Seasonal Gardener (Part-Time)
About Botanica
Botanica, The Wichita Gardens, is a 28-acre botanical garden located in the Riverside neighborhood of Wichita, Kansas. Since opening in 1987, Botanica has welcomed thousands of guests annually for daily garden enjoyment and signature events, including the Spring Tulip Festival and Illuminations. The gardens continue to expand, requiring dedicated daily maintenance to ensure high-quality horticultural displays, efficient irrigation, and well-maintained turf. Botanica relies heavily on volunteer support, and staff members regularly collaborate with volunteers as part of daily operations.
Position Summary
This is a hands-on, outdoor position responsible for the daily maintenance and presentation of assigned garden areas. This role reports to the Senior Horticulturist and receives daily work assignments from a Lead Gardener. Seasonal Gardeners are each assigned specific garden areas and are responsible for maintaining them from March through November to ensure they remain healthy, attractive, and ready for public viewing.
Schedule: Part-time, 25 hours per week
Season: March through Thanksgiving
Pay Rate: $15.30 per hour
Work Location: In person
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
· Perform daily landscape maintenance including weeding, deadheading, watering, mulching, and weekly liquid fertilization
· Cultivate, plant, water, prune, spray, and fertilize annuals, perennials, shrubs, and trees
· Monitor assigned garden areas for irrigation issues, dry spots, insect pests, and plant diseases and report concerns as needed
· Maintain turfgrass areas, including mowing, edging, irrigating, planting, fertilizing, and pest and disease control
· Keep walkways, plazas, and other hard-surfaced areas swept and clean
· Remove litter and debris from assigned areas
· Safely operate landscape tools, equipment, golf carts, and maintenance vehicles
· Work cooperatively with staff and volunteers
· Perform other related duties as assigned
Qualifications and Requirements
· Basic knowledge of landscape maintenance tools, equipment, and methods for caring for lawns, trees, shrubs, and flowers
· Basic understanding of common plant pests and diseases
· Ability to follow oral and written instructions
· Ability to work effectively as part of a team and interact professionally with volunteers and the public
· Ability to work outdoors in all weather conditions, including heat, high humidity, cold, wind, and rain
· Ability to safely operate golf carts and maintenance vehicles
· Ability to tolerate airborne nuisances associated with open grounds and windy conditions
· Ability to lift and carry bulky items weighing up to 50 pounds
· Ability to be continuously performing tasks that require one to push, pull, climb (ladders and in and out of vehicular equipment), bend, twist, reach, stand, and walk about (up to a half mile at a time) for most of an eight-hour shift
· An employee shall not pose a direct threat to the health or safety of other individuals in the workplace
· Must be legally authorized to work in the United States without the need of a sponsorship.
· Offers of employment are contingent upon satisfactory evaluation of a criminal record check.
Pay: $15.30 per hour
Benefits:
Work Location: In person
