NewGrass^® synthetic grass has again expanded its public footprint in New York City, this time as the ground cover of Park Here, a 0.1-acre temporary indoor pop-up park in the Nolita neighborhood north of Little Italy and Chinatown.

Created by Openhouse Gallery, the park opened on Dec. 5 with RS Fest, the ultimate music festival by Rolling Stone, and will stay open until Feb. 15. The indoor respite from the harsh winter weather is decorated as Central Park in the spring: blossoming foliage, lifelike murals and — of course — a plush lawn, thanks to NewGrass artificial grass.

Don’t take our word for what a great space this is. Read New York Times journalist Ariel Kaminer wrote it.

“It shouldn’t fool anyone,” Kaminer wrote. “And yet it does: office workers looking for a break, couples looking for each other’s arms, the daily yoga class in the corner and, of course, the inevitable stroller brigade, all just relaxing and playing and letting down their guard in a way they would never do if the fake foliage was not there.”

NewGrass is the fake grass of choice when being environmentally friendly as important as providing a safe groundcover for pets, children and wildlife.

“Which explains why NewGrass is increasingly finding a home in parks, schools, backyards and playgrounds,” NewGrass President Greg Goehner said. “And we’re especially proud to continue to help the people of New York City enjoy a safe, green lawn year-round.”

NewGrass is also proud to be in the company of other great contributors to Park Here, including Fatboy USA, Magic Murals, American Foliage and Santa Maria Novella.

“It was a true collaboration with a great result,” Goehner said.

Park Here is in fact only the most recent public use of NewGrass in the Big Apple. This summer, NewGrass artificial grass was used in the “larger than life” promotion for The Smurfs Movie in Columbus Circle.

Last fall, NewGrass eco-friendly fake lawn was selected to landscape a rooftop patio of Trump Place, one of the city’s swankiest high rises. It was also found on the runways during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. Earlier in the year, NewGrass® synthetic lawn was on public display in the middle of Times Square, in conjunction with a citywide public art project in which it was used to provide a natural-looking ground cover in a symbolic and temporary “town common.”

Previously, NewGrass appeared in the window display of the Ralph Lauren flagship store on tony Madison Avenue.

As synthetic turf, NewGrass can be installed permanently or temporarily. In the ski town of Vail, Colo., NewGrass was used to convert an area that is an ice skating rink in the winter into a grassy outdoor recreation site in the summer.

Winter is just around the corner, and that’s a reminder that spring landscaping plans aren’t far behind. As you consider what to do differently next year, think about creating a truly healthy lawn – a lawn that’s environmentally friendly as well as healthy for pets, children and wildlife.

You may think your lawn is not important in the big scheme of protecting the environment or being eco-friendly. But consider this: When added up, all of the lawns across the United States would cover the state of Ohio.

Needless to say, that much natural turf grass requires a lot of water, pesticides and fertilizers.

“How we manage our lawns affects the health of our children, pets, wildlife and water quality,” according to Lynn Markham, a land use specialist with the Center for Land Use Education at the University of Wisconsin.

Markham suggests three steps for creating a lawn that’s healthy of the environment and for your pets and family. NewGrass® couldn’t agree more.

Avoid using pesticides. Pesticides are potentially harmful to children, pets and wildlife. Also, they can be tracked into the house or leach into the groundwater. NewGrass® requires no pesticides if it has been properly installed and the base material properly prepared.

If you must fertilize, avoid phosphorus. Phosphorous accelerates algae growth in lakes and rivers, and lawn fertilizer is a major source of phosphorous in our waters. Markham writes that fertilizing the lawn of a typical half-acre lot could add more than 50 pounds of phosphorous to that yard each year. Eco-friendly NewGrass® of course requires no fertilizer at all. In addition, it is lead-safe, and 100% recyclable with polyethylene blades and a bio-based backing.

Get small. Reduce your turf grass footprint. Plant more trees, shrubs, wildflowers and tall grasses, and consider installing synthetic lawn particularly in areas that are hard to maintain or require unusually high amounts of water, pesticides or fertilizer.

