{{Short description|U.S. lawn treatment company}} {{Merge from|Scotts LawnService|discuss=Talk:TruGreen#Proposed merge of Scotts LawnService into TruGreen|date=March 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox company |name = TruGreen Limited Partnership |logo = TruGreen logo.png |industry = Lawn care services<br>Pest control<br>Tree care | key_people = Kurt Kane (CEO & President)<br>Ben Dunham (Executive Vice President and CFO)<br>Alyssa Puketza (Senior Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer)<br>Brian Bugara (Senior Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer)<br>Bill Hausbeck (Senior Vice President of Operations)<br>Ayman Taha (Senior Vice President & Chief Information & Digital Officer)<br>Christine Belknap (Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer)<br>Kevin Mann (Senior Vice President and General Counsel)<br>Shannon Lopez (Vice President) |founded = 1969 in Troy, Ohio (as ChemLawn)<br> 1973 in Troy, Michigan (as ChemGreen) | type = Private |location = Memphis, Tennessee |website = {{URL|https://www.trugreen.com/}} }} '''TruGreen''', originally known as '''ChemLawn''' and later as '''TruGreen ChemLawn''', is the largest lawn care company in the United States.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.trugreen.com/|title=TruGreen (official website) |website=TruGreen |access-date=February 18, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.puregreenllc.com/blog/trugreen-chemlawn-what-happened/ |title=TruGreen/ChemLawn: What Happened? <!-- Can't find this Jason Torrence authorship info on the cited website – is it correct? |first=Jason |last=Torrence --> |date=October 23, 2017 |website=Pure Green |access-date=February 18, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.weed-pro.com/blog/lawn-care-company-chemlawn |title=What Ever Happened To ChemLawn? |first=Robert |last=Palmer |website=Weed Pro |access-date=February 18, 2023}}</ref> The company was founded in 1969 and provides lawn care and tree and shrub care treatments on a subscription basis (except in New York where it is by contract basis regarding pest control regulations).<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.aol.com/2010/06/08/landscaper-trugreens-sales-billing-tactics-deceptive-new-yo/ | title=Landscaper TruGreen's sales, billing tactics 'deceptive,' New York AG says | date=June 8, 2010 }}</ref> The treatments and services include weed killing, moss suppression, pesticides, insect control, disease management, aeration, overseeding, and fertilizing. The company neither offers lawn mowing service or landscaping as a sellable service. Tree and shrub services as well as several insect control programs are offered by TruGreen. The TruGreen brand is also used for lawn services in Canada through a Mississauga, Ontario–based company named '''Greenlawn Ltd.''' that does business as TruGreen.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.trugreen.ca/ |title=TruGreen |website=TruGreen Canada official website |publisher= GreenLawn, Ltd. |access-date=March 11, 2023 }}<!-- The footer of that website says Copyright Greenlawn Ltd. --></ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dnb.com/business-directory/company-profiles.greenlawn_ltd.6f45770716360b0e2dd34bde15322414.html |title=Greenlawn, Ltd. |website=Dun & Bradstreet |access-date=March 11, 2023}}</ref> The TruGreen brand, under Servicemaster, also is used in the United Kingdom.<ref>{{Cite web |title=TruGreen Professional Lawn Care – British Franchise Association |url=https://www.thebfa.org/franchisors/trugreen/ |access-date=February 22, 2024 |website=www.thebfa.org}}</ref>
The company's history includes several changes of ownership and the absorption of other lawn servicing operations including '''ChemGreen''' (originally founded in 1974) and Scotts LawnService (originally founded as '''Emerald Green Lawn Service''' before its purchase in 1997 by the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company).
