Landscape, Nursery & Urban Forestry

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About the Landscape, Nursery and Urban Forestry Team

The Landscape, Nursery and Urban Forestry Team works closely with the Turf Team and the Integrated Pest Management Team to educate green industry businesses with the best horticultural information and technology for environmental stewardship of parks, streets and neighborhoods. The core of the program is a self managed team of educators and specialists in entomology, plant materials, alternative pest controls and diagnostics. Working with the largest and fastest growing commercial agricultural segment in Massachusetts continually challenges the Landscape, Nursery and Urban Forestry Team to address the industry's immediate problems and to anticipate their future educational requirements. (The landscape and nursery industry contributes an estimated $2 billion in sales to the Massachusetts economy, and employs over 12,000 individuals at approximately 5,000 companies.)

The team conducts its most visible outreach work at the bi-annual Green School, a 10-week comprehensive educational training program for green industry professionals. The series of seminars and workshops is designed to provide training in horticulture fundamentals and the relationship of those fundamentals to environmental quality. The Green School is in session every other fall. Another way garden center managers, lawn care operators, grounds managers, landscapers, and tree wardens can benefit from the team's services is on the web. The team has developed an on-line message board called the Greenboard. People can post their questions for professionals and faculty to answer. A weekly Landscape Message that reports emerging insects and disease outbreaks on a weekly basis is available online or by fax. Clientele can also talk to a real person for technical support. The team conducted close to 4,000 phone consultations this year. Other available resources for the green industry include two newsletters, "Hort Notes" and "Garden Clippings."

The Urban Forestry Diagnostic Lab is located in room 107 Holdsworth Natural Resources Center at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The lab evaluates woody plants specimens for problems caused by insects and disease. For more information on the lab and the team contact Kathleen Carroll at (413) 545-0895 or visit the Landscape, Nursery and Urban Forestry Team website.