Mississippi · Landscaping licensing · official-source guide
The Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce, Bureau of Plant Industry, licenses landscaping at state level. A Landscape Horticulturist License is required before you advertise, solicit, bid, contract or take a fee for landscaping and setting plants. It costs nothing, runs three years, and needs a passed exam plus a $1,000 surety bond if you guarantee work.
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Verify a licenseVerified against agency sources on 2026-10-12. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
Mississippi licenses landscaping at state level, and the agency doing it is not a contractor board. The Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce runs the Bureau of Plant Industry, and the Bureau issues the Landscape Horticulturist License under the Mississippi Regulation of Professional Services Law at Miss. Code Ann. Sections 69-19-1 through 69-19-11. The Bureau states the rule plainly: a Landscape Horticulturist License is required for persons engaged in landscaping services and the setting or replacement of any plants, and no person shall advertise in any manner, solicit business, place bids, enter contracts or receive a fee to render landscaping services and setting of plants without first obtaining a license. Read that trigger carefully, because it is not a dollar threshold and it is not a permit. The trigger is advertising, soliciting, bidding, contracting or getting paid. The Bureau regulation that fills in the detail is Subpart 3, Chapter 11, Subchapter 04, which defines a horticulturist as a person receiving fees for landscaping and setting of plants or for the sale of any plants for which the seller contracts to render future services. Program contact runs through treeandlandscape@mdac.ms.gov at the Bureau office in Mississippi State. A second agency, the Mississippi State Board of Contractors, licenses construction work by dollar threshold and by classification, and a Mississippi landscaping company that builds hardscape above those thresholds needs that license as well. Most firms in this trade therefore answer to two state agencies, not one.
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The Bureau draws two exclusions that decide whether you need the license at all. First, a Landscape Horticulturist License is not required for irrigation installation or for lawn maintenance, which the Bureau describes as grass mowing, fertilizing and similar work. Second, and this is where mowing companies get caught, persons engaged in lawn maintenance shall not have the words landscape or landscaping in their business name, because the Bureau treats the name itself as a form of advertisement for landscaping and setting of plants. A mowing-only outfit trading as Smith Landscaping is advertising a licensed service it does not hold. Either change the name or sit the exam. The Bureau category it issues is called Landscape Horticulturist, and the regulation describes it as covering persons engaged in advertising landscaping services and setting plants for which the seller contracts or agrees to render future services. Hardscape is where the two Mississippi agencies overlap. The Mississippi State Board of Contractors defines its Landscaping, Grading and Beautification classification to take in landscaping, hardscaping, planting and groundcover, mowing and trimming, preparation and grading of plots and areas of land, and the installation and repair of ornamental pools, tanks, fountains, walls, fences and walks. That classification also excludes irrigation. So a Mississippi design and build crew selling planting plus patios and retaining walls is reading two scopes of work at once, and the contract value decides whether the contractor license joins the Bureau license.
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There is no training-course shortcut into this license. The Bureau regulation sets four alternative routes, and you must furnish written proof of one of them. Route one is graduation from an accredited college or university with at least 15 semester hours or the equivalent in the field for which you are requesting the license. Route two is not less than two years of college or university training with special training in that field. Route three is high school graduation plus at least one year of experience with a licensed operator within the past two years. Route four applies if you have no high school education or its equivalent, and it requires proof of at least two years of experience with a licensed operator within the past three years. Notice that the experience routes measure time spent working under someone who already holds a Bureau license, so an unlicensed solo operator cannot count his own years. The application goes in on a form furnished by the Bureau, and it has to arrive in time to be approved ten days before a regularly scheduled examination date. The Bureau charges nothing to apply. Where a firm is under the control of one person who is solely responsible for the work, that person alone sits the exam. Where more than one person is responsible, each sits it. A firm may instead designate an employee who is regularly and actively in charge, and the license then names that employee as supervisor, with both the employee and the license holder responsible for the services rendered.