== History == [[File:Chemlawn Corporate Center photographs - DPLA - 361709c70d5c50af2542f112c4af4329 (page 7).jpg|thumb|The since-demolished Chemlawn Corporate Center in Columbus, Ohio]] [[File:TruGreen Service Van Pittsfield Township Michigan.JPG|thumb|A TruGreen lawn care service van in Pittsfield Township, Michigan]] Father and son, Paul and Richard Duke, ran a gardening center called the Duke Garden Centers.<ref>{{Cite web| title=We were there at birth of lawn care | url=https://archive.lib.msu.edu/tic/wetrt/article/1997oct12l.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308134110/http://archive.lib.msu.edu/tic/wetrt/article/1997oct12l.pdf | archive-date=2016-03-08}}</ref> They, alongside former garden center employee Thomas Grapner, founded ChemLawn in 1969 in Troy, Ohio, and it became a large service provider in the 1970s.<ref>{{Cite web | title=American Green: The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Lawn |first=Ted |last=Steinberg | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C3wEEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT55&dq=paul+and+richard+duke+chemlawn&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjWv9Cmm_iQAxUzmWoFHUZ5C6sQ6AF6BAgOEAM#v=onepage&q=paul%20and%20richard%20duke%20chemlawn&f= | access-date=2025-12-13 | website=books.google.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | title=2016 Leadership in Philanthropy Award {{!}} The Columbus Foundation | url=https://columbusfoundation.org/stories-of-impact/2016-leadership-in-philanthropy-award | access-date=2025-12-13 | website=columbusfoundation.org}}</ref><ref name=Timeline>{{cite web |url=https://www.landscapemanagement.net/timeline-history-of-trugreen-scotts-lawnservice/ |title=Timeline: History of TruGreen, Scotts LawnService |website=Landscape Management |date=December 10, 2015 |first1=Marisa |last1=Palmieri |first2=Kelly |last2=Limpert}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://archive.lib.msu.edu/tic/wetrt/page/1992oct51-60.pdf | title=The personality that ignited an industry | website=lib.msu.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/realestate/1999/03/20/green-piece/d6da49fa-f1f5-4988-844b-5f9ab43ca260/ | title=Green Piece | date=1999-03-20 | website=The Washington Post}}</ref>
A separate company called ChemGreen, considered to be the precursor to TruGreen, had been founded in 1973 in Michigan.<ref name=Timeline/> ServiceMaster also bought ChemGreen in 1992, and rebranded the combination as "TruGreen ChemLawn" and then just as "TruGreen" in 2007, trying to distance the brand from negative perceptions about the intensive use of chemicals and convey a greater sense of environmental responsibility.
The Dukes sold ChemLawn to Ecolab in 1987 for US$376 million, but Ecolab found it was unable to make the operation profitable, and it sold the business to ServiceMaster in 1992 for US$103 million.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1988/05/29/lawn-care-industry-grows-like-crab-grass/|title=Lawn Care Industry Grows Like Crab Grass |date=May 29, 1988}}</ref><ref name=FundingUhistory/> As part of ServiceMaster, the operational headquarters were moved soon after the acquisition to Memphis, Tennessee, where ServiceMaster was headquartered at the time and where TruGreen remains headquartered today, from Columbus, Ohio,<ref name=FundingUhistory>{{cite web|website=Funding Universe |title=Ecolab Inc. History |url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/ecolab-inc-history/|access-date=February 21, 2023}}</ref> In 1997, Rollins, Inc. sold its Orkin lawn care brand to TruGreen.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Jones |first=Dow |date=July 25, 1997 |title=ServiceMaster Unit Buys Rollins Landscaping Divisions |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/25/business/servicemaster-unit-buys-rollins-landscaping-divisions.html |access-date=February 22, 2024 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> TruGreen was then spun off as a separate company from ServiceMaster in January 2014. The private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice had majority ownership along with company management.<ref name=SellsStake/>
Another lawn servicing company, Emerald Green Lawn Service, had been purchased in 1997 by the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company and rebranded in 1998 as Scotts LawnService. In April 2016, Scotts LawnService was merged with TruGreen to operate as a joint venture, with Scotts Miracle-Gro Company retaining partial ownership. The Scotts branded operation continued to operate within TruGreen as a subsidiary for some period of time.
In 2019, Scotts Miracle-Gro sold its 30% minority stake in TruGreen for approximately $234 million.<ref name=SellsStake>{{Cite web |url=https://www.lawnandlandscape.com/article/ll-032219-scotts-miracle-gro-sells-trugreen-stake/ |title=ScottsMiracle-Gro sells TruGreen stake to retire debt |last=Castelli |first=Giovanni |date=March 22, 2019 |website=Lawn & Landscape|language=en |access-date=May 8, 2019}}</ref> As of February 2023, the lawn servicing operation is marketed as TruGreen, with the Scotts brand basically retired from the lawn servicing business. The Scotts brand remains in use for consumer lawn, garden and pest control products sold by the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, which is now a separate company.
In 2024, TruGreen moved its C-suite to Franklin, Tennessee, near Nashville although the headquarters remain in Memphis.<ref>{{Cite web| title=Memphis giant moves C-suite to Franklin, rejects HQ label | url-status=live | date=2024-07-16 | author=Sophia Young | url=https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2024/07/16/trugreen-moves-exec-team-to-nashville.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240716200557/https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2024/07/16/trugreen-moves-exec-team-to-nashville.html | archive-date=2024-07-16}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == *{{official website |https://www.trugreen.com/ |Official TruGreen website}} *{{official website |https://www.trugreen.ca/ |Official TruGreen Canada website}}
Category:Agriculture companies established in the 1960s Category:Companies based in Memphis, Tennessee Category:Chemical companies established in 1969 Category:1969 establishments in Ohio Category:Chemical companies of the United States