Manager of Lāwaʻi Gardens Horticulture – Full Time

We are seeking a dynamic, hands‑on Horticulture Manager to lead the Lāwaʻi Gardens horticulture team in caring for the world-renowned plant collections and display gardens of McBryde Garden, Allerton Garden, and our Visitor Center Garden.

The mission of the National Tropical Botanical Garden is to enrich life by perpetuating tropical plants, ecosystems, and cultural heritage. We do this by administering a network of five gardens and five preserves as well as programs that deliver our mission locally, regionally and internationally. The two flagship gardens of NTBG are McBryde Garden and Allerton Garden which are both located in the Lāwa‘i Valley on the South Shore of Kaua‘i.

Collectively these gardens are referred to as the “Lāwa‘i Gardens” (LG).

Allerton Garden is a historic garden created in the mid 1900s by two of the founders of NTBG – Robert and John Gregg Allerton. It is currently considered a masterwork of landscape art and architecture and is adjacent to a highly sensitive beach and marine environment that has been placed in the Lāwa‘i Kai Special Subzone. Since the death of John Allerton in 1986, Allerton Garden has been owned by the Allerton Garden Trust and is managed by NTBG via a Management Agreement.

McBryde Garden was the first garden established by NTBG when it broke ground in January 1970. It contains the majority of NTBG’s Living Collections representing irreplaceable plants from around the world assembled for their conservation and research value.

In addition, there is our Visitor Center garden, which is our gateway garden, and is intended to entice visitors to take a tour of one of our gardens in Lāwa‘i Valley.

The purpose of this position is to oversee the South Shore horticulture staff that work within the McBryde, Allerton and Visitor Center Gardens. The position’s primary responsibility is leading a team of diverse staff to care for plant health and display horticulture in all of the Lāwa‘i Gardens. It entails collaboration with NTBG Living Collections Curator and occasionally other departments within NTBG as needed.

This is a “hands‑on” physically demanding position that requires dynamic leadership skills.

• Oversee the horticulture and gardener staff to ensure the health; and research, conservation and aesthetic value of each of the collections and gardens.
• Oversee horticulture operations, to include out planting, plant care, irrigation, pest management, mulching and fertilizer programs, purchasing programs, contractor oversight, maintenance programs and regulatory compliance.
• Support and leverage volunteer and intern programs to achieve horticultural objectives.
• Coordinate with the Director of Lāwa‘i Gardens all activities in all gardens that could impact the living collections.
• Coordinate work schedules and priorities with the McBryde and Allerton Garden foremen, horticulture technicians and gardeners.
• Ensure a safe working environment for all staff in accordance with garden safety protocols.
• Understands principles of integrated pest management and the importance of soil health in plant care. Able to perform diagnostics on plant health and insect control.
• Ensure the health and wellbeing of the rare and endangered Hawaiian plant collections for all Lāwa‘i gardens.
• Plan and implement fertilizer, compost and mulch schedules for all Lāwa‘i gardens. Knowledgeable in the uses of commercial and organic fertilizers.
• Coordinate all out plantings for McBryde, Allerton and Visitor Center gardens and ensure that all plantings support the strategic growth of the collections.
• Seek the council of specialists on best management practices to protect the health and integrity of the living collections.
• Maintain regular communication with the Curator of Living Collections to best ensure alignment with strategic living collections growth and maintenance objectives.
• Actively contribute to, and in some cases lead medium- to long-term garden planning efforts, including but not limited to section- and landscape-management plans.
• Represent NTBG at various community and professional forums.
• Adhere to all management practices outlined in Living Collections policy, including…