By Tony Johnson
University of Georgia

The accountants, physicians, architects and engineers we rely on
when we want the best are all certified. It only makes sense to
turn to a certified landscape professional to plant or maintain
your landscape.

Your landscape, after all, is a big investment. And it raises the
value of your property. Fortunately, Georgia now has a number of
certified landscape professionals through the Georgia Certified
Landscape Professional program.

The GCLP is endorsed and sponsored by the Georgia Green Industry
Association, Metro Atlanta Landscape and Turf Association and
Georgia Turfgrass Association. It’s run by the University of
Georgia Center for Urban Agriculture in Griffin, Ga.

Twice a year, landscapers enrolled in the GCLP come to Griffin to
the UGA Research and Education Garden, where they’re tested on
their skills in landscape practices and plant selection.

Making the grade

If they pass these tests, they become certified landscape
technicians. To become certified landscape professionals, they
must pass written exams, too, on landscape management,
installation and pest diagnosis.

But the learning doesn’t stop there. Each CLP is required to
become recertified every three years, mainly through trade shows,
workshops, seminars and other educational programs.

Earning these credentials identifies them as the best in their
profession. A homeowner who hires a CLP is choosing someone who
has a working knowledge and mastery of all aspects of landscape
management.

All CLPs are tested on using landscape design plans, selecting
plants for landscape conditions, identifying plants and properly
planting and caring for landscape plants. They must be competent
in identifying and diagnosing pests, applying pesticides, using
equipment and evaluating installation and maintenance jobs.

Testing covers the best management practices, too, for reducing
nonpoint-source pollutants from home landscapes and for water
conservation in landscape systems.

Find a CLP

There are now 125 CLPs in Georgia. They’re scattered from
Blairsville to Augusta to Tybee Island to Tifton. Most are in or
near Metro Atlanta. Another 300 landscape professionals, however,
are registered for the program and are now testing to become
certified.

If you want a CLP for your landscape needs, check the listing on
the “Georgia Certified Landscape Professional Program” Web site
at www.ces.uga.edu/GCLPP.htm.

The same site provides contact information for landscapers who
want to become certified and join the ranks of the best of their
profession.

(Tony Johnson is the Research and Education Garden
horticulturist with the University of Georgia College of
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.)