The Landscape Horticulturist examination is written, and it covers, in general, the professional services named in your application. The Bureau gives it once each quarter at Mississippi State, Mississippi, on the second Tuesday of each quarter of the calendar year. An applicant who does not pass may take it again on the next regularly scheduled date, and the Bureau publishes both a Landscape Horticulturist Exam Study Guide and an online Exam Retake Application. Two waivers exist, and they are worth knowing before you book travel. The exam may be waived if you are already licensed to perform the same professional services in a state whose standards are equal to those of Mississippi, provided that state recognizes examinations given by Mississippi. The exam may also be waived if you are licensed as a landscape architect in Mississippi under Miss. Code Ann. Sections 73-2-1 through 73-2-25. The Bureau repeats that second waiver in its exemptions rule, which says persons licensed under the Mississippi Landscape Architectural Practice Law are exempt from the examination requirement. That is the practical shape of title protection here. Mississippi has a separate licensing law for landscape architects, and holding that license excuses you from the Bureau exam but does not remove the need to hold and maintain the Bureau license itself. Once you pass, you submit a Request for Issuance of License or Permit for the license holder and an RTID application for employees.
The Landscape Horticulturist License itself costs nothing. The Bureau states there is no cost for the license, and no fee is required to apply. The money goes into a bond instead. The Bureau page says a surety bond of at least $1,000 is required for license issuance, and the regulation puts it this way: an annual bond of $1,000 shall be required of any person who shall guarantee his work or contract to render service, and the bond must stay valid and effective for the maximum time for which the licensee issues guarantees or contracts to render future service. The bond is conditioned to insure the purchaser of services the fulfillment of any contract or guarantee the licensee makes, and the Bureau will accept a surety bond only from companies approved by the Insurance Department of Mississippi. The regulation adds that persons doing landscaping and setting of plants may be exempt from bond requirements unless they contract or agree to render future service, which is a narrow exemption most landscaping firms will not qualify for the moment they warrant a planting. The license expires three years from the date of issuance unless suspended or revoked for cause, and it is not transferable. To renew you file the Landscape Horticulturist License Renewal Form with an updated bond. Three things invalidate the license immediately: failing to notify the Bureau of an address change, failing to renew the bond, and the license holder ceasing to personally supervise and be in direct charge of operations.
The Bureau regulates how your crew shows up on a Mississippi property, not just whether the company holds paper. Every operator or owner engaged in soliciting horticultural and floricultural work or dealing with the public must carry an identification card obtained from the Bureau of Plant Industry, and the licensee applies for those cards on a Bureau form. Employees who solicit business or otherwise represent the operator in dealing with the public must have cards too. An employee considered a laborer must either hold a card or be accompanied by an employee who holds a valid one. The card has to be in the possession of the operator and the employee at all times while performing or soliciting business, and it must be presented on request to the person for whom the work is performed or solicited. When an operator or employee resigns or is discharged, the licensee returns the card to the Bureau for cancellation, and the Bureau will not issue a card to someone who worked for another operator until the previous card comes back. On equipment, the rule is short: all vehicles and mobile equipment engaged in these professional services shall be marked for easy identification. On paperwork, licensed operators keep complete and accurate records of all work performed, including copies of contracts issued, for at least two years, available for examination by Bureau employees during reasonable business hours. Those records must show location, kind of services performed, date performed and materials used. Work may be performed only by the licensee or a bonafide employee.
The Mississippi State Board of Contractors licenses by dollar threshold, and the board publishes the thresholds directly. All contractors and subcontractors performing work on commercial jobs over $50,000, including equipment installation, need a commercial license issued by the board. On the residential side, contractors performing new residential construction over $50,000, residential remodeling or additions over $10,000, or residential roofing over $10,000 need a residential license. The statutory definition behind the commercial number is in the board's own reprint of the law, which exempts a public or private project by a prime contractor, subcontractor or sub-subcontractor of any tier where the contract or undertaking is less than $50,000. The residential statute defines a remodeler as a person who undertakes improvements to an existing residence when the total cost of the improvements exceeds $10,000. For a landscaping company this is a contract-size question you have to ask on every bid. A planting job will rarely reach it. A full outdoor living build with retaining walls, a patio, grading and drainage very often will, and a commercial site package almost always will. Licenses are issued for one year and must be renewed annually, and the board notes that approval takes roughly seven working days once the file and passing exam scores are complete. The board also requires that you conduct business under the exact name shown on the application, and warns that trading under any other name is equivalent to unlicensed construction.
