(Temporary) Horticulture Assistant, Formal Gardens

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. Pay will be $18 an hour. Horticulture Assistants generally work 40 hours a week, Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. Some rotational weekends and overtime may be assigned, weather or seasonally dependent. Applications will be accepted for this role until 5 p.m. on Sunday, August 2, 2026. 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. Physical Requirements: The incumbent must be able to move a work load of 50 pounds of force occasionally. Typical activities include 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. This role spends a significant amount of time standing on hard and/or uneven surfaces while working. Lifting, climbing ladders, squatting, twisting, using sprayers, walking on a variety of surfaces, digging, planting and exposure to the elements is commonplace. This position will work in an environment with direct exposure to sunlight, heat, humidity, cold temperatures and the use of machinery can make it a noisy environment. This role requires highly physical, finite visual attention skills, a high level of mental concentration and manipulation.