Happy 4th Birthday!

We thought you might like to know that The Underground Yahoo Group was established exactly 4 years ago today - December 16, 2004. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

The group began a few short months before it's migration to Yahoo, and was formed by a small number of folks from the Clark University/Tower Hill program. The group has evolved over time to include many professionals, students and instructors from various organizations and institutions.

Thanks to all our members who have stuck by us from the beginning. And to all our newer members, we welcome your support. We will continue to offer some great educational programs and look forward to your continued participation!

We have a great line-up being planned for the coming year. Stay tuned for more information.

Please Welcome Kathy Tunsley and Kath Holland to our Steering Committee

We are very pleased to announce that both Kathy Tunsley of Viburnum Landscape Design in Sharon, MA and Kath Holland of Blue Newt Designs in North Easton, MA have joined The Underground Steering Committee as a new Members-at-Large. We welcome Kathy and Kath to our team and look forward to their contributions to our organization.

Thank You to Denise Pegrum

Please join us in in thanking Denise Pegrum for all her hard work. As of January, she will be stepping down from our Steering Committee to focus on her career in landscape design and maintenance as owner of Cheshire Cat Organic Gardens. So we would like to take this moment to recognize her for her many contributions to The Underground.

Denise joined The Underground in its early beginnings and has over more than three years helped in the formation of our organizations policies and procedures. She has been a valued member of our steering committee as The Underground's first Secretary and recently as a Member-At-Large and has provided much needed operational and program support.

Having worn many hats as a steering member - she has written meeting minutes and press releases, coordinated programs, offered advice, and been an active contributor of ideas. She has been a dedicated volunteer who has always generously helped with program logistics and setup, registration, photography, and a whole host of other operational tasks. Whenever assistance was needed, Denise has been without fail, one of the first to volunteer to help. She has graciously hosted many steering meetings at her home in Stow, MA and has consistently been a very supportive, dependable and cheerful member of our committee. She will be missed very much.

Denise, words cannot express all our gratitude for the wonderful work you have done for us. Thank you! We wish you the very best in all your future endeavors. We look forward to seeing you at future educational programs and keeping in touch with you on The Underground. Have a wonderful holiday season!

The Underground Steering Committee

Please Welcome Our New Advisors

We are very pleased to announce that we have recently formed a panel of advisors to help guide the future direction of The Underground. The following Underground members have generously volunteered to be our advisors. We would like to welcome them to our team and look forward to their contributions to our organization.

Advisory Board

Pamela Burton
A Room With A View
Newton, MA

Steve Hancock
NorthStar Farm Perennials & Groundcovers
Westport, MA

Chuck Sherzi, Jr.
Plant Health Care Supervisor
Tree Specialists, Inc.
Holliston, MA

Russell Stafford
Discovered Gardens
Lancaster, MA

Tom Strangfeld
Thomas Strangfeld Associates
Newton, MA

Priscilla Hutt Williams
Pumpkin Book Organic Gardening, Inc.
Townsend, MA

Please Welcome Seija Halva to our Steering Committee

We are pleased to announce that Seija Hälvä, PhD of Garden Coach^SM in Lexington, MA has joined our Steering Committee as a new Member-at-Large. We welcome Seija to our team and look forward to her contributions to our organization.

Insurance for the Landscape Professional Program

The Underground educational program "Insurance for the Landscape Professional" was held on Saturday, November 1st. at the Middlesex Canal Museum. Thank you to Charles Nikopoulos and Steve Joyce for being our panelists at this informative program. The questions that were posed and answered were extremely helpful and we received very positive feedback from our participants. Thank you also goes to our volunteers Ed Council, Laurie Fitzgerald and Jeff Barone. A very special thank you goes to our program coordinators Ed Coykendall and Jay Bearfield - the program was terrific.

Site Surveying Workshop

The Underground "Site Surveying Workshop" was held as scheduled on September 27th. Rain held off while 32 participants tried their hand at determining site elevations at Tower Hill Botanic Garden. Thank you to Susan Sullivan and her staff for organizing this informative workshop. Thank you also goes to our volunteers Ed Council, Denise Pegrum and Laurie Fitzgerald.

2009 New England Grows

The Underground will be participating again at the 2009 New England Grows green industry conference and expo. We hope you will come and see us again this coming year. Check out their new website at http://www.negrows.org/

Thank You to Former Steering Member, Susan Tuttle

The Underground Steering Committee would like to thank Susan Tuttle for her service as a Steering Committee member-at-large. Susan has been an invaluable member of our team and she will be missed. All our best wishes go out to her and her family.

With Susan's departure, the Steering Committee is looking for a few volunteers to help us to organize and lead - The Underground.

We have a host of ideas for programs for next year. 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?

Together we can make The Underground a huge success!

2008 Annual Report Released

The Underground steering committee conducted our annual meeting on September 15, 2008. As a result we are publishing our 2008 Annual Report. This report is now available on our wiki website at http://theunderground.pbwiki.com/The+Underground

We look forward to the year ahead and would like to encourage members to participate by volunteering to help us. You can volunteer at http://theunderground.pbwiki.com/Become-A-Volunteer

Thanks.

