Clay Bowen insists he already has more work than he can do.
The Columbus resident, and general manager for West Point-based Evergreen Landscape and Management, said he had booked enough jobs by May to last him through the rest of the year.
But driving through the area, especially Columbus and Lowndes County, Bowen started to notice a trend that disturbed him.
“It’s a handful of guys I’ve seen, known contractors in this town, that are going around and getting into the larger jobs … and taking money for these jobs,” Bowen told The Dispatch on Wednesday. “When you look them up, they aren’t licensed.”
Bowen worked under licensed landscape horticulturists for most of his adult life before obtaining his own license in April 2023. He believes the unlicensed work he sees dilutes public perception of his training. It’s also illegal.
State law requires anyone who receives fees for landscaping and installing plants to be licensed through the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce. Violators are subject to fines of up to $5,000.
“This has nothing to do with mowing grass,” Bowen said. “You can mow grass. You can put in irrigation. (This only applies to) putting a plant in the ground.”
Bowen, acting on his own behalf and not on Evergreen’s, finally decided, “Enough is enough.”
“All I can do is bring awareness to it,” he said.
Why do you need a license?
To obtain a license, an applicant must first earn a degree in a landscaping field or work under a licensed landscaper for at least a year over the past two years, said Russell Kohler, branch director for professional services licensing for the Department of Agriculture and Commerce’s Bureau of Plant Industry. Then, they must pass a two-part written exam.
“It’s pretty much there to make sure people who go out and install plants install them properly,” said Kohler, who is based at Mississippi State University. “You don’t want to bring in any invasive plants.”
License holders must also maintain at least a $1,000 surety bond for their work.
According to the Plant Bureau website, there are 13 licensed landscape horticulturists in the Golden Triangle, with 10 based in Oktibbeha County, two in Lowndes and one in Clay.
A team of field agents, Kohler said 16 or 17 strong, patrols the state and issues citations – from a warning to the maximum fine depending on the circumstances. Most of their tips, however, come from landscapers dealing with unlicensed outfits in their communities.
The law does not apply to citizens planting on their own property or to direct employees of a public body. It broadly applies to all instances of a paid third party, whether on private or public property.
Bowen said the point of the license is to protect the consumer.
“I compare it to a pest control guy,” Bowen said. “Would you allow me to come spray chemicals in your home without a license, or would you rather know I took the test?
“I may go plant a bunch of Bradford pears downtown,” he added. “Bradford pears break. They stink. One storm comes through, limbs fall into a building. … If you’re not licensed and don’t understand what we’re doing and don’t know horticulture, then you’re going to go and make mistakes like this.”
Raising awareness
Bowen appeared July 2 before the Columbus City Council, asking members to begin requiring bidders for city landscaping jobs to provide their state license number. The council, at least tacitly, accepted Bowen’s advice.
City Attorney Jeff Turnage, speaking with The Dispatch Wednesday, said he was unaware of the law before Bowen brought it to his attention, and he intends to advise the council to at least vaguely, if not specifically, spell out the license requirement on landscaping contracts moving forward.
But when Bowen tried to appear before the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors, he met resistance.
He wasn’t outright denied the opportunity to appear, but Board President Trip Hairston encouraged him to instead email his concerns to supervisors.
“How could their opinions already be made up if they hadn’t heard me speak?” Bowen said.
Hairston admitted he thought supervisors would perceive Bowen’s position as “sour grapes.” He also worries about opening public comments during board meetings to people who want to “promote their level of certification in the businesses they do.”
County Administrator Jay Fisher said the county has three companies under contract for landscaping across its properties. The majority of that work is mowing, but he’s “sure” some jobs involve planting.
Both Hairston and Fisher said they weren’t aware of the landscaper law before recently. Now that they are, both cited examples where they believed the county could require bidders to have those licenses – such as replacing all the shrubs on the courthouse lawn or developing raw land for a new park.
Still, Hairston believes there are other instances where an unlicensed contractor will do.
“If we have a few bushes that are dying out there at the soccer complex, we know what kind of bushes they are,” he said. “… Why do I need a certified contractor to come in there to do that when your regular person doing the lawn service (is) willing and able to dig a hole and put a replacement bush in there?”
In any case, county officials say they have an Attorney General’s Opinion indicating they don’t have to ask for or require licenses from landscaping contractors.
“That’s true,” Bowen said. “… No one’s making you ask. … But when you award (a job), you better hope you have somebody with a license because it could get reported.”
Changing the law?
Hairston said he is “pro-certification,” recognizing the license makes a landscaper more marketable and should be taken seriously.
What really steams him about the plant law, though, is what he sees as its “bureaucratic overreach.” He intends to speak with Agriculture and Commerce Commissioner Andy Gipson, as well as the State Senate and House Agriculture Committee chairs about reducing the law’s scope.
“I can see why you wouldn’t want an uncertified somebody coming in and planting trees that could create a detrimental issue to the other trees around. … And it could be with some bushes and some other things. I’m all about that,” Hairston said. “What’s to say I can’t hire a couple of college kids, or even high school kids, for summer work in my yard? It’s OK for me to plant whatever I want to, but it’s not OK for me to have hired people (do it)? All the sudden those school kids are in jeopardy of getting fined? … Something’s wrong with that law.”
Though illegal, Bowen said he isn’t interested in reporting “the (unlicensed) guy on Southside putting in 10 azaleas for the little old lady.”
“It’s the audacity of throwing yourself into a 20- or 30-person employee business, swimming with the big boys, and bidding on projects,” he said.
Bowen intends to visit public boards in Oktibbeha and Clay County before taking his grievances “all the way to Jackson.”
District 17 Sen. and Agriculture Committee Chair Chuck Younger, R-Lowndes County, sees both Bowen’s and Hairston’s positions. He told The Dispatch he is “on the fence” about changing the law.
“We’ll just look at it before this session and maybe tweak the law,” Younger said. “… I see Clay’s beef, but at the same time, it doesn’t take a damn rocket scientist to plant something sometimes.”
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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