You can use either Ortho Brush-B-Gon or Ortho Weed-B-Gon Chickweed, Clover & Oxalis killer for lawns. Both of them are the same, with 8% triclopyr.

I live on a private road in rural Virginia and was thinking of using the cleared area underneath the powerlines for a garden. Most land in my area is forest, so pre-cleared land with sun is hard to come by. A couple of years back they came through and mowed down everything under their power lines, a 40 ft swath. If it was a tree or bush no matter how tall they buzzed it down to the ground, then they came back last year and applied some sort of defoliant. My neighbor who was trying to build up a thicket type barrier about 3-4 ft tall was sprayed. I was going to give them a call before spring and see what their policy was and what my rights under their easement were. About a decade ago a big power conglomerate sold to a local co-op, and the local coop has been johnny on the spot when it comes to outages, but for everything else, it's like Comcast Cable runs the power company. They're a local monopoly and they know it.

Yowza!!! The only statement that approaches any degree of accuracy in the above post is the one that suggests you do the research. Which the above poster has obviously not done. "Ask yourself basic logical questions like, how in the world can a toxic chemical intuitively know not to poison your tomato or your dog, but to target that bad dandelion only (for example)." The answer to that is simple and is the same principle behind the development of beneficial pharmaceuticals that target disease organisms. It's called 'mode of action' - glyphosate's mode of action is to disrupt a metabolic pathway that allows for the biosynthesis of certain amino acids. This metabolic pathway (shikimic acid pathway) is specific to plants and some microorganisms. The absence of this pathway in mammals explains the low toxicity of glyphosate to non-target organisms. "It is extremely hazardous, and it is toxic to all life" Again, a completely erroneous statement. After some 40 years of the most extensive scientific testing any pesticide has ever undergone, glyphosate is considered to be of very low toxicity and therefore is NOT considered to be "extremely hazardous". And it is obviously not "toxic to all life" - it just simply does not work that way (see above re: mode of action) and if it did, it would not be on the market. And the declaration that it is a causation for cancer is still under debate by world health authorities. First, it has never been documented that gylphosate is carcinogenic with humans - that's probably the major bone of contention with this assessment. The association was made based on very limited epidemiological studies which have been disputed by non-consistent patterns of positive associations indicating a causal relationship between total cancer or any site-specific cancer and exposure to glyphosate. The bulk of the determination was based on studies based on animal experiments submitted by the producers of glyphosate as evidence for the carcinogenic effect of glyphosate. And these findings were considered by various other agencies involved in this assessment (IMPR, FAO/WHO) who concluded that “In view of the absence of a carcinogenic potential in animals and the lack of genotoxicity in standard tests, the Meeting (IMPR) concluded that glyphosate is unlikely to pose a carcinogenic risk to humans” (does glyphosate cause cancer?) Finally, had the above poster done her research, she would be aware that glyphosate is a non-specific herbicide. It does not just target weeds nor was it intended to just target weeds. This is a basic premise of any understanding of herbicides and to bother to post without knowing this elementary fact gives no credence to the rest of her rant. Junk science will always be junk science and simply spewing back sensationalized conclusions plucked from the online press without knowledge or understanding is merely ignorant fear mongering.

TY for the update! Definitely still alive! Washing it off right away probably helped a lot. This should be inspirational, encouraging for whoever else might read this, from a similar situation. Accidental & "neighbor sprays" are pretty common. Putting a little mulch &/or compost around the base (but not touching trunks) is usually appreciated by any plant that's tall enough. Helps to moderate soil temp & moisture, increase fertility. A cute little border of bricks or whatever you'd like to look at can help keep grass from creeping in, mow with chute aimed away from bed areas. Doubtful these need water every day. I'd stop doing that unless it doesn't rain for a week or so or you see wilting. Too much water can make plants ill. Assuming they're still alive next year, shouldn't need to be watered unless it doesn't rain for more than 2-3 weeks during really hot weather. Good luck, lilacs!