South Eastern Connecticut Landscaping

SafeLawns followers are celebrating a victory today.

Succumbing to a barrage of criticism from the environmental community — and in the wake of a guilty plea from Scotts Miracle Gro in federal court — the National Wildlife Federation announced to members this afternoon that is would end its sponsorship deal with the world’s largest purveyor of toxic lawn and garden products.

The announcement of a promotional deal between Scotts and NWF posted 10 days ago confounded thousands of followers of the organization known for its environmental stewardship programs. The organization’s leadership steadfastly defended its deal last week, but apparently had no idea that Scotts Miracle Gro would soon plead guilty last Thursday to charges of falsifying documents and selling bird seed tainted with pesticides that are toxic to birds.

At approximately 4 p.m. today, Ed Coleman, the general manager of customer service at NWF, issued this statement:

“The National Wildlife Federation has worked together with Scotts Miracle-Gro over the past two years on programs to educate gardeners about global warming, connect children to the outdoors and help restore habitat following the Gulf oil disaster. Both parties recently announced plans for an even broader partnership that was based on our common interests.

“Since that time, Scotts announced a pending legal settlement related to events in 2008 that predate our partnership, which has made it clear that the partnership is not viable. Therefore, NWF and Scotts will work together to end the partnership in a friendly and mutually beneficial way.

“National Wildlife Federation appreciates your continuing support.”

Coleman also posted his email (colemane@nwf.org) and phone number (703-438-6205) with the message.

Reaction was celebratory, even euphoric, from SafeLawns followers who have been emailing, phoning and protesting in various ways in the past week.

“We won!” said Marie Ross. “This proves the power of social media once again.”

“It’s too bad it took the federal court case for the NWF to come to its senses, but at least it did,” said Jonathan R. Douglass.

Many others thanked SafeLawns directly for helping to lead a charge last week with a series of postings about the story.

“Thanks, Paul, for all you do,” said a message from a group known as StopPesticidesinNeedham. “I suspect all our letters combined with the reality that Scotts is such a dirty company made the NWF realize this was not good.”

Article source: http://www.safelawns.org/blog/index.php/2012/01/citing-guilty-plea-wildlife-federation-ends-agreement-with-scotts/

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The attempted whitewashing by the chemical companies has been rampant lately. First TruGreen ChemLawn tried to buy public opinion by sending millions of dollars to Earth Day. Then Scotts Miracle Gro did buy out Major League Baseball.

SafeLawns and its allies were able to block the insidious ChemLawn deal with Earth Day, but Major League Baseball didn’t flinch under a barrage of comments and still hangs “Scotts is Used Here” banners in Major League Baseball ballparks to give homeowners the illusion that they can have Fenway Park in their back yard just by dumping on some weed ‘n feed.

Now Scotts Miracle Go is at it again. In the past two days word has come down that the world’s largest purveyor of lawn chemical poisons has bought its way into the National Wildlife Federation’s heart. This is the non-profit organization that is supposed to be protecting our wildlife and promoting a healthy lifestyle, yet NWF is now grabbing fistfuls of cash from the very company that makes heading outdoors unhealthy for our kids.

The environmental community is outraged.

“As far as I’m concerned, there is no amount of greenwashing in the world that can clean up the reputation of Scotts,” wrote Carole Brown of Native Plants Wildlife Gardens. “Why would the National Wildlife Federation want to enter into this deal with the devil? Well, they’re a non-profit organization that exists through the generosity of their donors. And what better way to fill their coffers than to enter into an agreement with a company that generates billions of dollars of profits every year? Who cares if that company makes those billions from dumping tons and tons of chemical herbicides and pesticides into our lawns and gardens, which then runs off wreaking havoc with our streams and watersheds? I care!”

We first heard about this yesterday from our friend and colleague, Joe Lamp’l, the host of Growing a Greener World on PBS. As we were touring our organic lawn trials at the University of Maryland, Joe told us the blogs were afire and folks were calling on SafeLawns to help draw attention to an obvious miscarriage of social justice.

