Green School 2026 (UMass Extension)
–
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. The 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. Both experienced professionals as well as those new to the industry will benefit from this course.
The curriculum, which emphasizes a systems-based approach to plant and land care, is built on a framework of Best Management Practices (BMPs) and Integrated Pest Management (IPM). The curriculum seeks to promote understanding of economically efficient and environmentally sound cultural practices, and the relation of those practices to the protection of natural resources and the health of non-target organisms. The primary learning objective is to communicate effective and efficient approaches for the production and maintenance of healthy, resilient, functional, and attractive managed landscapes with simultaneous emphasis on responsibility, sustainability, and environmental stewardship.
Green School is a recognized source of high-quality horticultural training and has been successfully offered to the industry as a certificate short course since the early 1990’s. Green School graduates numbering into the thousands hold positions of responsibility for the production and maintenance of managed landscapes in Massachusetts, New England, the Northeast, and beyond.
When?
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons from October 27, 2026 - December 17, 2026. Mandatory orientationis scheduled for October 22, 2026, from 4 pm - 5:30 pm.
Three tracks available. ISA CEUs available for each track:
Registration
$1,199 early-bird rate ends 9/1/26
$1,399 regular rate starts 9/2/26
Registration closes 10/21/26 or sooner if the course reaches capacity