New Underground Member Slide Show

Presented at the 2008 NOFA Summer Conference, our presentation explains the benefits of membership in The Underground.

Online Forums are now unmoderated

Our online forums are a place where you can upload files and photos, add links, conduct polls and post other interesting information or articles. This information is fully searchable. When posting please remember to upload to the appropriate forum. These forums are now unmoderated and members are free to visit and leave information as they wish.

Please do not post questions at the online forums as they may not get an immediate response from others. All questions should be posted via our Yahoo Group.

Thanks.

P.S. Are you conducting a class or study group? Contact us and we will be happy to set up a private forum just for your group.

Please Welcome Laurie Fitzgerald to our Steering Committee

We are pleased to announce that Laurie Fitzgerald of Waterwise Gardens Inc. in Marlborough MA has joined our Steering Committee as our new Secretary. She will be replacing Susan Tuttle who has stepped down due to personal reasons. Laurie will fill out the remainder of Susan's term which ends in January 2010. We welcome Laurie to our team and look forward to her contributions to our organization.

The Underground at the NOFA Summer Conference

We would like to announce that members of The Underground are set to speak at the upcoming NOFA Summer Conference to be held at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA on Saturday, August 9 from 1:00-2:30. Our presentation will include a brief introduction to The Underground followed by a panel discussion entitled "Starting an Organic Land Care Business".

A big thank you goes to our panelists and organic land care experts/business owners Ted Chapman, Javier Gil and Cathy Harragian.

We hope you can all join us at this wonderful event. To register visit http://www.nofa.org/conference/index.php

New Event Calendar - Add Your Own Events

We now have a new event calendar available at our wiki website. The calendar is publicly accessible and event organizers are able to add their own events to reach an even broader audience. You can view the calendar and submit events to us by visiting http://theunderground.pbwiki.com/Event+Calendar. Once your event listing has been approved it will appear on our website calendar and can also be emailed to our members if you choose.

Updated Underground Rules and Guidelines

We would like to announce an updated version of The Underground Rules and Guidelines (previously called FAQ). This file (Rules&Guidelines7_3_08.pdf) has also been uploaded to our Yahoo Group (Files Section), Forums and Members Wiki Website at (http://theunderground.pbwiki.com/getting+started).

The updated Underground Rules and Guidelines file contains important information for our members about what should and should not be posted to our group list and forums. Please review this information.

New Article on Find A Landscape Professional Website

We would like to point you to a new consumer article that now appears at our "Find A Landscape Professional" website. Entitled "Garden Speaker Host Etiquette: A Guide to Proper Communication, Care, and Feeding of Your Speaker" it is written by Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery in Raleigh, NC.


We would like to thank Tony Avent for giving us permission to reprint his article. We hope it will help Speakers and Event Organizers alike.

If you would like to add your professional listing or speakers listing to our website visit http://theunderground.pbwiki.com/Professional+Listings+and
+Speakers+Bureau and submit the appropriate form. Listings are currently free to members.

The Underground Nursery Tours Conclude

The Underground Nursery Tours concluded for the season on Saturday June 7th. Our final tour was held in Southern New Hampshire and included "Mason Hollow Nursery and The Mixed Border Nursery and Gardens" in Mason and Hollis, NH. Previous tours included "Theme Gardens and Katsura Gardens" in Pembroke and Plymouth, MA and "NorthStar Farm, Sylvan Nursery and Avant Gardens" in Westport and Dartmouth, MA


Mason Hollow Display Gardens, Mason, NH - Courtesy of Barbara Blake
Thank you to Steve Hancock, Pamela Burton and Barbara Blake for their work in coordinating these tours.

The Underground Co-sponsors the CIPWG Invasive Plant Symposium

We are pleased to announce that The Underground is a co-sponsor of the upcoming invasive plant symposium to be held on October 1, 2008. This one-day symposium is entitled "Cherish Our Natural Heritage: Managing Invasives to Promote Natives." The symposium, open to the public, will be held at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Conn. Keynote speaker, Douglas Tallamy, will explain why having native plants in gardens is so important for sustaining our native wildlife. Concurrent afternoon sessions cover habitat and management in grasslands, forest understories, and aquatic sites, management practices (including organic control), and non-plant invaders. A book sale, research posters, and organizational exhibits will be featured throughout the day. The registration fee, including sustainable food and free parking is $40 (postmarked by September 10) and $50 if postmarked September 11-24. The full day's agenda and registration information are available at www.hort.uconn.edu/cipwg. Continuing education credits (for Pesticide Re-Certification, CT Commercial Forest Practitioners, CT Landscape Architects, and others) will be available. For additional information, or to be mailed a paper copy of the registration brochure, contact Donna Ellis (860) 486-6448.

More than 500 members and growing!

We now have more than 500 members and our group continues to grow and become recognized for its value to the green industry professional. With our growth we have strived to make incremental improvements and enhancements to our grassroots organization and we would like to thank you all for helping us in this endeavor. Please keep up the great work and we look forward continuing to work with you to make this organization everything you want it to be.

Thank you to all our members who lend their support to our group by actively participating in discussions, answering questions, making referrals and generally being helpful to fellow members. We could not do this without you.