• Requirements
• Guidelines
• Exam Registration
• Exam Description
• After the Exam Retesting

Requirements

• If the applicant holds a college degree in Ornamental/Environmental Horticulture from a 4-year program, they may count 1,040 hours towards the 3,120 hour requirement.
• If the applicant holds a degree from a 2-year program, they may count 520 hours towards the 3,120 hour requirement.
• If the applicant is certified in another state or can verify 24 months out-of-state nursery experience, they are required to have 12 months experience in a California nursery.

Guidelines

The following are the California Association of Nurseries and Garden Centers (CANGC) guidelines for new and continuing certification under the California Certified Nursery Professional program. These guidelines are intended to protect all CANGC members by requiring the highest professional and ethical standards of applicants and members. We work hard to protect the value and integrity of CANGC membership, and hope you will assist in this task. All new applicants for certification must provide verification of employment signed by a past and/or current employer as follows:

1. Applicants for certification who are not certified in another state, don't have a minimum of 24 months verifiable out-of-state nursery experience or do not hold a college degree in Ornamental/Environmental Horticulture, must have worked either:
   1. Full-time (a minimum of 40 hoursper week) in a California nursery for at least 18 months (can be with multiple employers), or
   2. No less than 3,120 total part-time hours in a California nursery.
   
   
2. Applicants for certification who are certified in another state, have a minimum of 24 months verifiable out-of-state nursery experience or hold a college degree in Ornamental/Environmental Horticulture from a 4-year program, must have worked either:
   1. Full-time (a minimum of 40 hours per week) in a California nursery for at least 12 months (can be with multiple employers), or
   2. No less than 2,080 total part-time hours in a California nursery.
   
   
3. Applicants for certification who hold a college degree in Ornamental/Environmental Horticulture from a 2-year program, must have worked:
   1. No less than 2,600 total hours (can be with multiple employers) in a California nursery.
   
   
4. All applicants for certification must successfully complete the certification examination.
   1. To be admitted to the exam, applicants will be required to show photo identification.
   2. Applicants must score a minimum of 70% on each of the three sections of the exam.
   3. Applicants who fail one or more sections of the examination may retest in the future as many times as necessary to achieve a passing score as long as they go no longer than three years between each retest. Applicants who fail any parts of the written exam two or more times will be eligible to take the oral exam.
   
   
5. All applicants for certification must sign the "Contract for Acceptance As A California Certified Nursery Professional" prior to the examination in preparation for certification. Applicants who fail to do so will not be certified.
   
   
6. The exam fee is set by the CCN Pro Committee and must accompany the exam registration forms, or be paid prior to taking the exam. A refund of the exam fee (less a processing fee) is available up until three days prior to the exam. No refunds are available for cancellation of an exam if notified less than 72 hours prior to the exam. (The only consideration will be for personal or immediate family tragedy - which must be in writing and with verification.) The exam fee for all applicants who successfully pass the exam includes one free name badge, identification card and a subscription to the CCN Pro bi-monthly magazine "The Nursery Pro". Certificates, wall plaques and additional badges reflecting CCNP designation are available for purchase from CANGC.
   
   
7. Those qualified applicants for the CCN Pro exam who have any type of disability can apply (in writing and with medical or other qualified verification) for special consideration -i.e., oral exam only, additional or special assistance. If you think you might qualify for this special consideration, contact the Certification Director. Unless the applicant has a verifiable physical or learning disability, they must attempt the written exam twice before they are given the option to test orally. The oral exams are offered in February of each year.

Exam Registration

Registration, including work experience verification, is accepted up to 10 days prior to the exam. If the qualifying work experience has not been verified at the time of the exam, the applicant will be permitted to test, but will not receive the results of that exam until all work verification has been submitted. Cancellations up to 3 days prior to the exam are subject to a processing fee. Otherwise, no refund if cancelled less than 72 hours prior to the exam.

Exam Description

• Questions: 100 True/False, multiple choice based on the Nursery Professional Training Manual and from practical experience.
• Plant Identification: 35 plants will be chosen at random from the list of 279 on the study list. These plants must be identified with complete botanical and common names and be spelled correctly. There are also two matching sections where the botanical plant names are matched to descriptions of the plants.
• Landscape Design: You are required to complete the legend of a landscape plot plan that is pre-printed to scale. There are also 115 landscape questions.

  Each section is graded separately, and although you must pass each of the three sections with a minimum score of 70% to be certified, should you fail any section(s), you only need to retest on those section(s) you failed.
  

After The Exam

The overall goal of certification is to improve the quality of service provided to the public by the nursery industry. The professional's education doesn't end with passing the exam. To maintain their CCN Pro status, the individual must earn continuing education units (CEUs) during each renewal period to retain their certification. See Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for more information.

The CCN Pro receives a bi-monthly magazine, The Nursery Pro, which is packed with educational articles and a list of CEU opportunities. A quiz is enclosed with each issue and is worth 2 CEUs. Several opportunities are provided by the California Association of Nurseries and Garden Centers in the form of seminars and tours.

Once certified, CCN Pros may also further their horticultural knowledge and expertise by taking any or all of the three advanced exams currently offered - Insects, Diseases and Weed; Turf Management or Irrigation. These exams are offered concurrently with the initial exam. See Advanced Certification for more information.

Retesting

A retest is offered to all applicants who have failed one or more portions of the exam. Each portion of the exam is graded separately and although you must pass each of the three sections by 70% to be certified, you only need to retest on those sections you fail. The examinee can retest as many times as they wish but if they neglect to retest within 3 years of the last time tested, they will be required to re-take the full exam including the sections passed earlier and will be charged the full initial exam fee.