State-of-the-Art Solutions for Destructive Insect Control

Controlling insect pests that live on or in the soil in your lawn and around your home used to take a two-pronged attack. If you have belowground pests, such as white grubs or mole crickets that feed on the roots of your lawn, there was one solution. If you have aboveground lawn pests like chinch bugs or cutworms, which feed on grass blades, or even nuisance pests like ants, fleas and ticks, there was an entirely different solution.

But what if you had both aboveground and belowground pests – grubs in your lawn and ants around your home? That meant you had to buy two different products and make two separate applications.

Not anymore. New Bayer Advanced™ Complete Insect Killer For Soil & Turf Granules combines two Bayer proprietary ingredients for maximum pest control, providing protection against both aboveground and belowground insects. In fact, it protects against soil insects for up to three months and is a very effective replacement for diazinon.

Killing the Toughest Weeds

What can you do about the very toughest weeds — the woody, aggressive plants like kudzu, scotch broom and wild blackberry, or even worse, dermatological nightmares like poison oak, poison ivy and poison sumac?

Bayer Advanced™ has the answer with Bayer Advanced™ Brush Killer Plus Ready-To-Use. The special penetrating formula kills the toughest brushy weeds and vines, roots and all, and comes in an economical concentrate as well as a pre-mixed ready-to-use version. The concentrate can also be used to kill tree stumps.

To achieve the best results with Bayer Advanced™ Brush Killer Plus Ready-To-Use, apply when weeds are fully leafed-out and actively growing. The formula will damage any plants it contacts, so follow the label instructions exactly. Contact with poison oak or poison ivy any time of the year can cause an allergic reaction. Handle dead plants with rubber gloves. Dispose of dead plants and gloves in tightly sealed garbage bags. Do not burn the debris. Simply breathing the smoke can cause a severe reaction. To kill stumps, completely cover the freshly cut stumps with undiluted product, using a paintbrush.

Fertilizing Roses

If there is one mistake gardeners make most often with roses, it's not fertilizing properly.

Roses are heavy feeders. They need regular applications of a complete fertilizer to stay healthy and bloom vigorously. If your roses bloom nicely in spring but then you barely see a flower the rest of the summer, you're probably not fertilizing properly. For more information on how to properly fertilize and care for your roses this summer, please visit this feature article.

For the ultimate in quality and convenience use Bayer Advanced™ All-In-One Rose & Flower Care Concentrate. It combines the effectiveness of three systemic products in one.

1. Fertilizer to feed and renew.
2. Insect control to protect against pests.
3. Disease control protection.

Apply every six weeks throughout the growing season to feed and protect your roses.

Dried Flowers for Everlasting Bouquets

You can turn your summer blooms into everlasting bouquets by planting flowers that are easy to air-dry. These would include bells of Ireland, cockscomb, Edelweiss, globe amaranth, larkspur, scarlet sage and blue sage, sea lavender, statice, strawflower and yellow yarrow.

To get the best dried results, pick flowers that are in prime condition but a little on the immature side. Remove all the foliage from stems. Group the flowers into small bunches and secure with a rubber band. Hang the bunches upside down in a warm, dry, dark area, such as an attic, closet or furnace room. Avoid damp rooms or direct sunlight on the flowers. Good air circulation is very important.

Allow the flowers to dry thoroughly. This normally takes two to three weeks. If stems are weak or become brittle after drying, remove them and attach the flowers to stiff wires before arranging.