Many other associates began calling us, too, and then posting their opinions on the National Wildlife Foundation Facebook page. Emotions are clearly raw.

“I really really looked up to the NWF as a kid (which I became aware of through reading Ranger Rick!!), and hoped someday I could have a yard certified as a NWF approved backyard habitat,” wrote poster Mary Lai. “It really breaks my heart to see the NWF partner up with a company like Scotts Miracle Gro. I know the economy is going through lean times, but this just isn’t the right way to get funding. ”

Many were calling on friends, followers and colleagues to make life miserable for the NWF. It was the kind of tactic that got Earth Day to cave two years ago and rescind the ChemLawn money. Some suggest tweeting a message to NWF on twitter, including @NWF in your message, or calling NWF: 1-703-438-6000 to chat with the organization’s headquarters.

It’s obvious the NWF is already taking note of the concern and the organization’s PR team is out in force defending its decision and claiming that taking the cash doesn’t equate to a defacto endorsement of Scotts Miracle Gro or its products.

But, of course, it does.

Our board at SafeLawns has long insisted that we review the product offerings of the companies from whom we accept corporate sponsorships. And even though companies like Scotts Miracle Gro do offer a smattering of so-called organic products these days, the vast majority of their stuff is wildly polluting and incredibly toxic for our pets and our kids. So we’d never accept their money under any circumstances. The National Wildlife Federation shouldn’t, either — not until Scotts Miracle Gro stands up and denounces the production, distribution and sale of its products like Roundup, weed ‘n feed, Bug Be Gone and all the myriad products that have been proven to be toxic.

My gut feeling here is that NWF won’t cave to the pressure and it will keep the money. They’ll justify it when they crawl into bed at night with the notion that they’re “cleaning up” Scotts dirty profits. A lot of non-profits feel this way; they don’t care where the money comes from as long as they do good things with the money. Do you think the Catholic church does a background check on everyone before it passes the hat down the pew? Well, neither do most other organizations who otherwise try to do good work with whatever cash they can scrape together.

I’ve also heard impassioned arguments from folks I respect greatly who feel that it’s best to work with the worst environmental offenders from the inside out. Recently I heard Peter Seligmann, the charismatic founder of Conservation International, explain his decision to accept money and other support from WalMart several years ago. The result of his efforts was WalMart’s decision to adopt numerous green initiatives and the company is now the largest seller of organic food in the world.

Seligmann’s well-thought-out “keep your environmental enemies close” strategy has helped effect real change, in other words. WalMart may still be doing some bad stuff, but it’s better than it used to be. That’s how begrudgingly difficult progress happens.

The real problem in the Scotts Miracle Gro marriage with National Wildlife is that nothing in NWF’s rhetoric, so far at least, acknowledges that Scotts Miracle Gro has heretofore been killing the environment. Nothing in the press release states that there’s a goal in place to reduce environmental toxins sold by its newfound benefactor. All NWF appears to be presenting is a series of events that gives Scotts a chance to pretend to give a damn about the environment.

Scotts Miracle Gro continues to claim publicly that its products are safe when used as directed — and the whole damn environmental community knows it’s a lie. NWF knows it’s a lie, too.

So, yes. Please post your opinions to the NWF Facebook page. Leave a message on the organization’s web site: http://www.nwf.org/About/Contact-Us.aspx.

If NWF is going to keep this money then we need to make the organization understand just how soiled we think it has become.

Article source: http://www.safelawns.org/blog/index.php/2012/01/miracle-gro-deal-with-wildlife-federation-outrages-environmental-community/

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We received this personal note recently. We receive dozens of notes weekly that arrive like little pep pills to carry us through the days, but this one reached out and grabbed us even more than usual — maybe because it reminded us of a poem we have cited here before by Drew Dellinger titled Hieroglyphic Stairway. The poem’s classic last line . . . “what did you do once you knew?” . . . is evoked at the end of this note.

The author of this note, for now, shall remain anonymous to protect her from the potential wrath of her neighbors and co-workers. But we applaud her for speaking out in the subtle and not-so-subtle ways that she can. It’s what we all need to do, isn’t it?

