It’s hard to imagine anything more innocuous than a lush suburban lawn. That’s what 63-year-old entrepreneur Jackson Madnick used to think — until a golf course killed his cat.
His cat, Kitty, sickened and died 14 years ago. A groundskeeper at the nearby links told Madnick that many local animals had been dying off from chemicals used to treat the grass there.
That set Madnick off on a mission to find a grass seed that grew easily without toxic chemicals. He spent nearly a decade potting and growing more than 70 different grasses on the deck behind his home in Wayland, Mass. Finally, he got results: a slow-growing, drought-resistant blend of seven grasses that needs no chemical fertilizers, little mowing and relatively no water. He named the blend Pearl’s Premium, in honor of his environmentalist mother.