NewGrass eco-friendly synthetic grass was selected for the Monday, July 25 2011 “larger than life” promotion of the The Smurfs Movie in Columbus Circle outside Central Park in New York City. The event featured a complete Smurf village, with NewGrass as part of the scene and stars such as Neil Patrick Harris, Hank Azaria and Jayma Mays joining in with their blue friends.

The Smurfs Movie is scheduled for release on July 29 of this week, in which the Smurfs are chased out of their animated village by the evil wizard Gargamel and find themselves in New York City in live action sequences filmed in the city. Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation, and New York City have called the week of July 25 to July 29 Smurf Week in honor of the small blue magical beings.

NewGrass was selected for the event because their products are eco-friendly, child safe and ideal for events ranging from The Grammys in Hollywood to a pop-up park in Times Square.

“We are extremely excited to be part of Smurfs Week in New York City. Our experience with larger than life events such as the Grammy Awards and The Super Bowl allow organizers to create beautiful, green spaces in any setting,” said NewGrass® President Greg Goehner.

The eco-friendly synthetic grass is often used in parks, schools, backyards and playgrounds, and earlier in 2011 NewGrass was selected by the NFL and Gatorade for the Super Bowl NFL Junior Training Camp.

NewGrass is a popular choice for outdoor spaces where children play because it’s eco-friendly and made from recyclable materials, helping to save resources such as water and eliminate fertilizer and pesticides, therefore avoiding chemical exposure for kids.

NewGrass is also popular with purchasers because of its value. Schools and parks can save money by reducing upkeep costs and the durability of NewGrass, lasting for years, allows it to pay for itself over time.

As a synthetic turf NewGrass can be installed permanently or can be installed temporarily for multipurpose areas. In a recent installation in Vail Colorado, an area used as an ice skating rink in the winter was converted to NewGrass for other uses in the summer. And once the Smurfs complete their visit to Columbus Circle, the NewGrass can be removed as well, returning the area to its regular activity.

Overall, by providing a safe, clean, and eco-friendly turf, NewGrass is great for fun with Smurfs and for play areas everywhere.

NewGrass® artificial grass is going to the Super Bowl!

NewGrass® has been chosen by the NFL and Gatorade as the playing field for their NFL Junior Training Camp in the shadow of the new Cowboys Stadium the day before Super Bowl XLV in Arlington, Texas.

Long recognized as a safe, clean and environmentally friendly groundcover for sports fields and play areas, 5,000 square feet of NewGrass® synthetic lawn will be installed in a Wal-Mart parking lot less than 900 feet away from the stadium for hundreds of kids and NFL players to participate in drills and activities.

In addition, the event supports Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe program. For the installation’s infill, NewGrass® is using Nike Grind. It’s a material made from recycled athletic shoes and used to crate athletic and playground surfaces, as well as select Nike products.

“Nike Grind has been shown to be healthy and environmentally friendly, and we’re excited to use it as one more option to crumb rubber infill,” said NewGrass® President Greg Goehner.

NewGrass® stopped using crumb rubber a few years ago, after concerns were raised about its health hazards as an infill for synthetic lawn installations on playgrounds and sports fields.

“This is a very big event for us, and one that we’re very proud of supporting, especially because Nike and NewGrass® share a commitment to being eco-friendly and socially responsible,” Goehner said. “Reuse-A-Shoe recycles athletic shoes, and NewGrass is made from primarily recyclable materials.”

The use of NewGrass® at one-day Super Bowl event in a huge parking lot is also one more testament to its great use for temporary groundcover uses.

“NewGrass® is scheduled to be installed the day before the NFL Junior Training Camp and will be taken up the evening the event is over,” Goehner said.

NewGrass® has been used for installations ranging from an outdoor public arts project in New York City’s Times Square to a backyard-like, backstage relaxation area of a glitzy fashion show in Southern California.

“Of course residential uses remain the primary use for New Grass®,” Goehner said. “But its range of applications is really limitless.”

