The certifications your landscape contractor has indicates the level of service and expertise you’ll receive as a client. It’s important to know what these certifications mean as some will affect your service more than others, depending on your landscape needs. A qualified commercial contractor should be certified in all aspects of landscaping, including tree care. While regular tree trimming is often not included in your regular landscape maintenance service, having Certified Arborists on staff is taking a proactive approach to tree care, possibly reducing tree care costs in the future.

Certified Arborists are trained and knowledgeable in all facets of arboriculture with three or more years of full-time, eligible, practical work experience in arboriculture and/or a degree in the field of arboriculture, horticulture, landscape architecture, or forestry. They receive this certification by passing an extensive examination covering all aspects of arboriculture, including tree biology, tree identification and selection, tree-soil-water relations, tree nutrition and fertilization, tree planting and establishment, pruning concepts and techniques, cabling, bracing and lightning protection, problem diagnosis and management, tree preservation on construction sites, climbing and safe work practices, and tree risk assessment. In order to renew certification every three years, arborists must complete 30 continuing education units by attending seminars, studying in college courses, or completing study in ISA published magazines and books.

The arborist certification program has successfully improved landscaping by setting minimum standards of achievement, incentives for continuing education, and an improved image from both the arborist’s and the general public’s points of view. Certified Arborists offer clients a high level of assurance that their trees will not be damaged or mutilated, and that both they and the arborist understand the effects of a treatment or maintenance program.