Pamela Kettler

A woman-owned boutique gardening business with eleven employees and over fifty properties. I work successfully as part of a team and individually. Our company currently has a waitlist and relies solely on word of mouth.

• Use Google Calendar to manage time and Workforce app to document hours and write notes to prepare for invoicing.
• Use proper techniques to perform maintenance and installation tasks.
• Create planting designs for containers.
• Maintain gardening tools and equipment by sharpening and cleaning to keep in good working condition.
• Participate in morning huddles and management meetings.
• Ensure customer satisfaction by leaving site in good order.
• Store tools for safety and organization.

Responsible for management, planning, operation, and appearance of Senate section (60 acres) of the U.S. Capitol Grounds. Included courtyard, green roof, multiple parks, and major pedestrian thoroughfares from Union Station.

• Planned use of staff, equipment, facilities, and materials to achieve goals presented by higher-level supervisors.
• Facilitated safe and positive work environment.
• Resolved complaints and grievances of higher-level supervisors and direct reports.
• Coordinated work of senate section with other (capitol and house) sections of the 300-acre grounds.
• Scheduled use of shared fleet of trucks for mulching, leaf, and snow removal.
• Performed administrative functions for subordinates- such as managing schedules and validating timesheets.
• Routinely checked to verify that subordinates were using required PPE and following standards for safe application of pesticides.
• Directed and performed maintenance tasks such as leaf, trash, and snow removal.
• Directed and performed horticultural tasks.
• Ensured that work was executed to highest standards in horticulture.
• Performed inventories of supplies and investigated and documented missing items as needed.
• Conducted annual performance reviews and made disciplinary and congratulatory interventions as needed.

Six-acre property with extensive, world-class garden. Features sun and shade, formal and informal, perennial, vegetable and woodland areas, water features and lawns. Main and guest house built in 1921 and 1876 with many two-hundred-year-old oaks and other mature specimen trees. Gardens published in numerous garden and design magazines and books during my time there.

• Designed, purchased for, and supervised installation of many woody and herbaceous plantings throughout the property in shade, sun, wet and dry conditions.
• Designed, purchased for, and supervised installation of dozens of containers on rotation for change in early spring, late spring, summer, fall and winter.
• Designed fall plantings of spring-blooming bulbs in many garden areas. One of these plantings was featured in statewide publication to promote The Garden Club of Virginia, Historic Garden Week, 2021.
• Managed daily garden operations utilizing team of four staff gardeners for hand pruning, edible crop rotations, perennial bed and container maintenance, rose care, fertilizing, and pest and disease control.
• Managed removals and substitutions of overgrown and declining specimen trees, shrubs, and hedges.
• Screened, selected, oriented, and trained new garden hires. Fostered healthy team dynamic with longevity and little turnover.
• Supported Estate Manager for special events and renovations- assisting with communications, shopping, facilitating deliveries, household and vehicle maintenance, audio/visual support as needed.
• Managed bookkeeping using Microsoft Excel.
• Trained and supervised employees to aid in keeping records of all purchases and expenses.
• Communicated directly with the primary, in absence of the Estate Manager, to coordinate lunches, trips to airport, etc.
• Organized and trained staff members to use Google Sheets and Google Docs to communicate progress on goals and update records in a timely fashion.
• Created format for annual budgets.
• Created organizational tools to support improved maintenance of the garden and houses (examples include “What's Where Sheet, “Event Checklists,” and “Maintenance Ticklers” for the Garden and Houses).

• Used proper technique to perform all aspects of garden maintenance including watering, pruning, deadheading, planting, applying pest/disease controls and fertilizers.
• Managed one other Estate Gardener and oversaw performance of contractors.
• Designed container, annual, and perennial plantings.
• Maintained gardening tools and equipment by sharpening, cleaning, and properly storing.

• Supported two Landscape Architects in design and graphic representation of numerous public, institutional, and commercial spaces.
• Created construction details, layout, and planting plans.
• Primarily worked in AutoCAD and Photoshop.

• Supported four Landscape Architects in the graphic representation of numerous public, institutional, and commercial spaces.
• Planting design and plant list consultation.
• Primarily worked in AutoCAD.

• Designed multiple plantings for Capitol Grounds sites including the courtyard of the Russell Building (Senate offices) and a Rain Garden.
• Inventoried and assessed the health of historic trees throughout campus.

• Performed all aspects of garden maintenance including watering, pruning, deadheading, planting, applying pest/disease controls and fertilizers.