Hello Paul,
I give you a lot of credit for what you do. After I got cancer this June I was and am still stunned by our society and the use of pesticides. I know in my heart that some environmental toxin caused my cancer. I had always gotten my period every 28 days up until the age of 46. I skipped a month in March 2010 and then it was quite heavy. I cried, “Oh, no, I am in menopause,” but then my cycles resumed every 28 days until March or April came again in 2011. Menopause is not seasonal and March and April are when the lawn chemical trucks drive up and down the streets.

I have male neighbors who have prostate cancer directly across the street and even a 23-year-old who had testicular cancer at the end of the street. I spread the word to all of my immediate neighbors telling them not to use the lawn chemicals because they cause cancer and none of them listen. I have my neighbor directly next door who is a RN In oncology with the hospital that treated me. I printed out your article about Round Up and they wrote back: “Please leave us alone we don’t use lawn chemicals on your yard, and if you and your cat stayed off of ours there wouldn’t be a problem. We are not breaking the law and do not intrude on your lives, as you do ours. Stop harrassing us now! My oncologist at work says that using lawn chemicals in moderation is safe and we will continue to do so.”

For God sake I did not show them evidence from Bozo the clown that lawn chemicals are carcinogenic. I try to not only protect myself from exposure that could cause my cancer to reoccur, but I showed them the evidence to protect every man, woman, and child that does have exposure to it. I can’t begin to tell you the pain I felt because of this neighbor and the many others who are anti-social by all accounts.

Another neighbor — and you won’t believe this — had breast cancer surgery 14 years ago. She has had it in her bones for five years now. When I told her about the lawn chemicals she dismissed it and said her husband would continue to use them because “you can’t eliminate everything around you that causes cancer and live in a bubble.” I get livid and say having a green lawn is so nonessential and is it really worth it? And you know it’s not that you just decide for yourself that it’s the risk your willing to take. The biggest problem is when you use these chemicals you not only expose yourself but you expose everyone around you and anti-social behavior is defined as not having regard for the consequences of your actions or the impact of others.

I am not educated and I do not have a career, but if someone showed me evidence of pesticides causing cancer or relayed to me that they thought their breast cancer could have come from pesticides I would stop using them immediately.

Well, Paul, keep up the fight. I am sitting home today from my job as a lunch lady. I spoke up about the way some schools operate. The kids have to ask for the vegetable with their lunch versus the school just serving the vegetable in the first place. The food is awful to begin with, you know, heavily processed and all fat. Many kids don’t take the vegetable, but one day quite a few were and the cafeteria manager at the start of the eight-grade lunch started out with only four servings of broccoli. She said she typically didn’t sell that much — partly because they keep quiet and don’t offer vegetables because they want to make money selling the kids who are still hungry and buy snacks for purchase. In short, the school does not encourage the students to eat healthy and they make more money selling the snacks. Yes. Another example of “cheat the kids to make a buck.” When I was growing up I learned to eat healthy by example.

Well, my husband is a simple man, but he has a saying that I do like: “hell is only half full.” I said this before cancer and always taught my kids this as well. When you’re diagnosed with cancer you’re so shocked and scared of dying . . . and you don’t want to stand before God and have him ask: “I gave you this knowledge and this gift and what did you do with it?”

Article source: http://www.safelawns.org/blog/index.php/2012/01/guest-blog-i-gave-you-this-knowledge-and-what-did-you-do-with-it/

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Are consumers waking up to the general wastefulness and toxicity of the chemical lawn care industry? Based on the ongoing decline in the finances of the world’s largest purveyor of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides — coupled with the increase in the sales of organic products — all indications point to a major market shift.

Scotts Miracle-Gro announced earlier this week that it will likely lose $70 to $75 million in the fiscal quarter ending Dec. 31 — which is considered its first quarter of 2012. Scotts always loses money this time of year, but this year’s loss is approximately $10 million more than last year for the same period. That follows a year (2011) in which the company’s global consumer sales dipped by more than 9 percent, according to information published by Scotts in November.

