Weir Meadow Nursery Tour with Kurt Tramposch

This was a guided tour of Weir Meadow Nursery in Wayland, MA, led by owner and plantsman, Kurt Tramposch. Weir Meadow specializes in shade perennials, select groundcovers, reblooming daylilies, and native plants.

Tucked away in a bend of the Sudbury River is a gem of a wholesale shade plant grower. Kurt Tramposch, specialty nursery owner and our host, has 34 years of experience supplying designers, contractors, garden centers and institutions throughout the Northeast — including some famous garden spots. Participants asked our expert about the choicest varieties of hardy shade perennials, hostas, ground covers, and native plants including ferns. Kurt prides himself in growing sustainably and organically. He discussed his growing practices and many of his interests.

A Weir Meadow plant list was sent to program attendees so they could come prepared to pick up an order.

New Feature - Post Your Events

We have just added a new feature to our wiki website that we thought you might like to know about. The main navigation menu on the home page now has a link to "LIST YOUR EVENT" where non-members can submit event information and have the details sent to The Underground.

Events submitted should be green industry, landscape and garden related only, and should be located in one of the following states (MA, NH, VT, ME, CT, RI, PA, NJ and NY).

Please feel free to pass along this information to all those who are interested.

Water Feature Project Announced

This summer Harvard's Virginia Thurston Healing Garden will receive a new water feature courtesy of the efforts of The Underground. You can read the article about it here.

The Healing Garden with Lisa Bailey, RLA

Held at the Tower Hill Botanic Garden, "The Healing Garden" program provided attendees information on how they could create garden spaces for healing.

The American Horticulture Therapy Association says that healing gardens are becoming increasingly common throughout the U.S., this amid growing evidence that the gardens really do heal. They improve mood, lower blood pressure and reduce stress levels.

Our guest speaker was Lisa Bailey, RLA, BayLeaf Studio, Maynard, MA

In this program participants learned how garden spaces can be made to feel safe, contemplative, exciting and healing. They found out how landscape archetypes affect our moods, and how to create a space for wellness to occur. We examined the seven essential components to creating gardens that heal. Participants in this program explored the capacity of the natural world to refresh, renew and re-engage the human spirit while promoting increased rates of healing, improved productivity and personal well-being. This program examined the healing power of landscapes on a variety of scales, from the intimate surrounds of healthcare facilities, to those of prisons, hospice facilities, eldercare homes, public parks, play areas and residential gardens.

Lisa Bailey is a registered Landscape Architect with over 25 years of experience designing public and private landscapes. She is particularly interested in bringing gardens into healthcare environments to enhance healing of the mind, body and spirit. She works from her studio at Artspace in Maynard, MA.

We Now Have 300 Members!

The Underground has reached a milestone - we now have 300 members representing (MA, NH, VT, ME, CT, RI and NY). Please continue to spread the word about our great network of professionals to your colleagues. Pass out our membership flyer or direct them to our website.

Celebrate Earth Day!

Do something good for the earth. Celebrate earth day today and everyday!

Water Feature Design Workshop with Jay Bearfield

The "Water Feature Design Workshop" provided attendees a unique opportunity to participate in the design/build of a new water feature for the Virginia Thurston Healing Garden, Inc. in Harvard, MA. The garden serves as a place of healing and renewal for women suffering from breast cancer. In acknowledgment for the wonderful work that they do, The Underground facilitated the donation of goods and services to the garden. The Underground gladly accepted donations on behalf of the garden from vendors, suppliers and members to bring this project to fruition.

Instructor: Jay Bearfield, Liquid Landscape Designs, Inc., Carlisle, MA

Attendees learned how to incorporate water into their designs at our first workshop in our Artisan Educational Series focusing on the different ways to successfully implement the varying uses of water in today’s landscape. Taught by Jay Bearfield, Internationally Certified Pond Contractor, and owner & lead designer of Liquid Landscape Designs of Carlisle MA, this workshop addressed the siting, design creation and the advantages/limitations of the many types of features being installed today.

In July, our follow-up hands-on “Water Feature Building Workshop” will bring a completed design to life. At that time we will bring together all donations of materials collected during our campaign and install a beautiful water feature. We will also bring together a wonderful collective of Underground members to complete this project and we invite you to join them. Jay Bearfield will direct our participants in the installation of the water feature. All site excavation work will be done prior to installation by Ed Coykendall of Landscape Artisans and all landscape site work will be overseen by Lisa E. Bailey, Registered Landscape Architect, BayLeaf Studio.