NewGrass® is dedicated to being 100% eco-friendly – from the way its products are manufactured to the way they are recycled many years later. The backing on NewGrass® replaces over 90 percent of the petroleum-based polymers found on previous generations with bio-based compounds that are derived from domestically-grown soybeans – a renewable resource.

The backing of NewGrass® also incorporates post-consumer PET plastic from soft drink and water bottles. That makes it – and the entire product – 100 percent recyclable.

New York, NY - NewGrass® artificial grass is expanding its footprint in New York City, having been selected to landscape a rooftop patio of Trump Place, one of the city’s newest and most luxurious high rises, and the runways of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.

“We’re thrilled that NewGrass® is finding growing acceptance in New York City and for such a wide range of uses,” said NewGrass® President Greg Goehner. “New York is one of our growing markets and we feel right at home there.”

Both projects are being landscaped by NewGrass New York, Goehner said.

In early June, NewGrass® synthetic lawn was on public display in the middle of Times Square, in conjunction with a citywide public art project in which it was used to provide a natural-looking ground cover in a symbolic and temporary “town common.”

Last summer, NewGrass(R) appeared in the window display of the Ralph Lauren flagship store on tony Madison Avenue.

Neither the rooftop patio installation atop luxurious Trump Place nor its use as a fashion show runway covering is a first for NewGrass®, the artificial grass of choice when being water-wise and eco-friendly are as important as having more green lawn to enjoy year round.

When the producers of the TV show Movie and a Makeover wanted to replicate a backyard patio complete with lawn on an Atlanta rooftop, NewGrass® was the solution.

In New York City, overlooking the Hudson River, and in downtown Atlanta, NewGrass® was selected for aesthetic as well as practical reasons. Aesthetically, NewGrass® evokes a natural, park-like, outdoor feeling. From a practical standpoint, NewGrass® is self-draining, fade-resistant, requires no maintenance and is much lighter than the same square footage of natural sod.

“We’ve not had an instance yet in which standard residential or commercial construction needed any kind of supplemental support or changes to allow for the safe and approved installation of NewGrass®,” Goehner said.

Next week, NewGrass® will be on display covering some 200 feet of runway during the semi-annual Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. The event is one of four major fashion weeks held around the world (along with those in Paris, London, and Milan).

Earlier this year, NewGrass® was underfoot for one of the major events associated with the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. There, NewGrass Landscape & Design, the largest California distributor of NewGrass®, installed more than 1,200 square feet of NewGrass® artificial grass in the expansive lounge area of the seventh annual Grammy Style Studio.

NewGrass® is proud to announce it has been awarded a contract with National Purchasing Partners, empowering NewGrass to offer non-profits and school districts, municipalities, colleges and other public entities a cost-savings solution for synthetic turf purchases and installations.

NPP is a group-purchasing organization (GPO) whose members – all of which are public agencies or non-profits – join together to leverage purchases of goods and services at their best pricing, terms and conditions, and often lower than any single member would be able to obtain individually. In addition, NPP offers its members negotiated prices and assures them they meet the legally requirements for competitive bidding when they purchase through NPP.

“For all of those reasons and more, NewGrass is pleased to be a major brand supplier of artificial turf to the public agencies that are members of the NPP,” said Greg Goehner, president of NewGrass, the artificial grass of choice for people and businesses that are concerned about water conservation and protecting the environment as well as having more green grass to enjoy year-round.

NewGrass has a demonstrated history of applications for schoolyards and public areas.

“NewGrass is excited about helping municipalities, school districts and other public agencies make a difference in their communities as the need becomes more urgent to reduce the amount of water, pesticides and herbicides public entities use year-round, and yet still provide safe, usable green areas for their constituents,” Goehner said.

NewGrass was thoroughly reviewed by NPP to ensure it met the organization’s mission to provide its members the highest quality products and most cost-effective price agreements in each of the product categories it offer.

“That there is no fee to NPP members to use their membership to take advantage of NewGrass quality, pricing and commitment to service is another big advantage of this partnership,” Goehner said.

