SYNLawn News & Events

TODAY’s Fake Grass

When England’s soccer (a.k.a., football) superstar David Beckham decided to appear on NBC’s TODAY Show, set designers searched for the perfect artificial grass surface — they found it with SYNLawn. While visiting Las Vegas, one of the show’s prop coordinators discovered SYNLawn at Wynn Las Vegas Resort. On her hands and knees she felt it, picked at it, even pulled at the grass when she realized SYNLawn was ideal for The TODAY Show set. Ironically, by the time she returned home, her counterpart in New York Googling artificial turf, already made the purchase of 1,800 square feet of SYNBlue Premium. Traditionally, the TODAY Show crew used natural sod for outdoor grass settings. Spending thousands a year on natural grass was just a waste. While most of the time they donated the sod, sometimes they had no choice but to throw it away when they were finished. Now, adding grass outside Studio 1A on the Rockefeller Center Plaza is as easy as rolling out the turf and brushing up the fibers. When done, they simply roll it up, store it and use it for another day.

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Working Towards a Greener Grass

SYNLawn is concerned with our environment. Our primary focus is to provide an alternative to natural grass to conserve water and help reduce the harmful effects lawn maintenance has on the environment. You may be aware of the fact using SYNLawn artificial turf saves water, reduces pollution caused by gas-powered lawn equipment and helps keep fertilizers from entering the water supply due to run off. But you are probably unaware that SYNLawn is manufactured using a combination of renewable resources, recovered post-industrial materials and recycled post-consumer waste. Our polyurethane backing uses BioBalance™ polymers, a manufactured polyurethane with a portion of the petroleum removed and replaced with soy bean oil. In addition, we add Celceram™, a recovered product of coal combustion from electrical power plants, for stabilization and strength. And finally, a non-woven secondary backing made from 100% post-consumer waste is attached to our polyurethane cushion backed products. This manufacturing process of our backing takes our commitment to the environment one step further. SYNLawn artificial turf products can range from 55-65% green by weight. For an artificial green grass that is truly green, you just can't get any closer than SYNLawn.

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Include SYNLawn Artificial Grass in Your Xeriscape

Do you think you can't have green grass in your xeriscape? Think again. With SYNLawn artficial grass products you can bring the grass back to your front yard. Xeriscaping is the practice of ripping out natural sod in favor of rock, gravel, arid-adapted plants or just about anything that uses little to no water. This method of landscaping creates a more water and energy efficient landscape and is growing in popularity all across the southwestern United States. With appoximately 60-70 percent of household water consumed by outdoor use, we all could use less water on our landscapes. However, you can't help but ask a few questions. Like where do the kids play? Where does the dog play? Does that gravel come in green? This is where SYNLawn comes in. SYNLawn has all the benefits of other xeriscaping techniques while providing a healthy looking green lawn for your kids and pets, plus, it just plain looks better than gravel. The objective for xeriscaping is to reduce the amount of water needed for landscaping. SYNLawn eliminates the need for water. Other xeriscaping benefits include a reducing the number of insects living in your landscape, reducing mold, no fertilizing and low maintenance. SYNLawn has you covered there as well.

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Wynn Las Vegas Places Safe Bet on SYNLawn

Betting to keep green, healthy looking grass in the desert all year long, Steve Wynn, Las Vegas real estate developer extraordinaire, likes his odds. After over a year and a half of research and testing Wynn Resorts chose SYNBlue Premium for the exclusive Wynn Las Vegas resort and casino. Originally named Le Rêve, french for "the dream", Wynn Las Vegas is dream come true for Steve Wynn. With 2,700 rooms, 18 restaurants, exclusive golf course and a 110,000 square foot casino, the Wynn Las Vegas dream becomes a reality on April 28, 2005. The new resort and casino is located on what some call the best location on the Las Vegas Strip. Built on the land that was originally used for the legendary Desert Inn, across the street from the World famous Las Vegas Fashion Mall and next door to the popular Venetian hotel and casino you can't help but notice the spectacular presence of Wynn Las Vegas. SYNLawn has been involved in the planning and development of the landscape surrounding the resort from the beginning. Just under 5 acres of SYNLawn was used throughout the resort grounds. SYNBlue Premium can be seen everywhere on the grounds including several blocks along Las Vegas Blvd. and the penthouse villas. Why SYNLawn? The primary reason Steve Wynn decided to use SYNLawn for his "dream" resort was for its natural appearance. He wanted the appearance of healthy grass without the maintenance headaches and costs associated with natural grass in the desert. After all the research and testing, it was obvious to him that no other artificial lawn product could match the overall quality, durability and, of course, realistic appearance of SYNBlue Premium. A wager he is sure to win.

