How to hire a horticultural worker

How to hire a horticultural worker, step by step

Here's a step-by-step horticultural worker hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a horticultural worker job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new horticultural worker
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a horticultural worker, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A horticultural worker's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, horticultural workers from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   Here's a comparison of horticultural worker salaries for various roles:

   Type of Horticultural Worker	Description	Hourly rate
   Horticultural Worker	Grounds maintenance workers ensure that the grounds of houses, businesses, and parks are attractive, orderly, and healthy in order to provide a pleasant outdoor environment.	$10-16
   Keeper	A storekeeper is responsible for managing all a store's operations and overseeing the care and maintenance of stocks, including inventory management. Your duties will include receiving, unloading, and shelving supplies, inspecting deliveries for discrepancies and damage, and managing all documentation... Show more	$11-23
   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... Show more	$11-17

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Mowing
   • GRASS
   • Prune
   • Hand Saws
   • Plant Identification
   • Flower Beds
   • Backpack
   • Mowers
   • Blowers
   • MOW
   • Pruners
   • Rakes
   • Leaf Blower
   • Irrigation Systems

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Used spade, trowels, rakes, sprayers and hedge trimmers for gardening.
   • Operate leaf blowers, hedge trimmers, weed whackers and mow lawns to maintain gardens and beautify parks.
   • Remove and mow weeds or grass.
   • Operate powered equipment such as mowers, chainsaws, electric clippers, edger's.
   • Maintain a sanitary environment by following company procedures such as raking grass and garbage removal.
   • Operate power lawnmowers, handsaws, pruners, etc.

   More horticultural worker duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your horticultural worker job description helps attract top candidates to the position. A horticultural worker salary can be affected by several factors, such as geography, experience, seniority, certifications, and the prestige of the hiring company.

   For example, the average salary for a horticultural worker in Tennessee may be lower than in Rhode Island, and an entry-level horticultural worker usually earns less than a senior-level horticultural worker. Additionally, a horticultural worker with certifications may command a higher salary, and working for a well-known company or start-up may also impact an employee's pay.

   Average horticultural worker salary

   $13.04hourly

   $27,124 yearly

   ---

   Entry-level horticultural worker salary

   $21,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 15, 2025

   Average horticultural worker salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	New York	$30,750	$15
   2	Minnesota	$30,290	$15
   3	Colorado	$27,348	$13
   4	Maryland	$26,061	$13
   5	Texas	$24,887	$12
   6	Kentucky	$24,268	$12
   7	Alabama	$22,887	$11
   8	Louisiana	$22,549	$11

   Average horticultural worker salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Floratech	$35,173	$16.91
   2	lakeforest	$33,979	$16.34
   3	Four Seasons	$32,972	$15.85	3
   4	Landtech	$29,776	$14.32
   5	Service Corporation International	$29,604	$14.23	6
   6	The CJS Solutions Group	$29,155	$14.02
   7	Southwest Airlines	$29,152	$14.02
   8	Valley Services, Inc.	$29,142	$14.01
   9	Thomas	$29,072	$13.98	2
   10	The Jan Companies	$28,759	$13.83
   11	Eagle Crest Communities	$28,306	$13.61
   12	Rose Hills Mortuary	$28,180	$13.55	6
   13	Battlefield Farms	$27,954	$13.44
   14	Stoney Point Fire Department	$27,873	$13.40
   15	Linder	$27,634	$13.29
   16	Mariani Landscape	$27,603	$13.27
   17	Terra Holding Co	$27,522	$13.23
   18	Copano/Operations, Inc	$27,500	$13.22
   19	Dev	$27,491	$13.22	3
   20	Prides Corner Farms	$27,385	$13.17

4. Writing a horticultural worker job description

   A horticultural worker job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. Below, you can find an example of a horticultural worker job description:

   Horticultural worker job description example

   Our associates celebrate lives. We celebrate our associates.
   
   Consider the possibilities of joining a Great Place to Work!
   
   Prepare and care for the growth of seasonal plantings from plugs or bulb to botanical in the greenhouse. Installs and maintains plants in cemetery grounds.
   
   **JOB RESPONSIBILITIES**
   
   **Horticulture**
   
   + Perform manual labor in the care and growth of plugs and bulbs into botanicals in preparations for seasonal plantings. Label seedlings/plants for accurate identification of floral type and color, waters, and fertilizes. Propagates plants through life cycle transferring to appropriate container size, removing damages or unsightly foliage, and keeping plantings free from disease and insects, and oriented to proper light. Maintains a clean and orderly workspace.
   
   + Loads vehicles with plantings, tools, dirt, and fertilizer for plantings. Review planting requests and delivers materials to appropriate location. Drives cautiously to prevent damage to surroundings; may adjust deliveries to respect burials and visitors. Washes and maintains vehicles in working order; identifies issues to management
   
   + Till and prepare soil for seasonal botanical plantings and removes prior plantings. Manually digs trenches or holes for plantings. Installs plantings or bulbs at designated gravesite or area. Maintains equipment and tools.
   
   + Maintains, prunes, and deadheads botanicals as needed to promote flowering and appearance. May pull and remove weeds. May lay sod.
   
   + Seasonally apply or remove winter grave blankets.
   
   **MINIMUM** **Requirements**
   
   Education
   
   + High School Diploma or equivalent required
   
   Experience
   
   + Professional or personal experience in floriculture, horticulture, and/or design is desired but not required
   
   Ability
   
   + Operate company owned four-wheeled vehicles to transport plants, dirt, and tools.
   
   **WORK CONDITIONS**
   
   When considering the work environment associated with this job, the following factors may apply:
   
   + Environment - Work is primarily outdoors
   
   + Postures - Frequent continuous sitting, kneeling, or standing up to 6 hours per day; frequent bending and stooping
   
   + Physical Demands - Physical effort requiring manual dexterity is required, to dig and plant seedlings and plants, ability to lift and carry plants, dirt, and fertilizers weighing up to 50 lbs.
   
   + Hours - May work beyond standard hours or schedule as business needs arise
   
   Postal Code: 95326
   
   Category (Portal Searching): Technical and Trade
   
   Job Location: US-CA - Hughson

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find horticultural workers for your business:

   • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your horticultural worker job on Zippia to find and recruit horticultural worker candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting horticultural workers requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new horticultural worker

   Once you've found the horticultural worker candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   It's equally important to follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   To prepare for the new horticultural worker first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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