Contact NewGrass today to learn more about NPP and NewGrass pricing for NPP members. To become an NPP member, contact NPP at 800.810.3909 or email the organization CustomerService@myNPP.com.

NewGrass is proving that in addition to being highly adaptable for various landscaping needs, it is also very fashionable.

NewGrass artificial grass will border the runway of the upcoming Thread Show, a major two-day fashion and design show in San Diego that is taking a turn toward being green, even including an “Eco/Green/Good” section for exhibitors.

“As the leading supplier of quality synthetic lawn in Southern California, which we all know has been hard-hit by drought and faces serious water restrictions, we’re excited to be a part of Thread,” said NewGrass President Greg Goehner. “NewGrass is truly a green product, is recyclable and we donate to the Carbon Fund.”

Thread will be at the San Diego Wonderhaus Dec. 5-6. NewGrass will “definitely be a centerpiece of the show,” said Carlye Wund, a green events planner in her first year with Elle Communications, which promotes and helps stage the Thread show. NewGrass synthetic lawn will be used at least to border the fashion show’s runway and may in fact be used for the runway itself, and possibly for an entrance area to the show, Wund said.

“There’s such a negative perception of ‘being green’ in design and fashion, and we’re trying to break down that perception and show that green can be fashionable, it can be organic,” Wund said. NewGrass is also is 100% polyethylene (no nylon), lead safe and recyclable.

Wund is an events planner who encourages, plans and designs events to embody green concepts - reducing waste, promoting re-use and reducing the carbon footprint, for all kinds of events, from weddings to bar mitzvahs, and now, fashion and design shows. In addition to looking natural and lush with next to no maintenance, and not requiring watering, NewGrass can be easily removed and stored for later use.

Although NewGrass is new on the fashion circuit, it has a history of being a safe, removable and long-lived set application for designers and photographers. Professional photographers and stylists including those for Neiman Marcus and JC Penney have chosen NewGrass artificial lawn as an easy-to-use, no muss, no fuss, natural-looking outdoor setting in the studio year-round.

NewGrass was also the perfect solution for a unique landscape challenge for the TBS television show Movie & A Makeover. NewGrass was selected to help transform a barren downtown rooftop into an attractive outdoor living space.

Fort Worth, TX – NewGrass®, the brand name leader in the booming synthetic grass industry, is now offering enhanced distributorship opportunities nationwide under the strategic direction of a recognized leader in franchise and distributorship marketing.

The artificial grass market is currently growing at 20 percent annually, according to industry statistics. That number is expected to hold, if not grow, as an increasing number of communities and water districts nationwide restrict outdoor water use and more homeowners seek more environmentally friendly ways to enjoy outdoor landscaping without pesticides, fertilizers or expensive upkeep.

In its first years of business, NewGrass focused its sales through only a small handful of distributors, while the company developed its brand, established its product line and fine-tuned its manufacturing and supply chain. NewGrass then began to gradually offer distributorships to quality-driven landscapers seeking to expand their menu of services and to veterans in the synthetic lawn industry.

“Now we have everything in place to dynamically expand our reach in a top-quality way and bring more consumers an eco-friendly, water-wise alternative to turf grass,” said NewGrass President Greg Goehner.

Authorized NewGrass® Distributors receive a NewGrass® sales territory; the most preferred NewGrass® pricing; proven marketing support including samples and marketing materials and strategic consultation; installation training for distributors and their teams, and other advantages to ensure success.

Goehner stressed that joining NewGrass® is a chance for savvy landscapers, as well as professionals in related businesses or qualified entrepreneurs, to tap into the synthetic grass market with a premier brand, supported by a jump-start marketing program.

“Yes, it’s a financial commitment on their part, but it’s a financial commitment that opens doors to incredible opportunity and brings a very strong, very deep commitment from us,” Goehner said.

To support its distributors and expand its market footprint, NewGrass has added a brand development team. Advising NewGrass with over 25 years experience in franchising and franchise sales, marketing and training is Paul Crump, formerly with RadioShack, where he negotiated agreements for RadioShack’s franchises in Canada and also had been the company’s Franchise Director for New Store Development.