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Can We Afford Not to Use SYNLawn?

When it comes to conserving water, no, we really can not afford to keep watering the lawn. The time has come to get serious about protecting the most precious natural resource on the planet, our water. The time has come to replace your natural grass with SYNLawn. This crisis is so massive that if you did a search in Yahoo for "United States water crisis" you would get over 2,000,000 search results (the Yahoo limit). And what information would you find? Here are just a few facts you can find on the topic. U.S. Water Consumption Statistics:

• Approximately 346,800 million gallons per day (MGD) of freshwater and 61,200 MGD of saltwater were withdrawn during the year 2000 for use by U.S. homes, farms and industries.
• In the year 2000, the highest consuming states were: California with 51,200 MGD; Texas with 29,600 MGD; and Florida with 20,100 MGD. In comparison, the lowest consuming states were: Alaska with 305 MGD; Rhode Island with 429 MGD; and Vermont with 447 MGD. (Source: USGS)
• Americans drink more than 1 billion glasses of tap water per day.
• On average, 50-70 percent of home water is used outdoors for watering lawns and garden.

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Designer Driveways

Versatiliy is one of the biggest reasons to choose SYNLawn brand synthetic grass for replacing natural grass and for new construction. It is so versatile, in fact, it is used here as part of an architectural driveway feature. The architect chose to use SYNLawn as an elaborate driveway to set off the Mediterranean style house in a desert setting. Obviously, using natural grass for this design would be simply out of the question. Natural grass would not hold up under the stress of an automobile driving over or parking on the driveway. SYNLawn also gave the architect the freedom to get creative with the concrete design, allowing him to keep with the Mediterranean design style. Which was another reason SYNLawn was chosen for this application. Even if this feature wasn't a driveway, it would still be hard to maintain natural grass as a patio design. Natural grass would have presented a major maintenance problem in this setting. Keeping natural grass alive and healthy within the bounds of the concrete borders is a tough challenge, especially in the desert. And would most likely need re-sodding on a regular basis in order to maintain this look. The cost and time savings of continued maintenance and the water savings made this application a big success. Another unique application of SYNLawn.

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Picture Perfect Grass

Just point and click. That's all it takes to photograph picture perfect grass when you are using SYNLawn. In fact, SYNLawn is being used all over the country in photography studios, art studios, trade shows and even in television production stage sets for that very reason. Nothing else compares to the natural appearance and flexibility of SYNLawn. It's the perfect model. It doesn't complain, works with any schedule, works in any climate or extreme setting, can take relentless pressure and can work forever without food and water. All this and still be beautiful picture after picture Natural sod, on the other hand, is extremely difficult to work with as a model for photography or videography. Its hard to move from place to place, its messy, can only hold up for a few hours of shooting and needs constant attention to look good. Talk about working with a diva!

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Celebrities Get Fit on SYNLawn

One of the hottest shows on VH1 is featuring SYNLawn for it’s fitness stage. VH1's Celebrity Fit Club is based around a team of celebrities competing to see which team can lose the most weight. The eight overweight stars are divided into two teams and challenged weekly with getting into better shape by exercising and losing weight by eating right over a 14 week period. The producers of Celebrity Fit Club came to SYNLawn looking for a grass product that could be used for running, exercising and looked like natural grass. Our SYNGrass sports grass was chosen for the celebrity workout and team challenge surface. It was selected because it provided a soft and safe surface for the workouts, it had superior performance for traction and had the most realistic, natural appearance on camera compared to other artificial grass products.

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Grass in New York City?

Want the urban lifestyle, but miss the feeling of having a yard? Believe it or not, you can have both. And SYNLawn is making it possible. Growing in popularity is the trend of grass covered roof tops, terrace gardens and balconies. All over New York and other urban communities grass is appearing in places never before thought possible. Before SYNLawn, having grass on a roof top or terrace was just out of the question. How would you mow it? How would you keep it watered? And how would you get it up there in the first place? Not to mention the added weight and stress it would add to the building.