If you cross a contractor board threshold, the specialty classification you want is Landscaping, Grading and Beautification. The board lists it as a specialty under Building Construction, Municipal and Public Works Construction, and Highway, Street and Bridge Work, it requires a test, and the board flags it on the classification page with a note telling applicants they should also contact the Bureau of Plant Industry for additional requirements. That note is the board telling you the Bureau license exists. Holding a major classification entitles you to perform the specialty classifications inside that major category, and applicants who do not want a major classification may choose an unlimited number of specialties. One selection comes with the application fee, and each additional selection costs $100. The board's current fee schedule puts a commercial application at $400, commercial renewal at $400 with a $50 late fee, a residential application at $50, and residential renewal at $100 with a $10 late fee. A name change is $50 and verification of a license for reciprocity is $25. Related classifications a landscaping firm may need instead of or alongside this one include Excavation, Grading and Drainage, which requires a test and covers clearing, grading, trenching and storm drains; Erosion Control, which covers hydroseeding, hydro mulching and native plant vegetation for slope stabilization; Fencing; Athletic Fields and Golf Courses, covering seeding, sodding, grassing and artificial turf; and Masonry and Concrete for heavier hardscape.
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The contractor board application is a financial and insurance file as much as a trade file. Commercial applicants must provide a reviewed financial statement prepared by a Certified Public Accountant, and that statement must demonstrate a net worth of $50,000 or greater for a major classification or $20,000 or greater for a specialty classification. Landscaping, Grading and Beautification is a specialty, so the lower figure is the one that applies to most landscaping firms. Commercial applicants must also show general liability coverage of at least $300,000 per occurrence or $600,000 aggregate, and the board must be named on the policy so it is notified if coverage is cancelled. Residential applicants face no minimum coverage amount but must still show proof of coverage. Anyone with five or more employees submits proof of workers compensation coverage. Corporations, limited liability companies and limited liability partnerships attach proof of good standing with the Mississippi Secretary of State, and the information filed must match the Secretary of State record. A Mississippi sales tax or use tax number is required on all commercial applications, along with a Mississippi income tax identification number and a federal tax identification number. Applicants submit at least three reference letters, one of which must come from the applicant's bank or financial institution. Applicants have 180 days to complete the process, after which incomplete applications are destroyed.
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Irrigation is carved out of both landscaping credentials in Mississippi, which surprises crews that treat sprinklers as part of the same install. The Bureau of Plant Industry says a Landscape Horticulturist License is not required for irrigation installation. The contractor board's Landscaping, Grading and Beautification classification says in two places that it does not include irrigation, and the Athletic Fields and Golf Courses classification excludes it as well. Instead the board maintains a separate Irrigation Systems specialty classification, it requires a test, and it covers irrigation systems and related components including pipes, valves, pumps, sprinkler heads, controls and wiring, including connections to a water pump, for the irrigation of lawns, gardens, shrubs, vines, bushes, trees and other vegetation. So a company that bids planting and irrigation together above a board threshold is looking at two specialty selections, and each extra selection carries the additional classification fee. Backflow is a third agency again. The Mississippi State Department of Health runs the Bureau of Public Water Supply, which administers a Backflow Prevention Assembly Tester program and publishes a verification list of licensed water operators and backflow prevention assembly testers. If your irrigation work ties into a public water supply and the assembly has to be tested, the tester holds a Department of Health credential, not a Bureau of Plant Industry or contractor board one. Plan the subcontractor accordingly rather than discovering it at final inspection.
The moment you take a fee to apply anything for pest or weed control, you are in the Bureau's Professional Services program rather than its landscaping program. A professional service license allows an individual to use any pesticide, general or restricted use, to perform services for hire. Both an Operator License and a Company License are required. Two categories matter to this trade. Horticultural pest control, coded HCPL, covers control of insect pests, plant diseases or pest animals of ornamental plants, shade trees and lawns in residential, commercial, public, industrial and manufacturing areas. Horticultural weed control, coded HCWL, covers control of weeds in ornamental plants and turf in those same settings. Do not confuse a card with a license. The Bureau states that a commercial certification card lets a person purchase and use restricted use pesticides but does not allow that individual to apply them for a fee. Operator License applicants qualify by education, with at least 15 semester hours in the category, or by experience. For the horticultural categories that means high school graduation plus at least one year of experience with a licensed operator within the past two years. Written exams run quarterly at Mississippi State on the second Tuesday of January, April, July and October. Computer-based exams are offered at proctored centers in Meridian, Oxford, Jackson and Starkville for $55 per exam, with a passing score of 70 percent and a 90 day wait after a failure. Operator Licenses and Permits expire 36 months from issuance.
