UMass Extension Landscape Nursery and Urban Forestry

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UMass Extension Landscape Nursery and Urban Forestry

Make a gift to the UMass Extension Landscape, Nursery and Urban Forestry Program: http://bit.ly/1Q3HPl4

The UMass Extension Landscape, Nursery, and Urban Forestry team provides programs and research-based information on the best horticultural practices and technology for environmental stewardship in nursery and landscape management. Our team is a group of educators and specialists in weed science, entomology, plant pathology, IPM, diagnostics, and sustainable practices. For home garden and landscape questions email: [email protected]

08/26/2026

Green School Registration: Early Bird Registration Ends 9/1!

UMass Extension’s Green School is a comprehensive 60+ hour certificate short course that offers fundamental land care skills training in a compact time frame.

Who?
This program is designed for professional practitioners such as landscapers, lawn care providers, nursery operators, public and private grounds managers, arborists, professional gardeners, landscape and garden designers, industry sales and support professionals, and others in the green industries.

What?
Choose from three specialty tracks!
🏡 Landscape Management
☘️ Turf Management
🌳 Arboriculture

Where?
Green School will be entirely online and taught by UMass Extension Specialists, UMass faculty, and distinguished guest instructors.

When?
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons from 10/27 - 12/17 (the next available class will run Oct-Dec 2028).

Why?
Move your career or business forward and achieve better results with a smaller overall impact!

Learn more and register!
http://ag.umass.edu/greenschool

08/25/2026

NEXT WEEK!
Ornamental Tree and Shrub ID & Insect Walkabout

Want hands-on experience identifying significant landscape plants and their insect pests? This program will be helpful for participants looking to learn or brush up on scouting skills, or to expand their palette of offerings for clients.

Join Mandy Bayer, Horticulturist and Landscape Plant Specialist, and Tawny Simisky, UMass Extension Entomologist, for a walk around the grounds at one of Massachusetts’ beautiful botanic gardens.

The 2-hour walkabout will focus on trees and shrubs with particular seasonal interest as well as insect pests that are active and suggestions for management.

When: Tue, Sept 1, 2026, 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Where: New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill

Register Here:
https://www.umass.edu/agriculture-food-environment/landscape/events/ornamental-tree-shrub-id-insect-walkabout

Notes: The event is held rain or shine.

Pesticide credits: 2 pesticide contact hours for category 36 and Applicators License available.
Association credits: 2 ISA, 1 MCLP, 1 MCA, and 1 MCH association credits are available.

Price: $60 per person

Photo: The ash tree The Court displays its fall color by Troy B. Thompson Photography

08/21/2026

The LANDSCAPE MESSAGE for August 21, 2026 has been posted.

https://www.umass.edu/agriculture-food-environment/landscape/landscape-message-august-21-2026

The LANDSCAPE MESSAGE is a regular update to inform and help guide land care professionals in the management of our collective landscape.

Each edition includes valuable information from sites throughout Massachusetts, including growing degree day accumulation, soil temperature, precipitation amounts, and plant phenology.

Detailed reports on cultural practices and the status of insects, diseases, and w**ds of interest to landscapers, arborists and turf managers are also regular features.

There will be 20 messages throughout 2026. New messages are available weekly during the heart of the growing season, bi-weekly in early spring and mid to late summer, and monthly during the fall.

The next Landscape Message will be posted on September 4.

Photo: Panicle hydrangea by Geoffrey Njue

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08/20/2026

The Late Summer 2026 edition of POLLINATOR BUZZ has been posted.

IN THIS ISSUE
🐝 Featured Pollinator: Eastern Giant Swallowtail (Heraclides cresphontes)
🎙 PolliNation Podcast: Millions of Solitary Bees in a Cemetery
🌱 Field Scouting: Who's Foraging Right Now?
❓️ Q&A: Bee Hotels
📣 Recap: Walkabouts at the Arnold Arboretum and Berkshire Botanical Garden
🌿 Programming: Pollinator Steward Certification Program Fall Cohort & Pollinator Habitat Certification
📚 Educational Brief: Bombus fervidus: A Species of Great Conservation Need

https://www.umass.edu/agriculture-food-environment/pollinators/newsletters/pollinator-buzz/pollinator-buzz-2026-vol-34

Pollinator Buzz is a quarterly newsletter, discussing what bees are doing right now, student research, recent pollinator-related discoveries, and beyond! Archives are available on the UMass Extension website.

Photo: Great golden digger wasp (Sphex ichneumoneuson) on mountain mint. Photo by Nicole Bell

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08/19/2026

Approximately 80-85% of plant diseases are caused by fungi; however, only about 10% of known fungal species are pathogenic to plants. The majority of the other 90% of the world’s fungi are saprophytes, meaning that they eat dead and decaying plant matter. These fungi are all around us, and they play an important role in the soil cycle by breaking down organic matter and returning the nutrients it contains to the earth. Most of the time they are invisible to the naked eye, but under the right circumstances some fungi will produce visible fruiting bodies (reproductive structures).

A number of these organisms may be found growing on mulch in the landscape, most often after a period of wet weather, any time from early spring through late fall. None of them cause diseases in plants, and few are likely to be poisonous to people or pets (though of course they should not be eaten). All of these organisms are ephemeral and controlled through cultural practices. Fungicides are typically ineffective and unnecessary.

