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.

Underground Volunteers Needed

The Underground is an all volunteer organization that would appreciate your help. We need volunteers to assist with a wide range of activities. You can choose to help occasionally or regularly, as your schedule permits. No experience is necessary. This is a great opportunity to learn, make new friends, and share with others who have similar interests, while promoting our organization. Many of the committee tasks and responsibilities can be shared, so feel free to enlist friends and colleagues to work on your committee if you need additional assistance.

To volunteer please visit http://theunderground.pbwiki.com/Become-A-Volunteer

Program Participant Feedback

For those of you who have attended any of our educational programs, we now have a feedback form available at our website. Please help us make improvements to our programs by providing us your suggestions and comments.

Please visit http://theunderground.pbwiki.com/Program+Feedback

Members Please Provide Testimonials

Our best advocates are our members. Over the years they have provided tons of feedback and some great testimonials about our organization. If you are a member then please give us your testimonial. We would love to know what you think! Previous testimonials have appeared in our membership brochure.

Some questions to think about about when writing your testimonial:


1. What do you like best about The Underground?
2. How has The Underground been useful to you and your business?
3. What do you like best about our monthly programs?
4. How have our programs been helpful to you?
5. Would you recommend The Underground to others?
6. What else can you tell us?

Tell us how The Underground has benefited you.
Thanks!

The Living Lawn Organic Lawn Care Program - Thank you to Susan Quateman

We would like to thank Susan Quateman for coordinating "The Living Lawn Organic Lawn Care Program". Through her volunteer efforts she has brought two wonderful educational programs (Water-Friendly Landscaping and Living Lawn Organic Lawn Care) to the North Shore of MA and she promises to do it again next year. Thank you Susan!

If you would like to see our programs in your neck of the woods then why not become a volunteer program coordinator? Please contact us for more information.

Thank you.

Announcing Our New Blog

Well, really we have had our blog for quite awhile, but never put it to good use until now. We hope you will visit often to find out about our latest announcements, acknowledgments, and information about new developments. The blog will be accessible to members and non-members alike and will provide news about what our organization is doing and where we are headed. Previous blog postings have been re-created from email archives and document our groups accomplishments since our beginning. Comments are welcome.

Thank you,
The Underground Steering Committee

P.S. Members, please help us improve our visibility by adding a link to The Underground on your website or blog.

At the Top of Google Web Listings

Our "Find A Landscape Professional" wiki website (findalandscapepro.pbwiki.com) now appears at the top of Google web listings when searching for both "Find a landscape pro" and "Find a landscape professional".

More and more consumers are using search engines when shopping for services - So why not add your free listing to our website and get the word out about the services you offer? This is a great marketing opportunity to let potential clients know about what you can do for them and have us point them your way!

Now we have made it even easier for you to send us your (Professional and/or Speakers) listings. Just visit our members wiki website page and fill out and submit the appropriate form. You must be a member of The Underground to qualify for a listing.

Need to update your current listing? Visit the link above, provide us your changes - make sure to check the update box.