Michael Hatcher & Associates (MHA) has won a Gold Award of Excellence from the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) for its landscape management work at Southwind HOA in Memphis, Tennessee. The company also earned two Silver Awards of Excellence for construction projects in Huntsville and Memphis.
“We are grateful to NALP for this honor,” said Senior Account Manager
Alex Moore, who accepted the Gold Award plaque on Monday, November 9, during NALP’s ELEVATE Conference in Tampa, Florida. “It’s the result of eight years of hard work on this property, and this award belongs to all of our Landscape Specialists and Irrigation Technicians who show up every week to keep Southwind looking the way its board and residents expect.”
NALP’s Awards of Excellence program annually honors outstanding landscape and lawn care projects, each judged on its own merit by a panel of industry professionals using a 100-point scoring system based on appearance, degree of difficulty, and other criteria specific to each category.
A Memphis Neighborhood With Little Room for Error
Few properties raise the degree of difficulty like Southwind. Established in 1986 with six distinct neighborhoods, 525 lots, and 100 common open spaces, Southwind is certified as an Arboretum by the Tennessee Urban
Forestry Council and has an active Landscape Maintenance Committee and Garden Club. The neighborhood is also anchored by a private par-71, 18-hole championship golf course that draws thousands of golfers and spectators each year.
The HOA board knew the stakes when it issued a request for proposals in 2018, Moore said, pointing to the RFP’s requirements for a high-quality maintenance program for its common areas; a long-term plan for plant health, turf, pruning, and renovations; faster response to irrigation issues; better communication from its provider; and timely cleanup of storm debris throughout the year.
“When we took on the property, beds were neglected, mature shrubs needed renewal pruning, and some areas needed a complete overhaul,” Moore recalled. “Over-mulched beds and tree rings were harming the trees, the turf needed aeration and overseeding, and there was no three- or five-year plan for improvements.”
Turning the Property Around
MHA brought its in-house maintenance, turf management, irrigation, and landscape enhancement teams together and started by mapping all 
100 of Southwind’s common open spaces, giving crews an efficient workflow. A dedicated maintenance crew, Production Manager, and Account Manager were assigned to the property to keep the work on track and the board informed.
Early projects to turn the property around included removing excess mulch from tree rings, switching azalea beds from hard bark mulch to pine straw, and restoring turf through aeration and overseeding. The MHA team also began pruning each species on its own horticultural calendar.
Solving the Water Problem
The biggest challenge at Southwind was underground. A well installed in the 1980s supplied water to roughly 80 percent of the common spaces 
and also served a neighboring business park, and no as-built plans existed. Each time the well failed or had to be shut down for a leak on the business park side, Southwind’s plantings went without water, often in peak summer heat.
During the first year of maintenance onsite in 2019, MHA recommended a backup system that used five 2-inch meters from the municipal utility, plus isolation
valves along the 2-mile main line. The HOA board approved the plan in late 2025, and MHA spent the first seven months of 2026
coordinating with Memphis Light, Gas and Water and tying the system in through a backflow device. MHA’s Irrigation Technicians can now isolate one section for repairs while the rest of the property stays on, and the system carried Southwind through its first summer in service.
“We’ve helped the board protect its mature trees and turn the common areas around, and residents notice the difference,” Moore said. “A project like this takes two sides pulling in the same direction. Southwind gave us a clear picture of what they wanted, and we had the people and expertise to deliver it.”
Now a national award winner, the company has no plans to rest on its laurels, he added.
“There’s always another storm, another leak, another season. We’ll keep showing up for all of them,” Moore said. “That’s the Hatcher way.”
If you manage a commercial property in North Mississippi or the Greater Memphis Area and want it to turn heads year-round, contact Business Development Manager Caleb Ratcliffe at 901-677-9450 or caleb@hatcherlandscape.com.
