Pretty hard to tell it's spring lately... 3” of snow on April 1 was a cruel April Fool’s joke, and cold weather has kept soil temperatures hovering just below the all-important 50-degree mark when grass seed germinates. 

But the weather is turning now, its supposed to reach the 60’s this coming weekend!

So, for all of you who aren’t watching the Masters this weekend – my business partner tells me that’s a big golf game? – its time to get out and do some lawn calisthenics!

There's a lot of lawn out there. NASA used its Earth Observatory (see map) to estimate over 40 million acres of lawn! That's 3x the amount of area sowed in corn. That's the largest irrigated crop in America. That's big!

You may have seen a recent article in the Wall Street Journal touting the lessons learned from the builders and inhabitants of the nation’s ‘greenest building,’ the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado.  This innovative building is very cool - equipped with a transpired solar collector, narrow 60 foot wide wings with emphasis on natural light and cubicles with a stringent energy budget of 55 watt

While I'm still on the right side of the grass (i.e., above it), I'm working on my life list.

Jordan may lack the natural resources of its neighbors, but it is home to many natural and cultural splendors. The Dead Sea and Petra (photo, right) are two such wonders.

If you're in the grass business, snow on the ground means its time to take a little vacation and start thinking about the spring season. I'm doing a little of both during a year-end trip. My travels are taking me to Jordan and Egypt this time, and I'm seeing a lot of grass. Construction has been booming in the arab world, fueled by petro-dollars for sure but also by growing, increasingly well-educated populations and liberalizing economies.

We have been so busy helping people and organizations convert their existing lawns to Pearl's Premium low maintenance sustainable lawns that we don't always have time to do the new things we know we need to do.

So, the day before my extended family was coming to town was probably not the time to install a green roof. But when the inspiration strikes and the window opens...

Here's our Pearl's Premium green roof demonstration project.

Pearl's Premium was proud to participate in the leading sustainable construction event of the year. Sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council, the same people who brought us L.E.E.D., GreenBuild is a clearinghouse for innovative ideas and products and an opportunity to network with all the critical constituencies as we further our mission to make the American lawn sustainable. Oh, and Chicago is a great town to spend a few days! Great restaurants, museums, parks and shopping, Chicago is also home to some of the most important developments in modern architecture.

I love Hull! A beautiful beach arching along the Atlantic bookended by majestic big wind turbines and populated by an energized citizenry.

We do several sustainability events in the name of the Pearl's Premium grass seed mission to make the American lawn sustainable - less mowing, less watering, no chemicals - and always have fun there.

Check out their latest idea (photo at left) and join them this Sunday afternoon from 1 to 4pm at Steamboat Wharf, if you can, to talk about Personal Rapid Transit via JPod... very cool!

The polls may have closed on the U.S. elections, but you can still vote for Pearl's Premium in the British Airways Face the Opportunity Contest

The contest gives small businesses the chance to win free round trip airfare to anywhere in the British Airways network. So, they can see their opportunities face-to-face.