Read more about specific mushrooms in the article What is this Weird Stuff Growing on my Mulch? in the August edition of Hort Notes

https://www.umass.edu/agriculture-food-environment/landscape/newsletters/hort-notes/hort-notes-2026-vol-376

Photo: Earth stars by Angela Madeiras

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08/11/2026

A new diagnostic resource for herb crops has arrived!

“Compendium of Herb Diseases and Pests,” edited by UMass Extension’s Angela M. Madeiras, along with Stockbridge School of Agriculture Professor Emeritus Robert L. Wick and UFL Professor Emeritus Richard N. Raid, provides comprehensive coverage of diseases, disorders, and pests affecting 52 herb hosts, from culinary staples to medicinal herbs.

Designed with plant pathologists and diagnosticians in mind, this new APS PRESS compendium features 242 images, 49 quick-reference tables, and practical information covering bacteria, fungi, oomycetes, viruses, nematodes, arthropods, mollusks, and abiotic disorders.

Whether you're diagnosing problems in the lab, supporting growers in the field, or teaching the next generation of plant health professionals, this volume offers an authoritative resource for herb production systems.

https://my.apsnet.org/APSStore/Product-Detail.aspx?WebsiteKey=2661527A-8D44-496C-A730-8CFEB6239BE7&iProductCode=47212

08/10/2026

With the concentrated, heavy rains, there has been some soil erosion in the landscape and some flooded areas. Plant material is responding to the moisture with foliar abnormalities and stresses. Different foliar rusts can be seen on different ornamental plants and grasses, including Calamagrostis spp. and Deschampsia spp.

Excerpt from our August 7 Landscape Message – Central Region Report

https://www.umass.edu/agriculture-food-environment/landscape/landscape-message-august-7-2026

The LANDSCAPE MESSAGE is a regular update to inform and help guide land care professionals in the management of our collective landscape.

Each edition includes valuable information from sites throughout Massachusetts, including growing degree day accumulation, soil temperature, precipitation amounts, and plant phenology. Detailed reports on cultural practices and the status of insects, diseases, and w**ds of interest to landscapers, arborists and turf managers are also regular features.

Photos: Rust chlorosis on Deschamsia by Anna Petrie

Subscribe to our newsletters!
https://t.ly/TNxtf

08/07/2026

The LANDSCAPE MESSAGE for August 7, 2026 has been posted.

https://www.umass.edu/agriculture-food-environment/landscape/landscape-message-august-7-2026

The LANDSCAPE MESSAGE is a regular update to inform and help guide land care professionals in the management of our collective landscape.

Each edition includes valuable information from sites throughout Massachusetts, including growing degree day accumulation, soil temperature, precipitation amounts, and plant phenology.

Detailed reports on cultural practices and the status of insects, diseases, and w**ds of interest to landscapers, arborists and turf managers are also regular features.

There will be 20 messages throughout 2026. New messages are available weekly during the heart of the growing season, bi-weekly in early spring and mid to late summer, and monthly during the fall.

The next Landscape Message will be posted on August 21.

Photo: Purple wood-aster (Eurybia spectabilis) by Blake Dinius

Subscribe to our newsletters!
https://t.ly/TNxtf

08/06/2026

Ornamental Tree and Shrub ID & Insect Walkabout

Want hands-on experience identifying significant landscape plants and their insect pests? This program will be helpful for participants looking to learn or brush up on scouting skills, or to expand their palette of offerings for clients.

Join Mandy Bayer, Horticulturist and Landscape Plant Specialist, and Tawny Simisky, UMass Extension Entomologist, for a walk around the grounds at one of Massachusetts’ beautiful botanic gardens.

The 2-hour walkabout will focus on trees and shrubs with particular seasonal interest as well as insect pests that are active and suggestions for management.

When: Tue, Sept 1, 2026, 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Where: New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill

Register Here:
https://www.umass.edu/agriculture-food-environment/landscape/events/ornamental-tree-shrub-id-insect-walkabout

Notes: The event is held rain or shine.

Pesticide credits: 2 pesticide contact hours for category 36 and Applicators License available.
Association credits: 2 ISA, 1 MCLP, 1 MCA, and 1 MCH association credits are available.

Price: $60 per person

Photo: The Lawn Garden awash in color as peonies and dogwoods bloom by Megan Stouffer, New England Botanic Garden

08/05/2026

HORT NOTES for August 2026 has been posted.

In this Issue:
Hot Topic: Organic Soil pH Management in Naturally Acidic Ornamental Gardens
Trouble Maker: Ouch! All about Horse Flies and Deer Flies
Q&A: Pesticide Product Names, RoundUp Pro vs RoundUp QuikPro, and Invasive W**d Identification
Garden Clippings: August's Tips of the Month
What is this Weird Stuff Growing on my Mulch?

https://www.umass.edu/agriculture-food-environment/landscape/newsletters/hort-notes/hort-notes-2026-vol-376

Hort Notes is a monthly e-newsletter from UMass Extension for landscapers, arborists, and other Green Industry professionals, including monthly tips for home gardeners.

Horse fly body by Michael Patnaude

Subscribe to our newsletters!
https://t.ly/TNxtf

Address

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Amherst, MA
01003

Telephone

+14135450895

Website

https://ag.umass.edu/landscape

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