The company publicly blames its demise on weather-related issues, as well as increasing commodity costs related to the rising costs of fossil fuel. Chief Financial Officer David Evans admitted the price of synthetic chemical fertilizer has increased approximately 50 percent in the past five years, but told market analysts that a bag of Miracle Gro won’t go up in price this year as the company tries to retain its shrinking market share.

As recently as November, Scotts CEO Jim Hagedorn defiantly predicted that sales would rebound in 2012. Based on the recent losses — along with a sharp drop in the company’s stock price to less than $44 from a high of $60 earlier this year — Hagedorn will now have to hedge his bets.

“We’ll provide (financial) guidance to our investors in February,” he said recently. “We need to evaluate the continued variability of commodity costs and work is still being done to finalize next year’s marketing plans.”

Meanwhile a survey of sales in the organic sector point to an approximately 20 percent increase in fertilizers and natural pesticides in the U.S. Numerous companies continue to jump into the natural market and even the dinosaurs like Scotts and TruGreen (ChemLawn) now offer natural alternatives.

All of this follows a worldwide trend back to the future.

Honesto Baniqued Jr., president of the National Agribusiness Corporation of the Philippines, said the efficacy of organic offerings has improved in recent years just as understanding of the products has skyrocketed globally.

“We’re seeing a 35 percent increase in yields with a switch to an organic fertilizer,” he said. “The use of (synthetic) fertilizer is scandalous and unnecessary.”

Well said.

Article source: http://www.safelawns.org/blog/index.php/2011/12/miracle-gro-sales-continue-to-plummet/

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Our colleagues in New Jersey are mobilizing anxiously in anticipation of next week’s critical vote in the state legislature that could remove toxic pesticides from school grounds and day care centers.

Suzanne Aptmann of the Northern New Jersey SafeYards Alliance did a great job of getting the issue covered in her local newspaper: http://westdeptford.patch.com/articles/legislature-could-move-on-school-pesticide-ban-next-week.

Safe landscape proponents from across the country are also eagerly anticipating the vote, as is the chemical pesticide industry. Tom Delaney, director of government affairs for the Professional Landcare Network (Planet), denounced the bill as propaganda and is asking all lawn care professionals to lobby against its passage.

We need to urge everyone in New Jersey to call their local legislators and urge them to pass the bill, which was co-sponsored by 40 elected officials.

Article source: http://www.safelawns.org/blog/index.php/2012/01/all-eyes-on-new-jersey-school-pesticide-bill/

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The lawn was in terrible shape the last two months, with no rain for a stretch of a month. Automatic irrigation system I am having, cant cope with ever thirsty grass. Luckily the much awaited rainfall came last week, and the grass smiled.
How time passed.  November last year, roselle and papaya were  the first to be introduced in into our little garden in a very bare compound. Cow grass was planted towards the end of November.   I did a few posts at the early stage of  the lawn ;   Preparing the lawn November 25th 2010 followed by  Lawn in the making with new kpi on  December 3rd 2010.
Yesterday, Rosli came to cut the grass. It wasn’t easy for him, with poly pipes of irrigation system spread all over the lawn.

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Yesterday, I talked about the types of lawn mowers available, and today I want to talk about what powers them. This is totally speaking about walk-behind mowers, since riding mowers are always gas-powered.

I once had a neighbor who refused to use a gas lawn mower. She said it was because she hated the fumes from the motor, and she was doing her part for the environment. I would see her get out her extension cord and carry it along with her. A few years later, she gave it up for a gas powered mower and braved the fumes. Deciding between the two designs is always a personal choice based on many factors, including the following:

Noise: Electric mowers definitely have the advantage here. Gas involves combustion, and with that comes high noise levels. Electric mowers are still noisy, but not incredibly loud like their gas counterparts.

Pollution: Once again, electric wins out. Gas mowers have no catalytic converter to remove the many pollutants that spew from a working motor.

Power: Gas wins this one. Motors come in different sizes, but there is only so much current coming through the wall socket. For this reason, electric mowers run less efficiently and often less effectively as a result.

