Home » Education Programs » Internships
Internships at BBG
Horticulture Intern
BBG's horticulture internship supports our mission to use the Garden as a working garden, living laboratory and educational resource. Each year, interns have an eight month, hands-on experience working directly with BBG's internationally respected horticulture staff.
Program Objective
Provide post high school age adults with a hands-on horticulture experience training in a botanic garden with horticulture professionals. For those interested in pursuing a career in horticulture.
Goals for Horticulture Interns
- Acquire a basic foundation in gardening techniques and horticulture knowledge
- Become familiar with horticulture tools, equipment and vehicles
- Introductions to career opportunities in horticulture and public gardens
- Learn about the mission of BBG, and the resources and operations of a botanic garden
- Gain an appreciation for the global diversity of plants and people
- Learn the benefits of teamwork, cooperation and reinforce a sense of responsibility
Intern Positions Available:
General Horticulture (7 positions)
- Assisting Specialty Gardeners with daily maintenance of their "many garden
within the Garden." Tasks can include watering, weeding, planting, pruning,
deadheading, fertilizing, mulching, raking gravel paths, using the blower,
raking leaves, cultivating and cleaning out planting beds. This assignment is
rotated every few weeks with the Grounds Crew.
This includes the Alice Recknagel Ireys Fragrance Garden, Cranford Rose Garden, Herb Garden, Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden, Lily Pool Terrace, Native Flora Garden, Osborne Garden, Rock Garden, Shakespeare Garden. Other areas include the Plant Family Collection, Louisa Clark Spencer Lilac Collection and Magnolia Plaza. - Assisting Grounds Crew with maintenance of trees, 20 acres of turf, the border mounds that surround the garden's perimeter and other parts of the garden.
Rose Garden (1 position)
- Assisting the Rosarian of the Cranford Rose Garden, which is one of the largest collections of roses in the United States with about 5,000 roses and 1200 varieties, and also the Rose Arc Pool area. Tasks can include deadheading, pruning, watering, fertilizing, cleaning paths, weeding and working with the volunteers.
- More information about the Cranford Rose Garden
Propagation (1 position)
- Assisting the Plant Propagator with starting and growing plants for our collections and displays as well as for the Signature Plant program from seed, cuttings and plugs. The intern is also responsible for collecting seeds as well as assisting the staff of the Steinhardt Conservatory with their collections and glasshouses. Tasks can also include deadheading, pruning, watering, fertilizing, cleaning paths, weeding and researching.
All Internships Include:
Education
Horticulture interns are encouraged to attend the 8 Adult Education evening classes in the Horticultural Certificate Program which are free of charge to the intern. The classes are offered so that the intern will be able to finish all classes before the end of the internship.
More information about the Horticultural Certificate Program.
Field Trips
The horticulture interns are usually offered 3 field trips during the 8 months. This is a great opportunity for the interns to visit and experience different aspects of public horticulture. These field trips take place during a work day and are generally outside of the NYC area. Past field trips have included: Old Westbury Gardens & Planting Fields, Longwood Gardens & Chanticleer and Rodale Farm Institute.
Projects
Interns are encouraged to work on a 6 month long project during their internship. Interns are allowed 2 hours of project time each week to work on their chosen projects. Many resources are available to the intern and they include: Gardener's Resource Center, Science Library, Herbarium, access to computers and the internet. The horticulture staff and the rest of the BBG staff are also good resources as well as the 52 acres of gardens and plant collections.
Projects have included: slide documentation of the perennial beds, PowerPoint presentation of animals in the Garden, draft of Rose Garden brochure, making natural dyes from plants, and researching heirloom seeds.
Group Projects
Group projects are scattered throughout the 8 months depending on the need and season. One of the first group projects of the year is cleaning out the brook that runs through the middle of the Garden. Every fall, the Annual Border on the Lily Pool Terrace is planted with 10,000 tulips with the help of the interns. Other group projects have included mulching lilac beds, cleaning out the border mounds and planting the summer annuals in the Annual Border.