We wish to express our sincere thanks to the Virginia Thurston Healing Garden for providing their wonderful facilities for this workshop. Thanks also to the following people who have made this workshop possible. Elizabeth Tyson-Smith, Executive Director, Virginia Thurston Healing Garden, Inc.; Jay Bearfield, Liquid Landscape Designs, Inc.; Lisa E. Bailey, Registered Landscape Architect, BayLeaf Studio; and Ed Coykendall, Landscape Artisans, MCLP, ALCM.

Press Release - The Underground Announces the Donation of a Water Feature to Benefit The Virginia Thurston Healing Garden

Press Release March 2, 2007 - The Underground Announces the Donation of a Water Feature to Benefit The Virginia Thurston Healing Garden - downloadable file

New Way to Register for Programs Through Eventbrite!

Announcing a new way to register for our educational programs and workshops! We are now using Eventbrite for our registration system.

You may now register for our programs through our wiki website. Payment for our programs can still be done via all methods of payment - by check, at the door, and now even by credit card, but online registration for our programs and workshops is highly recommended.

All major credit cards will be accepted via our secure online payment process. All processing is done through Paypal - an encrypted and secure processing service that has come to be a trusted leader in online payment solutions.

Welcome Our New Steering Member, Jay Bearfield

We would like to announce that Jay Bearfield is a new Steering Member to The Underground. Jay runs his own practice in Carlisle, MA called Liquid Landscape Designs specializing in natural and artistic water features. He is also our expert moderator for ponds and water features at our online forums, and he has been an active participant in The Underground. Jay's enthusiasm and support for our group has not gone unnoticed. We think Jay will make a wonderful addition to our management team and we would like welcome him as our newest member.

The Underground is an all volunteer based organization and we would welcome other members to join us in volunteering some time to help with educational programs, public relations, and more. If you would like to help, please contact us.

NE Grows Connections

It's the end of the second day at the New England Grows Conference and Expo and I've met some wonderful Underground members and potential members - so many very nice people. It's so great to finally be able to put faces with some of those email messages that have been posted on The Underground.

One person whom I met today was Ruth S. Foster, and she has generously offered to share her growing archive of online articles with our members. Feel free to download them and give them to your clients (with proper credit of course - see below).

Here is a brief bio that Ruth provided to let you know a bit more about herself. Ruth S. Foster is a landscape professional and arborist who also writes a lot and was garden columnist for the Boston Globe for 25 years. Her web site has unbiased, scientific information which can be downloaded and used or reprinted (free) as long as the web site is noted. Her web site is http://www.ruthsfoster.com or http://www.mothersgarden.net.

Wishing you all a great season ahead.
Bridget McManus
President, The Underground

Wiki Website No Longer Accessible

Based on feedback that we have gotten from many of our members about our wiki websites, we have made a few changes. We have eliminated the "Members Only" password protected "Notes from Underground" wiki. Many members were confused on how to log in, what the password was etc.

So this collaborative wiki website is no longer accessible (through The Underground wiki) or editable by our members. It is gone. All articles and information that resided on "Notes from Underground" have been moved to our online forums. We will continue to build content at our online forums.

The online forums are still private and password protected (to prevent spam from non-members) and we encourage those who register to use a password and ID that you will remember and keep a record of this somewhere where you can refer to it if necessary. We now have 88 registered members at the forums.

So with these changes we will no longer have a website that requires a member to log in. But we will still have sign in/log in requirements at our Yahoo group and online forums.

NE Grows Begins Tomorrow

This is a reminder to everyone to attend the upcoming New England Grows Conference and Expo February 6-8 at the at the Boston Convention & Expo Center. This is an event you should not miss!

For more information visit www.negrows.org
Don't forget to stop by and see us at our booth #2375.

We would also like to invite you to attend our member meet and greet at NE Grows on Wednesday 12:00-1:00 in room 204A. Bring your lunch and come and meet The Underground Steering members and hang out with your fellow colleagues.

Thank You to Former Steering Member, Mary Coyne

The Underground Steering Committee would like to thank Mary Coyne for her service as a Steering Committee member-at-large. Mary has been an invaluable member of our team and she will be missed. All our best wishes go out to her for a very successful career in landscape design.

With Mary's departure, the Steering Committee is looking for a few more people to join our team and help us to organize and lead - The Underground.