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The Company License carries its own financial requirements, and they differ depending on whether you are spraying for pests, for weeds, or for both. Any pest control category requires a minimum $5,000 bond and insurance. Any weed control category requires a minimum $2,500 bond and no insurance. Any combination pest and weed control category requires a minimum $5,000 bond and insurance. Where insurance is required, the coverage must protect against negligent or careless acts of the insured at $100,000 per occurrence with a minimum annual aggregate of $200,000 for all occurrences, and it must include coverage for pollution and contamination, property damage, personal injury and errors and omissions. There are structural rules on top of the money. You complete a Company Name Request form and get the name approved before filing the Company License Principal or Branch Office application. You must employ an active Operator License in the categories you will perform at a principal office location. Branch offices may be supervised by either an Operator License holder or a Permit holder in the correct categories, the application must name the individual responsible for supervising the location, and no individual may supervise more than one office or branch. No single Operator License or Permit holder may be designated to more than one company per category at a time. Non-residents may appoint the Mississippi Secretary of State as resident agent for service of process. The Company License holder is the primary party responsible for services performed.
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Two more Bureau credentials sit next to the landscaping license. A Tree Surgery License is required for persons who advertise in a local phone book, newspaper, newsletter, bulletin, the internet or other prominently displayed sign as a licensed or bonded or insured tree surgeon and receive compensation for work or consultation relative to the care, pruning, cabling, bracing, topping, trimming, fertilizing, cavity work and removal of ornamental trees and shrubs. The Bureau is explicit that nothing prevents a person from performing those services as long as the advertising does not include the description licensed or bonded or insured. In other words the trigger is the claim, not the saw. There is no cost for the license, a certificate of liability insurance of at least $100,000 is required for issuance, and the license is valid for an indefinite period unless suspended or revoked for cause. The same ID card, vehicle marking and two year record rules apply. On plant material, the Bureau certifies Nurseries and Nursery Dealers at no cost. A Nursery Dealer is a retail establishment that buys plants for resale, inspected at least once a year, with certificates valid until September 1 and renewal notices emailed each early August. A Nursery grows young plants and trees for sale or planting elsewhere and is inspected at least twice a year. The Bureau regulation also conditions a professional services license on compliance with the state plant act for plants moved and sold under proper certificate tags.
The two Mississippi agencies handle portability very differently. The Bureau of Plant Industry waives the Landscape Horticulturist examination only if you already hold a license for the same professional services in a state whose standards equal Mississippi's and that state recognizes Mississippi examinations, or if you hold a Mississippi landscape architect license. There is no general interstate reciprocity list for this license. The contractor board does publish one. The board has reciprocity agreements with a number of states, it applies to waiver of a trade examination only, each agreement varies and may not cover every classification, and every applicant still has to take the Mississippi Business and Law examination. Named agreements include the Alabama General Contractors Board, the Alabama Home Builders Licensure Board, the Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board, the Florida Construction Industries Licensing Board and the Georgia Board of Residential and General Contractors, most conditioned on holding a current license, having taken that state's exam, and having no recent disciplinary action. The board also recognizes out of state licenses under the Military Family Freedom Act and the Universal Recognition of Occupational Licenses Act, with trade exams waived for qualified applicants. On continuing education, each qualifying party for a residential contractor license must complete two credit hours taught by a board approved provider, under Miss. Code Ann. Section 73-59-11, and the requirement applies to residential licenses issued on or after July 1, 2015. Bureau Operator Licenses and Permits renew instead by attending an approved training course or retaking the exams.
Mississippi regulates what a landscaping company says about itself more tightly than most states, and the rules live in several places. The Bureau prohibits advertising in any manner, soliciting business, placing bids, entering contracts or receiving a fee for landscaping services and setting of plants without the license. It bars lawn maintenance firms from putting the words landscape or landscaping in a business name, treating the name as advertising. It bars anyone without a Tree Surgery License from advertising as a licensed or bonded or insured tree surgeon. Its grounds for suspension include making false or fraudulent claims through any media misrepresenting the effect of materials or methods to be used. Vehicles and mobile equipment must be marked for easy identification, and ID cards must be produced on request. The contractor board adds a job site sign rule. Once a municipal or county building official issues a building permit to a licensed residential builder or remodeler or a certificate of responsibility holder, that licensee must exhibit a sign at the permitted job site showing the license or certificate of responsibility number and the state issuing it, prominently displayed in lettering at least two inches high and twelve inches wide, under Miss. Code Ann. Section 73-59-11(f). Residential licensees must also disclose in writing, in boldfaced conspicuous type larger than the rest of the contract and immediately before the purchaser's signature line, whether they carry general liability insurance. Bids above $50,000 must carry the certificate number on the outside of the envelope.
