Hotel Gardener — Colonial Patio & Hacienda Properties

Responsibilities

• Maintain enclosed colonial patio gardens: potted palms, ferns, bromeliad collections, and ornamental flowering plants kept in the shade zones of Mérida's historic center properties
• Care for hacienda grounds where applicable: native trees (ceiba, ramón, chukum), ornamental palms, grounds grass, and traditional Yucatecan planting features
• Manage cistern-fed irrigation in colonial properties that rely on stored rainwater — careful scheduling to stretch water supply through the pre-rainy-season dry months (March–May)
• Apply heat-tolerant plant selection and replacement: high summer mortality in exposed plantings requires a regular replacement program with shade-tolerant and drought-adapted species
• Manage cenote-adjacent planting at hacienda properties where on-site cenotes are a guest attraction — SEMARNAT chemical compliance near water features
• Maintain pool surrounds at hacienda hotels: ornamental plantings around traditional colonial-style pool areas visible from guest rooms and common areas

Requirements

• Yucatán Peninsula plant knowledge preferred — native and adapted species for extreme heat
• Cistern-fed irrigation management awareness
• Colonial and hacienda property experience
• Transport between city and hacienda properties (if applicable)

Benefits

• IMSS, aguinaldo, paid vacation + premium
• Transport allowance MXN 400/month
• Staff canteen
• Uniform provided
• Tools provided

Work environment

Colonial boutique hotel and/or hacienda hotel in and around Mérida. Traditional Yucatecan garden maintenance in properties where the enclosed patio and cenote environments define the guest experience.

About the role

Mérida's colonial hotel gardens are quiet, enclosed spaces that work against the brutal Yucatán heat — the shade of the high colonial walls, the humidity of the central fuente, the sound of water in the patio. The gardener who keeps that microclimate functional — who knows that the ferns live because of the shade and the misting, and who replaces the exposed potted plant that didn't survive July without waiting to be asked — is maintaining the property's most important guest comfort zone.