Pick the one right for you!

• Landscape & Horticulture Specialist



• Landscape & Horticulture Professional I



• Landscape & Horticulture Professional. II

Certificate Check List

Here is what you should know...

• Professional certification is rapidly increasing in importance within the Environmental Horticulture Program to match its increasing importance in the workplace.
• The purpose of the certification program is to provide marketable skills without the need for General Education.
• Most of the courses required for certifications can also be applied to the A.S. degree so that certification can usually be a step toward that degree. Non-degree, certificate-only courses are Field Skills I & I and the LESCO certification courses under construction.
• Our certification program is oriented strongly toward outside agencies, principally the Florida Nursery & Growers Assn. (FNGA), LESCO (program under construction), and the International Society of Arboriculture.
• Most of the Palm Beach State certifications can be used as steppingstones toward the FNGA certifications of the same names.
• Generally, professional certificates are not licenses and are not required by law to practice horticulture. However, in Florida and nationally, there is a growing certification movement, with employers coming to prefer or require certified employees.
• The former Horticulture certificates are in the process of being replaced by a new certification program, which is under construction. The older certificates remain available. The new program has the advantages of closer ties to the industry, direct relationship with FNGA, and formal credit. FNGA certificates earned through Palm Beach State will count as educational "end points" appearing on transcripts.
• Students interested in FNGA certification should contact the Florida Nursery & Growers Association in Orlando for updates, details, promotional materials, discussion of experience requirements when relevant, and current manuals. Their Education Director is Ms. Merry Mott at 1-800-375-3642 or mmott@fnga.org. The Palm Beach State Environmental Horticulture Department can help you make contact.

Here is what you must do...

• For ISA certification, take Arboriculture and pass the ISA Certified Arborist exam.
  For the FNGA Florida Certified Horticulture [formerly Nursery] Professional certification, take Nursery Management and pass the FNGA written exam. This is given on campus in December, as well as at FNATS (Orlando, September) and TPIE (Ft. Lauderdale, January)
• For the LESCO Fertilizer & Turf Certification contact the Environmental Horticulture Dept. (561-207-5052) as this program develops.
• For Palm Beach State Environmental Horticulture certificates, complete the Palm Bech State certificate requirements (with suggested course sequence) below. (To obtain requirements for the older certificates, contact the Dept. Chair.)
• For FNGA certifications (beyond FCHP), complete all FNGA requirements and pass FNGA's exams, which involve various combinations of field skills, written examinations, and experience as detailed below. The Palm Beach State certificates are steppingstones to the FNGA certifications. Those offered by Palm Beach State require only passing all of the listed courses.