What does a gardener do?
Gardeners are skilled employees who are responsible for monitoring the health of all plants and trees while maintaining the landscape of a garden. These gardeners are required to trim lawns edges while using rakes and brooms to remove lawn clippings and clear other debris from the ground. They need to use various gardening tools to perform basic pruning while neatly shaping bushes and trees to the desired design. Gardeners must also apply liquid fertilizers and chemical control agents to remove weeds and protect the attractiveness of the landscapes.
Gardener responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real gardener resumes:
- Manage hardscape installation team and project
- General grounds maintenance of exterior landscaping, including trimming, weed control, lawn mowing, and applying fertilizer.
- Operate and maintain lawn mowers and tractors for seeding, aeration, snow removal and fertilizing of grounds.
- Operate vehicles or power equipment, such as mowers, snow blowers, chain-saws, electric clippers and pruning saws.
- Operate a variety of equipment including hand and power tools, blowers, mowers, and drive a vehicle around campus.
- Clean grounds using rakes, brooms, trash can, and hand blower.
- Have experience working a bobcat, and backhoe.
- Mow and trim lawns, trims shrubs and cultivates gardens
- Design, plant, prune, mulch and maintain select client's flower and vegetable gardens.
- Organize and maintain equipment such as shovels, pitchforks, and machetes for use for the next day.
- Learned formal hedge clipping, pattern mowing, weeding, dividing and pruning for vigor and abundance of bloom.
- Train workers in correct methods to pot, water and prune plants having to be accountable for the work.
- Install sprinklers, irrigation system, rock gardens, ponds, decks, drainage systems, retaining walls and fences.
- Operate vehicles and power equipment, such as mowers, tractors, single-axle trailers, chain saws, and pruning saws.
- Participate in installations of irrigation sprinklers.
Gardener skills and personality traits
We calculated that 20% of Gardeners are proficient in GRASS, Mowing, and Hand Tools.
We break down the percentage of Gardeners that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- GRASS, 20%
Mowed grass-Pruned trees-Removed unwanted or hazardous trees-Planted grass seed-Laid sod-Planted flowers
- Mowing, 10%
Care for plant material on a 500 acre estate to include planting, watering, weeding, pruning and mowing.
- Hand Tools, 7%
Utilized machinery and equipment ranging from simple hand tools such as pruning shears, and trowel to loaders, and graders.
- Blowers, 7%
Operated vehicles or powered equipment, such as mowers, snow blowers, chain-saws, electric clippers and pruning saws.
- Rakes, 5%
Cleaned grounds using rakes, brooms, trash can, and hand blower.
- Grounds Maintenance, 5%
Perform grounds maintenance, gardening and cleanup work on landscaped areas and adjacent streets and sidewalks.
Common skills that a gardener uses to do their job include "grass," "mowing," and "hand tools." You can find details on the most important gardener responsibilities below.
Physical stamina. The most essential soft skill for a gardener to carry out their responsibilities is physical stamina. This skill is important for the role because "grounds maintenance workers must be able to do strenuous labor for long periods of time, occasionally in extreme heat or cold." Additionally, a gardener resume shows how their duties depend on physical stamina: "accustomed to physical labor, heavy lifting and work in all weather conditions. "
The three companies that hire the most gardeners are:
- Americorps9 gardeners jobs
- Stay Green
9 gardeners jobs
- University of Washington8 gardeners jobs
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Gardener vs. Landscape labour
When it comes to landscape labor, one of the primary responsibilities is to perform landscape support tasks such as trimming the lawn, digging holes, planting flowers and trees, placing garden designs, and installing devices such as sprinkler systems. The majority of the tasks require physical work; there are instances where they must create structures such as ponds, fences, borders, patios, and other outdoor features. Furthermore, most of the tasks are in a group setting, which is why it is essential to coordinate with team members and adhere to the directives of supervisors or clients.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, gardener responsibilities require skills like "ladders," "taking care," "pest control," and "plant material." Meanwhile a typical landscape labour has skills in areas such as "mow lawns," "retaining walls," "dump truck," and "manual labor." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Landscape labours really shine in the health care industry with an average salary of $29,929. Comparatively, gardeners tend to make the most money in the media industry with an average salary of $37,164.landscape labours tend to reach similar levels of education than gardeners. In fact, landscape labours are 2.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.3% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Gardener vs. Lawn specialist
A lawn specialist supervises the lawn gardeners keeping the garden or surroundings in a particular place like buildings, nursing homes, hospitals, government offices, and private institutions clean and green. Often you can see them trimming tall grass and bushes, cuts stems of a flower, and maintains the grass bed. This position specializes in applying different inputs such as fertilizers, leading, and others. Most of the time, they follow suggestions or comments made by their client, leading to the improvement of the yard or garden.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that gardener responsibilities requires skills like "hand tools," "rakes," "grounds maintenance," and "irrigation systems." But a lawn specialist might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "production reports," "safety procedures," "dot," and "cleanliness."
Lawn specialists earn similar levels of education than gardeners in general. They're 2.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Gardener vs. Irrigation technician
An irrigation technician is responsible for installing, testing, and maintaining irrigation equipment such as sprinklers, suction valves, and pumps. Typical duties for this position include operating heavy machinery for trenching, installing wiring systems for irrigation timers, and inspecting equipment for a day's work. In addition, an irrigation technician may be required to travel to the client's location to install, test, or perform preventative maintenance of irrigation equipment. You are also expected to dig trenches and install lines and pipes and troubleshoot and replace faulty parts.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a gardener is likely to be skilled in "ladders," "pest control," "water lawns," and "landscape maintenance," while a typical irrigation technician is skilled in "sprinkler heads," "customer service," "work ethic," and "strong work ethic."
Irrigation technicians earn the highest salary when working in the construction industry, where they receive an average salary of $35,738. Comparatively, gardeners have the highest earning potential in the media industry, with an average salary of $37,164.Most irrigation technicians achieve a similar degree level compared to gardeners. For example, they're 2.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Gardener vs. Arborist
An arborist is responsible for studying the tree structures and cultivating it for its growth and development as part of environmental conservation efforts. Arborists conduct regular pruning and fertilization, keeping the trees away from parasites and other harmful substances. They also operate various tools and equipment for efficiency and accurate processing. An arborist coordinates with environmental and community organizations to keep the trees' healthy condition, as well as recommending activities that would help in sustaining efforts, such as planting and growing trees across the desired location.
Types of gardener
Updated January 8, 2025











