And the article is from someone in Yorktown VA. Less than accurate is this: Rose rosette disease, first documented in 1941, is traced to the multiflora rose, which came from Japan in 1866 as a common rootstock for ornamental roses. Unfortunately, it was found that multiflora roses are bad because a single plant can produce a million or more viable seeds; over time, the roses have become invasive weeds with enormous disease problems. Multiflora was first introduced as a garden plant. NOT as a rootstock. Multiflora spread not from rootstock but from the USDA's encouragement of its use as a substitute for barbed wire, as a stabilizer for stream banks, to prevent erosion from strip mining, etc. And the disease problem is a single disease.

My cat had giardia last year. Our other cat never did contract it. I was surprised to learn about how tough giardia is- apparently bleach doesn't kill it. Although I've heard that giardia often shows no symptoms, the tech at our vet's commented on "giardia poop"- which I guess is soft and light in color? So you could keep an eye on what the animals produce in the future, and contact the vet if anything looks suspicious. Did your vet give you flagyl for treatment? That is awful stuff. Reading about humans experiences with it made me feel so sorry for our cat. It's pretty rough on the gut and on their appetite. As long as your animals are healthy, they will be okay. My cat was treated for it after a pretty major procedure, and she's not very healthy to begin with, so we had to help her eat throughout the time she was on the meds. Hope your dogs do great.

Not a dog, but my kitty was diagnosed with giardia last year. The vet gave her flagyl, which made her pretty sick. If that is what your vet gives you, keep an eye on the dog and make sure he isn't acting strange, like losing balance. What I can share with you is that we think she probably had it for quite a while before it was caught. She has health problems that make bowel problems common, so we didn't think much about her loose bowels. The vet almost didn't do a stool test on her that day, thinking that this was in indoor cat without much chance of contracting parasites like giardia. She had always shared a litter box (and everything else, and mutually groomed) with her brother cat, and he never did contract giardia. Neither did any of the human members of the family. I wouldn't knowingly take chances, as you stated, but also wouldn't worry a whole lot about it without seeing some signs that indicate there might be a problem. If you do think you might have contracted it from your dog at some point, you go to your doctor for testing and get an RX for probably the same medication your dog will be taking. It's very treatable, and again I wouldn't worry about catching it until you experience something questionable. I hope that helps some, or at least makes you feel a little more comfortable that there's probably a good chance you won't end with it.

I don't live where a pristine lawn is a requirement - no HOA's controlling the neighborhood - and I am not at all regimented about lawn care either. I am perfectly happy to let my lawn go au naturel :-) While there is is plenty of turf grass, there are also plenty of weeds. I manually remove the biggest offenders - dandelions and the like, rumex, etc. But I will allow the smaller creeping ones like clover, veronica, lawn daisies, even creeping Charlie and some ajuga do their thing. It just helps to keep things green virtually all year and the seasonal flowers some produce just add to the appeal. I live pretty far north and cool season turf grass blends are the norm here. This is also a recurring summer drought area - we are typically bone dry July through September and often into October. When I lived in Seattle, we had a tiered water usage fee system and unless one had the financial wherewithal to pay outrageously high water bills, many opted to just let their lawns go dormant in summer as cool season lawns want to do by watering only enough to keep the turf alive. It would spring back to healthy green growth as soon as fall rains arrived. So obviously, summer fertilization was not advised. Why encourage a lawn to grow during the period of time when it does not want to grow and would require copious watering to maintain? Frequent fertilization here is not encouraged for various reasons and most local sources recommend on a twice yearly application at most - mid spring and mid fall. Much like you plan to do :-) While you no doubt will get some differing opinions and there will of course be regional variations, what you propose is certainly doable. It just depends on what you expect from your lawn.