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SYNLawn Goes Extreme

SYNLawn has been featured in not one but two different episodes of the ABC show Extreme Makeover Home Edition. The first home makeover was for a family in San Bernardino, California last year. SYNLawn artificial lawn was installed over the entire backyard. The SYNGrass playfield product was also used in one of the children’s bedrooms as part of an NFL stadium theme. The room also included a custom illustration featuring two New England Patriot football players and the stadium. The producers wanted to install a SYNLawn artificial lawn in an effort to make the yard maintenance free while providing a place for the children to play. The show provides audiences a first look at the latest and most advanced products while assisting a deserving family in rebuilding their home.

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SYNLawn Survives Three Hurricanes

The Park Maitland School in Maitland, Florida installed SYNLawn synthetic grass in two separate areas on their campus last year. Park Maitland School is a private school for students grades K-6th, chose our artificial grass for the recess area and the school courtyard. The artificial grass is used on a daily basis and put through the ringer with over 200 students walking, running, and playing on it. Since it was installed in 2004, the artificial turf hasn't just endured the tortures of daily recess, it also came through three hurricanes that devastated much of Florida this past fall. Hurricanes Charley, Frances and Jeanne blew through the area within a span of 6 weeks, leaving behind months of clean up and rebuilding for Central Florida. While many landscapes were destroyed, SYNLawn came through unscathed. The students love it, the parents love it, and most of all, the faculty loves it. When the children return from recess they are not tracking dirt through the building. With all of the rain Central Florida receives in a year, areas of the school that used to get saturated with water would become unusable for days. With SYNLawn, even after a hurricane, those same areas can be used immediately after the rain stops. The artificial turf was a great decision for Park Maitland, and after three hurricanes, it was a smart one as well.

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Infill vs. Non-Infill Artificial Grass

This is a question that we are asked everyday. "Infill or non-infill, which one is better?" The answer primarily depends on the application. Are you installing in a heavy traffic area? Are you primarily interested in a "natural match"? Are you using artificial turf over hills or slopes? Once you learn the advantages and disadvantages to each, you will be better able to answer that question yourself. To understand this better, you must first understand the infill process. Infill is the process of filling an artificial grass product with either sand, rubber crumb or a combination of the two. This usually is done with a common drop spreader or cast spreader. Once the material is spread over the turf, it is then brushed into the fibers with a stiff bristle broom. It serves two purposes. First, infill provides a structure for the artificial grass fibers, helping the fibers to stand. The fibers of a polyethylene turf naturally lay “flat” without the infill material. The second purpose is to provide a “cushion” effect when stepping over the turf.  A non-infilled artificial turf is something new. And SYNLawn is the first manufacturer to create the only true non-infilled artificial grass. With our patent-pending technology, we have developed an artificial grass product that has a structure built-in by design and doesn't rely on infill for stability. Made from 100% nylon, these products can be installed in areas never before possible with other artificial grass products.

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Greening up the Roadways

In a move that is being watched by cities across the country, Los Angeles began testing artificial grass in a test median along a busy Los Angeles street. The center median of one city block of Sherman Way was converted from colored concrete to SYNLawn artificial grass last summer. Now, after several months, the test has expanded to other parts of the city.

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What about the dog?

The number one question we hear the most is, "can we use SYNLawn with our dog?" Or, "what happens when my dog ... you know ... has to go?" Our response, "not to worry, let him go." In fact, SYNLawn is ideal for dogs, cats, birds or just about any other pet even if they ... you know ... go on the lawn. We highly recommend SYNLawn to pet owners. There are numerous advantages to using SYNLawn over natural sod for your pets. According to Fred Goldsmith, owner and operator of Pet Paradise an exclusive day care facility for pets, it pays for itself. For him, the advantages include easy clean up, reduced health risks associated with common kennel diseases, no muddy animals even after heavy rains and an average cost savings of approximately $1000 per month.

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Announcing the SYNLawn Weblog

In an effort to better serve our customers and our potential customers we are pleased to announce the new SYNLawn Weblog. We know the challenges people face when trying to learn about artificial grass and its uses. Our goal is to provide information to help you make informed buying decisions, help you to use our products in all sorts of situations, discuss installation and maintenance techniques and to share some example landscape projects using SYNLawn.

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