New England Grows is one of North America’s largest educational conferences and trade shows held at the Boston Convention and Exposition Center.  More than 12,000 attendees from the horticulture industry participate in this event each year.

New England Grows changed its dates from the usual first week in February to the new first week in December.  I think they were trying to avoid the problems resulting from the possible occurrence of a snow storm the week of their event.  This scheduled it at a busy time for most companies in our industry that are trying to wrap up their season before the snow flies.  We weren’t any different however we felt the importance of the educational sessions that they provide and the opportunity to browse the huge trade show floor to see the latest products and equipment was worth taking our staff to Boston on the 4^th.  Dave Alessandroni, Jan Bicknell, Tyrrell Nickerson, Matt Crowley, Patti Thomas, Chris Moe, Jacques Steyn, Vikki Tinkham, Katie White and Matt Heckman all enjoyed a great day of networking and learning.

On December 2^nd Dave Alessandroni and Matt Crowley attended the Vermont Turf Conference sponsored by the Vermont Greenscape Association. 

The event was held at the Fireside Inn in West Lebanon, NH.  Moderator and speaker on two of the sessions, Randy Prostak, was as entertaining as he was informational.  Several other speakers from UMass and UConn spoke about the latest research and developments from their respective fields of expertise relating to turf.

Dave and Jan Bicknell attended the Farm Conference in Concord, NH on January 8^th where a full day was dedicated to topics on succeeding with ‘Managing Your Most Critical Resource, Your Employees’.  Speakers included both public and private sector experts and company owners.  Much valuable insight and information was gleaned from the presentation.    

At this writing Carroll County Landscape is planning to send their staff to the New Hampshire Landscape Association Spring Conference in March.  This is an annual event for us.  Another great educational conference with speakers from across the industry at a time when we are all ramped up and ready to enter our 2016 season.