We have a host of ideas for professional programs, tours, roundtable discussions, collaborative efforts etc. that we would like to be able to offer to our members. But as you all know it takes time and volunteers to make it all happen. We believe that The Underground has great potential to become a networking force and vehicle for learning. So won't you join us to make it happen?

The time commitment involved for a steering member would primarily be during the off season (fall, winter and early spring) months and the term for remaining on the committee would be approximately 2 years depending on your willingness to continue according to the rules as set forth in our bylaws. You would be expected to participate in steering meetings (held in the Boston Metrowest area) which are held periodically throughout the year as determined by the committee - approximately 6-8 times per year as well as participate in online email discussions about relevant issues that may arise. Most of the day to day business is done via email.

Together we can make The Underground a huge success! If you are interested in joining our Steering Committee please contact us.

Join Professed Plant Junkie On the Forums

Join professed plant junkie and phyto-nerd, Russell Stafford, for interesting discussions on anything and everything about plants. Russell has recently posted a welcome message and suggested discussion topics to get the conversation started!

Join all our experts for information on specific topics of interest at our online forums at http://z9.invisionfree.com/theundergrnd/index.php

While you are there don't forget to pop in to visit our other experts in residence and ask your topic specific questions.

Do you have a specialty or area of expertise? Then why not join our lineup of expert moderators on The Underground Forums? We would welcome your participation. If you are interested please send email.

Thank You to Our NE Grows Volunteers!

We would like to acknowledge the following people for volunteering to help us staff our booth at the upcoming New England Grows Conference and Expo. Feel free to stop by and say hi to them next week at our booth #2375.

Kathy Tunsley
Kath Holland
Ted Chapman
Denise Pegrum
Debby McNulty
Ed Council
Susan Tuttle
Seija Halva
Sally Naish
Debra Elson
Sherri Geldersma
Judy Eisenberg
Justin Kelleher
Barbara Gee
Bruce Piper
Lisa E. Bailey
Mike Smith

Thanks to all of you for making The Underground great!
The Underground Steering Committee

Sharing Our Visions

The focus of this informal gathering "Sharing Our Visions" was to clarify your business or learning plans for the coming year, get feedback from others, and meet other members who share some aspect of your vision. There was also plenty of networking time set aside at this meeting. This program was held at the Common House on Half Moon Hill in Acton, MA and was coordinated by Dori Smith.

Winter is a great time to review your past year ... reflect on how well you met your goals ... review your priorities for the upcoming year ... and refresh your sense of purpose.

If attendees wished, they could do some writing before the meeting. The questions below were given to help focus the discussion.
- What did you learn and/or accomplish last year?
- What would you like to accomplish in the coming year?
- Does your business / learning plan reflect your deepest values?
- What would you like to change about your business or learning plan?
- How can expanding your network of colleagues - for example, networking/collaborating with people in the Underground -- help you meet your goals?

Thank You to Our NE Spring Flower Show Volunteers

We would like to thank the following members for volunteering to represent The Underground at the upcoming New England Spring Flower Show on March 20th.

Ted Chapman
Jay Bearfield
Darcy Paige
Sherri Geldersma

Thanks to everyone for making The Underground Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat!

The Underground Steering Committee

Article About Wikis

We just wanted to point your attention to the recent article in the Boston Globe about wikis. Wikis are quickly becoming mainstream online collaborative tools.

From artists to spies, more going wiki on Web
Open editing model spreads
By Robert Weisman, Globe Staff | November 18, 2006

Read the article here.

New Organic Land Care Forum Moderator

We would like to announce our new forum moderator. He moderator is an expert in his field and active Underground participant who you may already know.

Please give a warm welcome to Ted Chapman who will lead the Organic Land Care Forum. He will be happy to facilitate discussions and answer your questions about this very interesting topic on our online forums. He would also welcome others to help co-moderate this forum with him. So if you are an Organic Land Care whiz, then please let us know so we can add you as a moderator to this forum.

Thanks to everyone who has registered for the forums so far. We will try and keep things interesting and lively and add more expert moderators as we go along. We now have 7 expert moderators at our forums. We will work to build valuable content and welcome your questions and discussions.

Learn more about how to get started in the Getting Started forum. While you are visiting the forums why not take our online poll in the Announcements from The Underground forum.

Not registered yet? Go to our website and click on "Members Please Register Here".