There are many ways to get rid of fire ants. You can use a mixture of sugar and borax. Pour the mixture around the ant hills, and the ants will carry it inside the colony, killing it off. Another solution is the sugar substitute, Equal or Nutri-Sweet. These have been known to be poisonous to ants. Just pour it around the hill and you will see little any bodies laying around in a couple days. Like the others have said, if it's garden ants let them be - unless it's a huge infestation. Here is a link that might be useful: Ants In The Vegetable Garden

Does anyone else INJECT Round-Up? I've found it useful for poison ivy that is interwoven in our hedges. I get a cattle syringe and needle (I got mine at Tractor Supply) and I fill it with Round-Up and I inject a little bit directly into the stem. Poison Ivy in particular has that "woody" stem, and this way I'm assured that I actually got some of the "tactical nukes" (LOL -- love that term!) inside the plant so that it can carry the "radiation" back to the "mother ship" (roots). I haven't done a complete inspection yet, but so far I haven't noticed any new PI this year in the areas I treated last year. If anyone else is going to try this, use a SENSITIVE hand at this -- if you try to inject a whole bunch into a stem, the excess will either squirt out where you're injecting it in (all over you PLUS the plants that you're trying NOT to hit) or else the stem will burst under the pressure and the excess will spray out at random (all over you PLUS the plants that you're trying NOT to hit). Since you're putting this directly into the plant's "veins", it really doesn't take very much at all. Think of how a single drop or bit of errant misting on a leaf can kill an entire plant and you get an idea of how very little of this stuff you have to get inside the stem in order for it to be effective.

I am sorry you take offense summer fashion -- I was just trying to point out that there are other places for this rare rose. As the grower of over 600 roses, many of which are rare, I try to do my part to keep some of these in commerce, and have given cuttings to many different growers. My initial question was simply directed at trying to figure out if I had the rose that was supposedly "the last one," and if I did have it, to get it out there to some distributers. FYI -- Cliff is the proprieter of Eurodesert Roses and he specializes in distributing rare roses. And to answer your question about Gregg -- no I do not think he would necessarily have driven down and gotten another one -- he has his hands full keeping all the roses already in his 4000 rose collection. I would be shocked if he were adding more, even if he happens to lose one. As for you complaint about "hi-jacking", I am sorry that you posted your Kudzu question on the rose board. Maybe you should have put it on the appropriate forum in the first place, rather than worrying about someone changing the subject of your post back to the subject of the board. Kathy Here is a link that might be useful: Kudzu on HMF

Whiteflies! I'm an organic gardener in zone 7. I've been gardening for many years, but the last dozen or so I've gotten a lot more serious (and had a lot more challenges, and fun.) At the beginning of June this year, I discovered whiteflies (for the first time ever) in three distinct garden areas of our property, each area separated by a good deal of lawn (well, the yard has SOME grass, but it's mostly weeds & clover.) One area was very active with whiteflies, the other two somewhat less so, but it was clear they were dispersed throughout the property. I read and read and read and came up with this protocol, which I hope will help anyone else who runs into the same pest. First, I suspended my weekly spray of a gentle foliar feeding solution (spray n grow & bills perfect fertilizer) to slow down the plant growth that whiteflies find so appealing. Then, every evening for a full week, I sprayed every plant and shrub in my gardens with the following blend: 1 gallon Ivory soap water 1 gallon water 8 tsps take down concentrate 2 cups commercial concentrated deer repellent (primarily garlic/clove/mint/egg centric) (We live in a VERY high deer pressure area so I was already spraying my .66 acres of gardens & shrubs with a rotation of deer repellents every evening, two gallons a night.) For perspective, I used three batches of this whitefly action brew (so six gallons total) every night. The Ivory water wasn't carefully measured. I took a large bar of Ivory soap, left it in a gallon of water overnight, and used that. Then I used the same bar in successive gallons. That one bar lasted the whole time I sprayed. I sprayed the outsides of everything, of course, but also shoved the sprayer nozzle into the middle of each plant/shrub, doing my best to get to the undersides of the leaves & stems, too. Five evenings into my spraying, I noticed no more whitefly activity. Interestingly, the pollinators remained abundant, active, & happy throughout the entire spray period. This may be because it was relatively early in the season. This may also be because I sprayed in the evening, after most of pollinators had gone to sleep. And lastly, this may be because I used the mildest but still effective takedown solution -- just 1%. (And maybe all the clover in the yard helped too, by giving them a consistent alternative food source.) After the week of whitefly brew spraying ended, I did nothing (other than my nightly rotation of deer repellent spraying) for about 10 days. I still saw no evidence of whiteflies. Then I released beneficial insects: Ladybugs, which start eating right away; Lacewing eggs, which take a few days to a week to hatch & start eating; And, praying mantis eggs, which take weeks to hatch & start eating. I purchased enough beneficials to populate our entire yard and followed the directions for timing, conditions, etc for their release. A couple of notes: I opted not to use neem oil on the property because I had previously used it and it does not like begonias, bleeding hearts, fuscia and other somewhat delicate plants, all of which were liberally interspersed amidst my perennial beds and containers. I was VERY reluctant about using the takedown given my love of pollinators but I realized I had to make a tough call and decided the best course was to save my garden for the pollinators who would come by later in the season. I truly didn't expect so little impact on them during my spray period. I was very relieved to see them thriving the entire time! In addition, everything I read suggested it was best to use multiple beneficial insects so I opted to include praying mantis in the mix, despite the risk to some pollinators, concluding, again, that saving my garden overall was the better course. I also bought a bug blaster nozzle (Amazon has it) and a watering wand. The bug blaster delivers a 360 degree forceful spray of water. I'm not going to use it now, but it's here for next time. I want to see if alternating washing the plants during the day and spraying the plants in the evening will let me solve the problem using even less takedown. Stopping whiteflies takes real diligence, but it's doable! Good luck!