Bayer Advanced™ Garden of Imagination Rose Parade® Float Features NASA Shuttle Astronaut Rex Walheim and His Brother, Bayer Advanced Rose Care Expert Lance Walheim

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. and PASADENA, Calif., Jan. 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bayer Advanced™ Garden of Imagination Rose Parade® float won the Director's Trophy for outstanding artistic merit in design and floral presentation. This is the 11th Rose Parade trophy that Bayer Advanced has won.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120102/AT28738 )

"It's an incredible honor to receive the Director's Trophy on the 12th anniversary of our participation in the Rose Parade," said Bayer Advanced Marketing Communications Manager Camille Gipson. Bayer Advanced sells several rose and flower care products in gardening centers across the United States.

The Bayer Advanced Garden of Imagination float tells the story of the Walheim brothers who grew up working in the family garden near San Francisco and dreamt of what could be.

The Tournament of Roses' Just Imagine... theme inspired the creation of the Bayer Advanced Garden of Imagination float. Rex and Lance Walheim rode on the float in the Rose Parade.

• Rex Walheim imagined flying in space and achieved the ultimate dream of becoming a NASA astronaut. He was mission specialist on three NASA shuttle missions, including Atlantis (STS-135) — the final mission of the U.S. shuttle program in July 2011. He's currently working on NASA's new deep space exploration system that is scheduled to take its first test flight in 2017.
• Lance Walheim imagined working with flowers and plants. Now he's a horticulturist, owns a 17-acre citrus ranch and is the Bayer Advanced Rose Care expert. He's authored or co-authored more than 30 books, including the best seller, Roses for Dummies. He provides gardening advice to millions of people each year.

"A garden begins with small flowers or seeds," said Lance Walheim. "The thousands of flowers on the Bayer Advanced Garden of Imagination float are symbolic of the ideas that grow in your imagination — just like the ideas Rex and I had growing up."

"You really can fulfill your dreams if you just imagine the possibilities," said Rex Walheim. "I was able to see the Earth from 250 miles up in space on three different shuttle missions. That's a truly amazing experience."

The Bayer Advanced Garden of Imagination float features:

• More than 20,000 roses that symbolize ideas that grow inside each and every one of us. We can imagine creating a beautiful flower garden in our own backyards, or we can imagine reaching for the stars. Our ideas — and our imagination — have no boundaries.
• A rocket contrail that reaches 30 feet into the air. A rocket contrail is like a vapor trail, only this one features thousands of beautiful roses. The contrail symbolizes the idea that if we "just imagine," we can reach for the stars and achieve great things.
• The world debut of the 2012 All-America Rose Selections Award Winner, Sunshine Daydream, a beautiful yellow rose.

About Bayer Advanced™

Bayer Advanced is one of the leading consumer lawn and garden brands in the United States. Driven by innovative thinking and category-leading research, Bayer Advanced provides innovative and effective solutions that help consumers grow beautiful lawns and gardens and protect their landscapes from pests, weeds and diseases. Always read and follow label directions before using Bayer Advanced products. Visit BayerAdvanced.com for more information and to view how-to videos, or call 1-877-BAYERAG.

Bayer Advanced is a business group of Bayer CropScience LP (www.bayercropscienceus.com), the U.S. affiliate of Bayer CropScience AG. Bayer Advanced, Bayer CropScience LP, and Bayer CropScience AG are part of the Bayer AG family, a FORTUNE Global 500 company.

© 2012 Bayer CropScience LP, 2 T.W. Alexander Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709. Always read and follow label instructions. Bayer (reg'd), the Bayer Cross (reg'd) and Bayer Advanced are trademarks of Bayer. Rose Parade and Tournament of Roses are registered trademarks of the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association.

SOURCE Bayer Advanced