pursuits requires a diversity of perspectives, expertise, experience, and methodologies. At The Huntington, our organizational Culture is shaped by the following core values: Intellectual curiosity, Collaboration, Stewardship, Belonging, and Integrity. Intellectual Curiosity: Knowledge, lifelong learning, and a spirit of inquiry are at the core of our mission and organizational culture. Collaboration: Teamwork and a collaborative attitude are important at all levels of The Huntington. We foster relationships internally among our departments and externally with organizations throughout the community. Stewardship: We are committed to the care and development of our collections, our financial and physical resources, our staff, and our community. Belonging: We strive to attract and maintain a workforce of individuals with diverse talents, backgrounds, and perspectives. Our organizational culture promotes a sense of welcome, inclusion, and connection. Integrity: We value respect and honesty, working to fulfill our mission with honor and ethical principles.

Job Description

About the Role The Gardener II works primarily in The Huntington's Herb Garden and serves as the primary day-to-day horticultural lead responsible for maintaining the health, quality, beauty, organization, and visitor presentation of its diverse living collections. Working under the direction of the Curator/Horticultural Manager, the Gardener II independently identifies routine horticultural needs, establishes and executes daily and weekly maintenance priorities consistent with established collection and garden plans, and supports implementation of new plantings, seasonal transitions, garden improvements, and collection-development projects. The Herb Garden connects visitors with plants through horticulture, medicine, food, fragrance, culture, history, ethnobotany, and other human-plant relationships. The Gardener II supports both the horticultural quality and educational value of these collections and works with volunteers, interns, docents, educators, and other Huntington staff as appropriate. While primarily assigned to the Herb Garden, the Gardener II works collaboratively across the Rose, Herb, and Shakespeare Gardens and may support seasonal priorities, installations, propagation, special projects, events, and major horticultural activities in those gardens as directed. S/he/they will demonstrate a background of working directly with people from diverse racial, ethnic, geographic and socioeconomic backgrounds, using a welcoming, inclusive, and accessible approach.

Essential Duties

• Maintains the Herb Garden on a daily basis through skilled pruning, planting, transplanting, watering, weeding, edging, grooming, staking, training, fertilizing, mulching, deadheading, soil care, and removal of debris.
• Independently assesses routine garden conditions and identifies and executes daily and weekly horticultural priorities consistent with established garden plans and direction.
• Maintains woody and herbaceous perennials, annuals, seasonal plantings, vines, shrubs, trees, and specialized collections represented within the Herb Garden.
• Implements soil-health practices including composting, mulching, top-dressing, amendments, and other practices supporting long-term plant health.
• Monitors irrigation performance, performs routine adjustments and troubleshooting, and communicates larger repair or infrastructure needs.
• Monitors plant health and assists with integrated pest management, disease management, weed control, and other horticultural interventions.
• Implements approved garden designs, collection changes, plant palettes, seasonal transitions, renovations, and new installations.
• Supports plant propagation for collection preservation, replacement, garden development, education, and other approved purposes.
• Assists with living-collection documentation including plant inventories, accessioning, labeling, mapping, and record updates.
• Coordinates the day-to-day horticultural work of Herb Garden volunteers and seasonal interns, including work assignments, horticultural instruction, safe tool use, quality standards, and project completion.
• Trains volunteers and interns in appropriate horticultural practices and provides practical plant and garden knowledge supporting their work.
• Collaborates with docents, educators, volunteers, interns, and staff to support interpretation, demonstrations, tours, educational programs, and special events.
• Communicates garden conditions, completed work, emerging horticultural issues, supply needs, and project progress during regular meetings with the Curator/Horticultural Manager.
• Maintains garden workspaces, tools, equipment, pathways, and horticultural areas to appropriate standards of organization, cleanliness, safety, and visitor presentation.
• Works collaboratively with Gardener II staff assigned to the Rose and Shakespeare Gardens.
• Provides horticultural support within the Rose and Shakespeare Gardens for major seasonal priorities, installations, propagation, events, projects, and other assigned needs.
• Adheres to Huntington safety policies and all precautions governing tools, equipment, fertilizers, amendments, and chemicals.
• May perform other related duties as assigned.

Candidate Requirements and Experience

Knowledge, skills, and abilities:

• 2-3 years or more of professional horticultural or gardening experience, preferably within a public garden, botanical garden, arboretum, museum garden, estate garden, or other complex horticultural environment.
• Strong practical knowledge of plant cultivation, pruning, planting, irrigation, soil health, plant nutrition, weed management, and seasonal garden maintenance.
• Ability to recognize horticultural needs and organize routine daily work independently while implementing priorities established by the supervisor.
• Strong attention to detail in plant health, garden aesthetics, collection care, cleanliness, and visitor presentation.
• Ability to understand and implement established garden designs, plant palettes, horticultural standards, and collection priorities.
• Experience working effectively with volunteers, interns, staff, and individuals with varying levels of horticultural knowledge.
• Strong organizational and communication skills and ability to work both independently and collaboratively.
• Competency with appropriate hand and mechanized horticultural tools.
• Ability to work safely and efficiently and complete tasks within established timeframes.

Preferred:

• Knowledge of medicinal, culinary, fragrant, ethnobotanical, culturally significant, and/or historically significant plants.
• Knowledge of Southern California horticulture and California native plants.
• Irrigation troubleshooting and basic repair experience.
• Plant propagation experience.
• Familiarity with living-collection practices including accessioning, inventories, records, and plant labeling.
• Experience coordinating, training, or supervising volunteers or interns.
• Experience supporting interpretive, educational, or public-engagement programs related to plants or horticulture.
• Formal education or training in horticulture, botany, plant science, sustainable horticulture, or a related field.
• Fluency in both Spanish and English desirable.

Working Conditions

Ability to perform physical garden work throughout the seasons, including bending, pulling, stooping, walking long distances, hauling, and regularly lifting up to 50 pounds. Must have visual acuity and ability to communicate quickly identify and address safety and security concerns. Must have a valid driver's license and be able to operate a motor vehicle.

Compensation & Benefits

We provide competitive compensation, generous benefits and perks for all eligible employees including:

• Pay Rate: $21.00/hr.
• Medical, Dental, Vision 403(b) retirement plan and matching retirement plan with an outstanding employer match
• Hybrid remote work schedule available for applicable positions
• Considerable paid time off, including annual leave, sick leave, and holidays
• Discounts for staff in The Huntington Store and restaurants
• Free admission to various museums and cultural institutions
• Free passes each month to welcome family and friends to visit the grounds

Company Overview

The Huntington is a cultural and educational institution of global significance. Building on Henry E. Huntington's renowned collections, the Huntington today supports research and promotes education in the arts, humanities, and botanical sciences through the growth and preservation of its collections, through the development of a community of scholars, school programs and partnerships, and through display and interpretation of its extraordinary resources to the public.