Head of Horticulture, Garden & Grounds 

Position Summary

The Horticulturist and Head of Garden & Grounds leads the care and conservation of The Merwin Conservancy’s 18.9-acre palm forest—an internationally recognized living collection of more than 3,000 palms representing over 500 species from around the world. This role ensures the continued health, beauty, and continued flourishing of this unique landscape stewarded by the poet, environmentalist, and activist W.S. Merwin and Paula Merwin and plays a central role in its next chapter.

Blending ecological stewardship, site conservation, collection curation, and community engagement, this position offers holistic care and oversight of The Merwin Conservancy’s palm forest, paths, and structures. The Head of Horticulture will guide and manage a garden contractor and oversee the execution of an existing management plan by a contract caretaker. They will serve as a key collaborator—working closely with Conservancy staff, board, and community partners—to expand organizational reach and support visitor access and engagement with the natural, cultural, and literary heritage of the site.

This position offers a unique opportunity for a motivated horticultural professional seeking to take on a leadership role with broad scope and meaningful impact. Joining a small, collaborative team at a pivotal organizational moment, the Head of Horticulture will help ensure perpetual care of this extraordinary site renowned for its conservation value, inspiring aesthetics, and botanical diversity, while supporting its thoughtful evolution. This is a rare opportunity to grow professionally as part of a singular organization in which poetry, conservation, and horticulture converge, allowing the successful candidate to have a lasting impact on a site of unique ecological and cultural significance.

Primary Responsibilities

Garden and Grounds Care

• Oversee both the daily and long-term care of The Merwin Conservancy’s collection of rare palms and other tropical plant varieties as well as structures built into the landscape, including the Merwin’s ecologically-conscious home and other garden structures.
• Implement and continually refine a comprehensive landscape care plan, ensuring the health and vitality of over 3,000 palms and associated flora, including advancing integrated pest management to address threats such as coconut rhinoceros beetle, feral pigs, and deer.
• Lead acquisition, accessioning, mapping, and deaccessioning of living collections in alignment with the Conservancy’s ethos of conservation.
• Maintain the garden’s living collections database—including updating plant records, labeling, and documentation.
• Implement best practices in arboriculture, soil health, and irrigation within the unique tropical microclimate of Peʻahi Valley.
• Oversee the Conservancy’s Emergency Preparedness Plan for horticultural and landscape operations, ensuring site readiness and resilience.
• Conduct regular monitoring of plant health, ecological conditions, and invasive species trends, contributing data for long-term garden planning and scientific understanding.
• Plan and oversee ongoing maintenance of trails, pathways, fencing, and structures to ensure safety, accessibility, and ecological sensitivity.
• Support new and ongoing capital projects, maintenance, and repairs by providing ecologically informed guidance, project oversight, and sustainable best practices.
• Ensure compliance with safety standards, site conservation easement, and best horticultural practices across all operations.

Leadership

• Provide organizational leadership around horticultural care, sustainability, and site conservation, guiding energy, water, and material use across garden operations, and integrating climate resilience planning into the long-term stewardship and evolution of the site.
• Develop and manage the horticulture budget, track expenditures, and plan for resource allocation, including plant acquisitions, equipment, and maintenance projects. 
• Play a key role in planning regarding the ongoing evolution of the site’s natural and built landscapes.
• Contribute to grant proposals and reporting as needed to support funding for horticultural initiatives or conservation projects.
• Supervise contract gardeners, arborists, and vendors, a contract caretaker; oversee the work of volunteers.

Collaboration & Engagement

• Coordinate conservation initiatives with organizational and community partners, including the Loulu native palm propagation project, collaborating to expand the impact of these efforts.
• Collaborate with Conservancy staff on design of programs that integrate horticulture, aesthetic experience, and community engagement in addition to providing key site maintenance in support of on-site programs.
• Support public programs, tours, workshops, or educational initiatives that connect visitors to the garden, its conservation mission, and W.S. Merwin’s legacy.
• Collaborate with both regional and national researchers, universities, and conservation organizations to advance scientific understanding, highlight the garden’s role in broader ecological and conservation networks, and support shared conservation goals.
• Represent the Conservancy in the local and national horticultural community and with key partners.

Qualifications

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Horticulture, Botany, Ecology, Landscape Architecture, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience. 
• Minimum of 5 years of professional hands-on experience in horticulture, conservation, or public or private gardens; 2 years in a supervisory or leadership role preferred.
• Experience managing rare plant collections is highly desirable.

Expertise & Attributes

• Passion for plants and environmental stewardship.
• Demonstrated knowledge of horticultural best practices, integrated pest management, and plant health. Experience with palms and tropical species is a plus. Possess or have capacity to quickly build knowledge of native plants and horticultural techniques.
• Comfortable with hands-on horticultural work, including pruning, irrigation, planting, weeding, fertilization, and operating power tools and garden machinery safely. 
• Familiar with key concepts and processes related to building and maintaining plant collections, rare plants and conservation horticulture.
• Ability to maintain, update, and manage living collections databases for acquisition, accessioning, mapping, labeling, and deaccessioning.
• Valid driver’s license and clean driving record required.
• First Aid/CPR certified, or able to attain and maintain certification upon employment.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, including the ability to represent The Merwin Conservancy publicly, including guiding tours, providing educational programming, and supporting donor and community engagement.
• Comfort using Google Suite as a part of operations and administration.
• A strong attention to detail, proactive at problem-solving, and adaptability in a dynamic, small-team environment.

Leadership and Collaboration

• Demonstrated ability to lead, supervise, and mentor staff, volunteers, and contractors. 
• Strong project management skills with experience overseeing budgets, work plans, and long-term garden planning.
• Capacity to collaborate effectively with a small interdisciplinary team.

Please send a letter of interest detailing qualifications and resume to info@merwinconservancy.org. Review of applications will begin on December 10.

Background Check Policy: As a condition of employment with The Merwin Conservancy each qualified candidate who has been given a conditional offer of employment must participate in a background check.