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Verification is easy in Mississippi, which means a homeowner comparing bids will do it. The contractor board runs a consolidated license search where anyone can look you up by name or by license number, entering numbers only without the letter prefix or suffix. The Bureau publishes a Licensed Landscape Horticulturist search and a Licensed Tree Surgeon search from its program pages, a Licensed Weed and Pest Control search from the professional services pages, and a Directory of Mississippi Certified Nurseries and Nursery Dealers. The Department of Health publishes its list of licensed backflow prevention assembly testers. The penalties are real. Under Miss. Code Ann. Section 73-59-9, performing residential construction without the required license is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $100 and not more than $5,000, or 30 to 60 days in county jail, or both. Worse for cash flow, an unlicensed residential contractor may not bring any action at law or in equity to enforce the contract, and may recover only actual documented expenses for labor and materials shown by clear and convincing evidence. The board may issue a citation and stop the work. Knowingly and willfully bidding a commercial project without a certificate of responsibility is a misdemeanor carrying a fine of up to $1,000 or up to six months imprisonment, or both. Board discipline can add a monetary penalty of $100 to $5,000 for each violation.
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These are common details other guides publish about Mississippi, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
No. The Bureau of Plant Industry says a Landscape Horticulturist License is not required for lawn maintenance, which it describes as grass mowing, fertilizing and similar work. The license attaches to landscaping services and the setting or replacement of plants. Spraying for a fee is a different program and does need a license.
Not without the license. The Bureau states that persons engaged in lawn maintenance shall not have the words landscape or landscaping in their business name, because it treats the name as a form of advertisement for landscaping and setting of plants. Either rename the company or qualify for and hold the Landscape Horticulturist License.
The Bureau charges nothing for the license and nothing to apply. The cost is the surety bond. A bond of at least $1,000 is required for issuance, and the regulation requires that annual $1,000 bond of any licensee who guarantees work or contracts to render future service. Bonds must come from Mississippi-approved companies.
No. The Bureau states the license is not required for irrigation installation, and the contractor board's Landscaping, Grading and Beautification classification says twice that it excludes irrigation. The board keeps a separate Irrigation Systems specialty classification, which requires a test and covers pipes, valves, pumps, sprinkler heads, controls and wiring.
When the contract crosses a threshold. The board requires a commercial license for work on commercial jobs over $50,000, and a residential license for new residential construction over $50,000 or residential remodeling and additions over $10,000. Planting jobs rarely reach those figures. Full hardscape and grading packages often do.
Landscaping, Grading and Beautification. It is a specialty classification, it requires a test, and the board's own page tells applicants to also contact the Bureau of Plant Industry for additional requirements. It covers landscaping, hardscaping, planting and groundcover, grading of plots, and ornamental pools, fountains, walls, fences and walks.
If you guarantee your work or contract to render future service, yes. The Bureau regulation requires an annual $1,000 bond in that case, conditioned to insure the purchaser the fulfillment of any contract or guarantee you make. Persons who do not contract for future service may be exempt from the bond requirement.
Three years from the date of issuance, unless suspended or revoked for cause. You renew on the Bureau's renewal form with an updated bond. Three things invalidate it immediately: failing to tell the Bureau of an address change, letting the bond lapse, and the named license holder ceasing to personally supervise operations.
The Bureau of Plant Industry, through its Professional Services program. Taking a fee requires both an Operator License and a Company License. The relevant categories are horticultural pest control for ornamental plants, shade trees and lawns, and horticultural weed control for weeds in ornamental plants and turf.
No. The Bureau is explicit that a commercial certification card lets the holder purchase and use restricted use pesticides but does not allow that individual to apply them for a fee. Applying for a fee requires a professional service license, which the Bureau says meets and exceeds the commercial certification standard.
Yes, if you take compensation for the work. A Tree Surgery License is required to advertise as a licensed or bonded or insured tree surgeon. The Bureau says nothing prevents performing the services as long as your advertising omits those words. The license is free and needs $100,000 liability coverage.
All vehicles and mobile equipment used in these professional services must be marked for easy identification. Every operator and every employee who solicits business or deals with the public must carry a Bureau identification card at all times while working or soliciting, and present it on request. Records are kept two years.
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