Ease: I never could figure out how my neighbor never ran over the cord with the lawn mower. It looked so uncomfortable to use, and you are limited in how your extension cord runs. Gas belches out fumes that can be a little nauseating, but at least you have the comfort of going anywhere you want without worrying about getting the cord wrapped around something.

Cost: Electric wins over gas here as well. You can buy many types of electric mowers for between $100 and $200, but gas mower can range from the $150 for a small one to several hundred for larger, more powerful version.

Ultimately, the decision on the specific type of lawn mower is yours. Figure out which characteristics are most important to you and then choose accordingly. You can always change your mind later on, just like my neighbor did.

Image Source: flickr.com/photos/tbuser/3620840202

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I think in many ways March is the busiest month in the garden. So many chores need tackled this time of year from mulching to pruning to planting that sometimes it’s hard to figure out what to tackle first! Among the major chores like lawn mower servicing and tree planting there are quite a few little chores.  Like trimming back the liriope in my corner garden bed. The bed is tucked into a corner between my front sidewalk and the driveway. Many people simply take their mower or string trimmer and cut back the liriope but I can’t do that. I interplanted daffodils that are coming up through the liriope foliage. The handpruners will be good enough and since I really don’t have a large area to cover it won’t take long. In the past the rabbits have nibbled the liriope down – but not this year. (Also in that same bed I have daylilies and a rose bush.)

Another minor garden chore that needs done is in this little patio garden bed. The brown grass of my ponytail grass (Stipa tenuissima or Nassella tenuissima) needs cleaned out to let the new blades of grass show off. The Japanese maple also needs pruned. Many of the branches that cross over through the plant should be removed.

If we move in a little closer we can see the hyacinths coming up. Unfortunately my culinary sage is completely shielding them from view. The sage needs trimmed back to encourage a bushier plant but also to allow the spring blooming hyacinths their moment in the sun.

I’ll talk more later about the other garden chores on my list but I’ll put the list below so you can see what else needs done!

The Home Garden Chore List: March of 2011

• Mulch the garden beds
  • Front Gardens – done
  • Corner Shade Garden
  • Back of house Garden
  • Deck and Patio Gardens
  • Vegetable Garden
  • Garden Shed Beds
• Prune
  • Crape myrtles
  • Redbuds – after blooming
  • Caryopteris
  • Japanese Dappled Willows
• Garden Fence
  • Dig Post Holes for Garden Fence
  • Gather materials for posts
  • Set posts
• Plant
  • Dogwood
  • Irises
  • Dianthus
  • Plants propagated last year
  • Anything else I buy!

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Coming soon to a lawn or garden near you … Henbit (Lamium amplexicauli)! The cover-all-lawns-with-purple-spring-color ground cover. If you’re tired of the green look – consider purple. It’s easy care with absolutely no maintenance and pollinator friendly! You don’t even have to plant it as henbit will find its own way to your lawn.

It’s a weed but sure is another purty one!

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A classic beauty Iris germanica

This bearded Iris is one of them.

Which might be surprising coming from a native plant enthusiast.

I met them when I was about 7 years old. A friend invited me to her house to play after school. They had a big sunny front yard filled with old fashioned flowers. The garden was being tended by her grandmother; a serious woman with the most amazing silver blue hair. She was very kind to an inquisitive little girl who peppered her with questions about the tall purple flower that smelled exactly like grape soda. She let me walk across the lawn to touch and smell the flowers I now know were German Iris.

Iris with Columbine, Shooting Star, Golden Ragwort and Foam Flower

To this day, their scent evokes the sweetest memories of kind friends, sunny gardens and silvery blue haired gardeners. Their tall form and rich lilac flowers fit nicely with my dear wildflower friends.

They are beautiful and smell luscious. Let’s try something.

Imagine a warm spring day.
The birds are singing just over your shoulder.
There is a hint of sweetness in the air.
You feel the irresistible urge to move closer,
to find it.
It’s right over there.
Tantalizingly sweet.
You are so close that you can see the beard,
touch the velvet petals and,
it smells delicious.
Just like grape soda.

Tell me, is there a plant that has captured your attention and never lost it?

xxoogail

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