Red Carpet of Roses Float Receives Queen's Trophy for the Third Time for the Most Effective Use and Display of Roses in Concept, Design and Presentation

Raleigh, N.C./Pasadena, Calif. - Bayer Advanced™, one of the largest lawn and garden brands and creator of some of the most effective rose care products for consumers, won its seventh consecutive trophy in the 118th Pasadena Tournament of Roses® on January 1, 2007.

Tournament of Roses judges awarded the Bayer Advanced Red Carpet of Roses float the Queen's Trophy for most effective use and display of roses in concept, design and presentation.

Bayer Advanced has won a Tournament of Roses trophy every year since 2001, when it first entered the Rose Parade. This is the third year Bayer Advanced has won the Queen's Trophy.

"A seventh consecutive trophy is an incredible honor and beyond our wildest expectations," says Bayer Advanced Head of Marketing Mark Schneid. "Phoenix Decorating's design and floral teams deliver year after year."

Michelle Lofthouse of Pasadena's Phoenix Decorating, the largest Rose Parade float builder, has designed all of the award-winning Bayer Advanced floats, including the Red Carpet of Roses.

Key features of the 2007 Bayer Advanced Red Carpet of Roses float include:
• Thousands of roses, including more than 50 varieties of roses, the most in Rose Parade history.

• Roses named after such celebrities as Bing Crosby, Chris Evert, Paul McCartney, Marilyn Monroe, Rosie O'Donnell and Barbra Streisand.

• The Bayer Advanced float also debuted the All-America Rose Selections' 2007 winners for best roses of the year - Rainbow Knock Out®, Moondance™ and Strike it Rich™.

Riders and Song

This year there were 11 riders, including Lance Walheim, author of the best-selling book Roses for Dummies.

The 1966 hit song "Good Day Sunshine" by the Beatles played while the float traveled the 5½-mile parade route.

Previous Bayer Advanced Rose Parade Trophies

• 2006: Queen's Trophy for most effective use and display of roses in concept, design and presentation

• 2005: President's Trophy for most effective use and presentation of flowers

• 2004: Fantasy Trophy for most outstanding display of fantasy and imagination

• 2003: Animation Trophy for the most animated float

• 2002: Queen's Trophy for most effective use and display of roses in concept, design and presentation

• 2001: Fantasy Trophy for most outstanding display of fantasy and imagination

About Bayer Advanced

Bayer Advanced rose care products are the Exclusive Rose Care Products of the Tournament of Roses. Bayer Advanced is a business group of Bayer CropScience LP and part of the Bayer AG family, a Fortune Global 500 company. Members of the Bayer AG family make such well-known brands as Bayer Aspirin, Aleve® and Alka-Seltzer®.

Bayer Advanced products deliver better science. Better results®. You can learn more by visiting www.bayeradvanced.com or by calling 1-877-BAYERAG.

by Tamara Galbraith

On a recent trip to Belize with my wonderful husband, I was awestruck by a large, unusual plant that was thriving in the sandy front yards of several Ambergris Caye beach homes: Senecio repens, an upright, shrubby succulent that hails from South Africa.

While I'm not entirely unfamiliar with this plant - it is currently being tested for Texas Superstar(tm) status in the Texas A&M University Research & Extension Center - I was certainly impressed by its potential.

Also also known as Senecio serpens or Kleinia repens, this attractive, soft-to-the-touch plant can commonly be found in two varieties: the blue-gray 'Kilimanjaro' and the green aloe-like 'Himalaya.' It is incredibly easy to propagate from cuttings, and should be grown in a sandy soil of the sort that cactuses like. A natural as a houseplant, it looks lovely and does great in a terra cotta pot by a sunny window.

If your outside temperatures stay between 25-98 degrees F year round, Senecio repens can be grown in the landscape; just make sure the soil is slightly moist but well-draining. While they are drought-tolerant and can be vigorous in the right climate, these plants apparently do not like consistent triple-digits; some gardeners in Phoenix have reported difficulty keeping these senecios alive during the exceptionally hot, dry summers there.

Dallas Brown
Green Thumb Garden Professional

by Tamara Galbraith

So, it's the middle of winter and temperatures have risen to a balmy level. As a gardener, you're itching to get out and work in the yard. But what's to do this time of year?

Turn to your trees and shrubs - they could probably use some attention while they rest comfortably in winter dormancy. Here are some winter pruning pointers:

Non-flowering hardwood trees and shrubs should be pruned at this time of year to improve the plant's structure. Making cuts in the dormant season also reduces the chance of transmitting disease, discourages excessive sap flow and avoids the problem of possible pest infestation. Conifers can be trimmed any time, but are best pruned during the dormant season, as sap and resin flow are minimized from the cut branches.

Flowering trees and shrubs, with a few exceptions, should also be pruned during the dormant season for the same reasons stated above. However, do NOT yet prune trees and shrubs that flower in early spring — you'll be cutting off the buds that will open in a few months. Spring-flowering trees and shrubs should instead be pruned immediately after flowering. A good rule of thumb is that you should prune in the season opposite of flowering, i.e. flower in spring = prune in fall, and flower in summer = prune in winter.

Ornamental grasses that die during the winter should be given a 'flat-top haircut' about 3"-4" above ground at the end of winter, before new growth starts to emerge. Evergreen grasses should be left alone.

Of course, dead branches and canes can be removed any time of the year, especially those obviously suffering from insect and/or disease damage. If you suspect disease, be sure to disinfect your pruning tools with a germ-killing spray like Lysol before and after cutting plants. Do not put diseased or insect-infested cuttings in your compost pile.

1. Purchase and plant bare-root roses, trees, vines, berries and vegetables
2. Choose and plant camellias and azaleas
3. Purchase cymbidiums
4. Purchase and plant cool-season flowers to fill in bare spots
5. Plant seeds of warm-season flowers for transplants to put out in spring
6. Continue to plant winter vegetables from transplants and seeds
7. Many succulents, including cacti, bloom in winter and spring; purchase new types now
8. Prune deciduous fruit trees
9. Prune roses
10. Deadhead azaleas
11. Mow cool-season lawns. Most warm-season lawns are dormant now and don't need mowing
12. Begin to feed citrus trees in coastal zones
13. Treat citrus trees for chlorosis
14. Start feeding epiphyllums for bloom with
0-10-10 or 2-10-10
15. Continue to fertilize cymbidiums that have not yet bloomed with a high-bloom formula
16. Feed cool-season flowers
17. Feed cineraria
18. Fertilize cool-season lawns with Marathon Fertilizer
19. Water plants according to need (when the rains are not adequate).
20. Irrigate citrus trees
21. Remember to water plants under eaves where the rains cannot reach
22. Dormant spray roses and deciduous fruit trees
23. Dormant spray sycamore trees
24. Check citrus trees for pests
25. Pick up dead camellia blossoms to prevent petal blight
26. Protect cymbidiums from slugs and snails
27. Control rust on cool-season lawns
28. Check trees, shrubs, and ice plant in coastal zones for overwintering whiteflies. Control by spraying
29. Pull weeds
30. Spray peach and apricot for peach leaf curl
31. Protect tender plants from frost
32. Stake cymbidium bloom spikes
33. Near the end of the month check bamboo in coastal zones to see if it is time to propagate