According to Crump “There’s huge potential for everyone involved when you combine a reputable company with a great product, consistent supply, strong customer and distributor support, and a definite market with pent-up demand as well as future demand.”

To learn more visit www.newgrass.com/distributorships/

With California’s largest water rebate program $24 million in the hole and the program on hold, NewGrass is offering rebates from July 15 until the end of the summer to continue supporting the battle for water conservation in the Golden State and nationwide.

NewGrass is offering customers from coast to coast a rebate of 30 cents for every square foot of natural sod grass they replace with NewGrass, in support of water conservation not only in the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, but nationally.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is a consortium of 26 cities and water districts that together provide drinking water to nearly 19 million people in parts of Los Angeles, and Orange, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernadino and Ventura counties.

MWD resources for a rebate program that included funds for replacing natural grass with artificial turf dried up in May, and the board turned off the spending tap until an audit is complete, according to the Riverside Press-Enterprise and other media.

NewGrass, the eco-friendly synthetic grass choice, has several authorized and licensed representatives in the areas served by the MWD, including NewGrass Landscape & Design, San Diego Backyard Adventures and SmartScapes.

“We’re glad we can support customers of the MWD who are considering replacing their sod lawn with synthetic grass, many of whom may have been counting on rebates from their water district or city,” said NewGrass President Greg Goehner. “And we’re excited to extend the same offer to NewGrass customers everywhere.”

For full details of the offer, Goehner urged interested homeowners to contact an authorized NewGrass representative, or they can contact NewGrass sales directly, by email (info@newgrass.com) or phone (866.583.5602, ext. 709).

Among the agencies served by the MWD, only four are still offering artificial turf rebates, and all of them are in the San Diego County Water Authority:

- Helix Water District
- Vallecitos Water District
- Santa Fe Irrigation District
- Vista Irrigation District

Customers of these districts should contact the SoCal Water$mart program for details about rebates. But they also are eligible for the NewGrass 30-cents rebate, Goehner said.

NewGrass is celebrating its fifth anniversary this year and is proud to continue helping set high standards in the synthetic grass industry.

“It’s important to NewGrass that the artificial grass industry grows responsibly and that consumers can expect professionalism from dealers and installers no matter where they live or do business,” said NewGrass President Greg Goehner.

“This is going to be especially important as more cities impose water restrictions and more of them offer rebates for synthetic lawn use, and a lot of fly-by-night companies will try to take advantage of consumers as a result,” Goehner said.

NewGrass is sold and installed internationally only through a network of qualified, properly licensed representatives. All NewGrass representatives are properly licensed, insured and bonded, based on the regulatory or legal entities where they do business, Goehner said.

California, for example, requires any contractor doing an artificial grass installation totaling $500 or more to be state-licensed. (The $500 cost includes the grass, labor and installation materials.) NewGrass Landscape & Design holds California Contractors License # 924382, for example.

The fake grass industry, like most home improvement or service industries, does not have agreed standards, or national or state guidelines that industry participants must meet or adhere to. But just as consumers evaluate a landscaper or carpenter before hiring them, they should also follow some good common-sense guidelines when it comes to hiring a synthetic lawn company, Goehner said.

The Association of Synthetic Grass Installers lists six benchmarks that any professional installer should meet. “NewGrass stands firmly behind these criteria,” Goehner said. According to the ASGI’s advice, a reputable synthetic grass company or installer should:

1. Provide proof of any required licenses, insurance and bonds.
2. Prove their experience with your type of project and site conditions.
3. Be on the job site before, during and after the installation is done, whether they do the work themselves or hire a sub-contractor to do it, and they should handle all unexpected changes or modifications promptly.
4. Provide you a complete and easy-to-understand set of all necessary documents, including change orders, in a timely manner.
5. Be trained professionals who know their products and their installation systems using best-business practices and be able to provide several customer referrals.
6. Be courteous, communicate clearly from start to finish, and give you a finished project that meets or exceeds your expectations.