Director of Horticulture

Director Of Horticulture

In support of our mission, the Director of Horticulture will provide key leadership member of the Management team reporting to the Executive Director. The incumbent in this position will both strategically and on a day-to-day basis oversee horticulture, garden planning, design, operations, and maintenance of our Topiary gardens, general grounds, and facilities operations. All these areas shall be attended to in the highest horticultural standards and with respect for their historic significance and need to accommodate visitors.

This position will work in collaboration with staff and other subject matter experts to ensure that the gardens are maintained and preserved in keeping with the Garden Identity Document. The Director is responsible for planning and coordinating the daily activities of the horticulture staff and volunteers; develop, plans and implements planting designs; establishes and adheres to an annual budget; oversees ordering of supplies and plants;

ensuring that all equipment is available and operational; and oversees the accurate recording, tracking and communication of plant-related information. Ladew is known as one of the top gardens in the country and is recognized for excellence in horticultural display; continuously curating, maintaining, and advancing this public standing in the industry is integral to this position.

Leadership:

• Serve as Ladew's subject matter expert in all garden and facilities related areas by integrating the operations of both into the overall Garden's operations and ensuring mission and objectives of the Gardens are achieved.
• Lead the curation and development of Ladew's living collections, ensuring alignment with ornamental, historical, environmental, educational, and programmatic goals.
• Collaborate with the Executive Director, Board of Directors and its committees, Ladew management members, donors, volunteers, and community at large to represent the horticulture and historical programs and Master Plan.
• Collaborate with Development Team to support fundraising and stewardship initiatives related to horticultural objectives, and with Marketing, to share the Gardens' accomplishments, historical content, and aspirations.
• Collaborate with the Director of Education to plan horticulture specific demonstrations, programs, tours and presentations that are offered to daily guests and through public events. Serves as a liaison to the education, guest services and events departments to ensure horticulture is integrated in all programming.
• Create departmental annual plans in line with organizational vision and key strategic priorities.
• Pursue continuous education and certifications in leadership development and horticulture professional advancement locally and nationally to ensure that the knowledge maintained is at the utmost high level feasible.
• Supports all efforts to enhance the visitor experience by planning and implementing new strategies and programs to engage guests in horticulture, environmental stewardship and Ladew history.
• Supports institutional events and programs, serves as an active participant on committees and ensures the full support of the educational staff of these efforts. Participates or encourages horticulture staff participation in institutional tours, classes, demonstrations and speaking engagements as requested.
• Establishes community partners to support the advancement of the public horticulture, particularly in serving as a research or test site.
• Serves as an external representative of the organization, a national leader in horticulture and as a liaison with key organizations to support achieving institutional goals.

Management:

• Directly supervises the plant collections subject matter expert, horticultural staff; engages seasonal staff, interns and volunteers to meet departmental and organizational goals with the explicit intent of preserving Harvey Ladew's overall design intent, interpretation, and vision of his gardens as articulated in the Garden Identity Document.
• Establish annual departmental operating budget for horticulture and facilities, authorize departmental expenditures, and evaluate…