[caption id="attachment_5338" align="alignleft" width="540" caption="At a Home Depot in Rhode Island these three insect-killing products were side by side and priced identically yesterday. Only one of them is safe to use around your home, however. "][/caption] It's that time of year here in New England when most lawns have been fertilized and most dandelions have passed and gone to seed, if they weren't kil ...

Last Thursday, with a heat index of 105, I witnessed a sprinkler system spewing water high into the air at noontime near Washington, D.C. This morning, after more than an inch of rain yesterday, I heard my neighbors' sprinkler system go off at 5:45 a.m. in Rhode Island. And after an optimistic drought forecast offered up by the National Weather Service earlier this spring, the map, above, is beginning to lo ...

Quietly, methodically, District of Columbia councilmember Mary Cheh, did her homework and concluded that pesticides used to kill dandelions and other weeds have no place on public spaces where children and pets play. After input from SafeLawns, Beyond Pesticides, the Pesticide Action Network among others, her committee has now unanimously voted to recommend passage of the “Pesticide Education and Control Am ...

The Rhode Show on NBC in Providence teased our appearance this coming Sunday at the Newport Flower Show — including the cutest little hula hooper, my daughter Aimee: http://www.wpri.com/dpp/rhode_show/wpri-rhode-newport-is-birthplace-of-popular-games. We'll be doing a signing of the book, Tag, Toss & Run following the fun, interactive presentation that begins at 11 a.m. ...

Ontario Family Physicians Warn of Pesticide Dangers in Second Landmark Study (SAFELAWNS NOTE: This details the second report from the Ontario College of Family Physicians. The first, issued in 2004, was significantly instrumental in Quebec, Ontario and several other Canadian provinces banning the use of Roundup, weed 'n feed and other common lawn and garden weed and insect killers. Eight years later, the Co ...

With the rest of the world already caught on to the phenomenon known as "blogging," I finally got around to it on June 18, 2009. Why June 18? I have no recollection, really, about why I picked that day to launch what soon became a personal obsession. More than 1,000 SafeLawns posts later, most of them written by yours truly, I remain grateful that enough sponsoring partners and daily readers have conspired ...

[caption id="attachment_5305" align="alignleft" width="563" caption="At this golf course, where grass is fertilized and grown to the pond's edge, the water is eutrified by excess phosphorus load. "][/caption] WHEN IT COMES TO LAWNS, FEW STATES RIVAL CONNECTICUT for the amount of passion folks can muster. It’s the richest state in the nation per capita and all those folks with nice properties want to su ...

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this 4-minute video is worth an epic tome. Directed by Louie Schwartzberg, the piece speaks to why we need to reduce pesticides . . . far more eloquently than words really ever could: http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/xHkq1edcbk4?rel=0 ...

URI RESEARCHERS LOOKING FOR NON-PESTICIDE APPROACHES TO SAVING LILIES [caption id="attachment_5285" align="alignleft" width="563" caption="Lily beetles attack Asiatic lilies, not daylilies, which are an unrelated plant. "][/caption] [caption id="attachment_5281" align="alignleft" width="358" caption="The adult lily leaf beetle is scarlet red and about the size of a lady bug."][/caption] Off the lawn topic t ...

We spent April and May traveling the country to attend massive gatherings, from the Ecpot Flower & Garden Festival in Orlando, to the Captain Planet Foundation Festival in Atlanta and Earthfest outside Philadelphia. On Saturday, however, we brought the Lawn Games for Life! campaign down to scale at our first private family function in Massachusetts — then concurrently helped enliven the 350th anniversary of ...