Gardener

We’re looking for a talented, enthusiastic Gardener to join our team at Horatio’s Garden Scotland to help nurture and develop one of the region’s most exciting and ambitious hospital gardens, designed by James Alexander-Sinclair. This isn’t just a maintenance role — it’s your chance to lead a garden that changes lives by providing a sanctuary for patients, visitors, and staff alike.

The garden has been beautifully designed and includes a water feature, a woodland area and a separate courtyard with a garden room and pods to give patients warm sheltered places to enjoy the garden in all weather. There is a glasshouse and raised beds for growing edible and ornamental plants with patients, along with a dedicated office space.

Horatio’s Garden is a nationwide charity creating and nurturing beautifully designed gardens in NHS spinal injury centres. The Gardener will be responsible for managing and caring for the garden and supporting the patients who use it. You will run a thriving, vibrant sanctuary which meets the needs of the charity’s beneficiaries.

What You’ll Do

• Lead & Inspire: Manage a dedicated team of gardening volunteers, sharing your knowledge, passion, and creativity to nurture both people and plants.
• Design & Curate: Work closely with the Director of Gardens and designer James Alexander-Sinclair to evolve the garden with flair and all year round interest.
• Cultivate Excellence: Ensure everything flourishes to the highest horticultural standards.
• Champion Sustainability: Be a driving force in eco-conscious gardening, water management, and biodiversity initiatives.
• Educate & Engage: Run individual and group gardening sessions for people with spinal injuries with creativity and sensitivity.
• Maintain & Enhance: Ensure the ongoing care and maintenance of the garden fixtures, fittings and buildings, working with contractors to retain high standards throughout.

Who You Are

• Essential: A seasoned horticulturalist with an RHS Level 2 qualification or equivalent hands-on experience.
• Excellent plant knowledge with experience of various propagation methods, cultivation techniques and plant health monitoring.
• Proven volunteer management skills with a knack for inspiring and motivating others.
• A creative thinker with a strong eye for design and planting combinations.
• Passionate about sustainability and ecological best practices.
• A brilliant communicator with the ability to foster positive working relationships.
• Demonstrate an understanding of health and safety aspects of public gardens.
• Interest in wellbeing benefits of gardens.

• Desirable: RHS Level 3 Horticultural qualification.
• Experienced in delivering therapeutic horticulture sessions or workshops.
• A professional and confident public speaker, with the ability to lead garden tours and talks.
• Proven experience of recruiting and training volunteers.
• Great IT skills, specifically proficient with Microsoft Office 365 – Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint.
• Experience of using social media to promote activities and events.

Qualities

• Flexible and able to adapt to changing priorities.
• Empathetic and kind.
• Self-motivated and capable of working with the minimum of direction but understanding the limits of your knowledge and able to seek advice when required.
• Able to meet the physical demands of the role.

What We Offer

• The chance to lead one of the region’s most talked-about gardens.
• A talented, supportive team who love what they do.
• Access to training, workshops and horticultural events.
• Opportunity to shape and evolve a garden that tells a story.

As a Charity we are committed to creating and promoting a culture that protects and preserves the welfare of the vulnerable people in our care. Our safer recruitment practices support this by ensuring that there is a consistent and thorough process of obtaining and evaluating information from and about candidates including criminal record checks, to ensure that all persons appointed are suitable to work for our Charity.

NOTE: PVG, medical and reference checks will be conducted as part of the recruitment process.

Please write a one page covering letter, explaining why you would be suited to this role and send this along with your CV to kath.moss@horatiosgarden.org.uk.

We are an equal opportunity employer and welcome applications from all sectors of society.