[caption id="attachment_4368" align="alignleft" width="547" caption="On Day 2 of the Mid-Atlantic tour an organic landscape roundtable discussion hosted by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society included PHS project managers Mark Paronish and Julie Snell, along with SafeLawns founder Paul Tukey, Glenstone horticulturist Patricia Manke and organic lawn guru Barry Draycott of New Jersey."][/caption] I just re ...

Anyone concerned with pesticide spraying should take note: PROTESTS DO WORK. For further evidence, turn to Highland Park, Ill., where 25 emails and 600-plus signatures on a petition caught the attention of local officials who ultimately delayed a plan to spray public parks with synthetic weed killers: http://highlandpark.suntimes.com/news/7810266-418/park-district-backs-off-pesticide-use.html. The issue in ...

Nearly five years after its publication, our book, The Organic Lawn Care Manual, continues to draw nice reviews. Here's this one today from About.com: http://lawncare.about.com/b/2011/09/26/book-review-the-organic-lawn-care-manual-by-paul-tukey.htm ...

SafeLawns will make its first visit to Delaware in three years when I deliver the annual Copeland Lecture for the Delaware Center for Horticulture in Wilmington at 7 p.m. "How & Why to Create a Natural Landscape" will be the general theme of the talk, which will be followed by a signing of our book, The Organic Lawn Care Manual, along with a Q&A session. The event is co-sponsored by the Delaware Grounds Man ...

[caption id="attachment_4350" align="alignleft" width="540" caption="Theo Ormrod Davis, 15, won a prestigious photography honor in England for this photo of a dandelion. "][/caption] MY DAUGHTER, AIMEE, WILL PROUDLY TELL YOU THAT SHE'S four and three-quarters now, and not just four and a half. Upon this momentous birthday occasion my wife decided it was time to move beyond the picture books with our nightly ...

U.S. GOVERNMENT CONTINUES TO IGNORE PESTICIDE PROOF We've been at this now for more than five years. As one of the first organizations in North America to go public with the notion that a class of pesticides made from synthetic nicotine were responsible for the sudden bee death known as colony collapse disorder, we were threatened legally, verbally and, yes, even physically. These days it's widely accepted ...

This is somewhat off the lawn topic, but it got my attention as it potentially relates to the safety of genetic engineering of plants that become foods — either for us or the animals that we eat. I know I grew up hearing from my grandmother that "you are what you eat." Now, a scientist in China, Chen-Yu Zhang, a molecular biologist at Nanjing University, seems to have proven just that: http://the-scientist. ...

[caption id="attachment_4335" align="alignleft" width="563" caption="Kathryn Gilje helped lead the efforts against methyl iodide in California."][/caption] By Kathryn Gilje I was born 20 miles from the Canadian border, as the crow flies. Childhood runs for a 'mack' and regular trips to the border were common. But this week, my Canadian journey was quite different: to Ottawa, seat of the Canadian government, ...

We were watching this one closely, having participated in many of the early debates. Last night, in what can only be called a "landslide" vote and public outcry, the town of Scarborough, Maine, removed synthetic pesticides from public property: http://www.theforecaster.net/content/s-scarborough-town-council-092311. ...

My ears will be burning tonight just after the dinner hour when five environmental groups join the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the town of Kennebunk for a viewing of our film, A Chemical Reaction. Since I've seen the film, it's the forum afterward that will pique my curiosity. Partners and presenters include the Kennebunk Coastal Association, the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserv ...