"work on anything but "woody" plants and wouldn't hurt the roses at all."

I'd probably take that with a large grain of salt :-) Unless it was a very targeted herbicide (like something that only works on monocots or grass-like plants) there is always a potential for damage. May not be severe damage or actually kill the plants but could certainly cause foliage distortion and damage. I would want to know exactly what the active ingredient was and research its effects before I'd let anyone spray willy-nilly in MY garden!!

Personally, I do not hold with using anything other than a granular pre-emergent in any planted areas. And I rarely resort to those. I prefer to hand weed and mulch - far safer and better for the environment as well.

The answer is called a "Over the top" herbicide, like Sethoxydim, which kills GRASSES only. (not most monocots, and not any dicot forbs, trees, or shrubs...though it can injure a few which is detailed on the label) They work quite well, but must be mixed correctly. They are also not for the impatient and if you have something like a crabgrass that is seeding, you better pull it by hand. I use it to a very limited extent to control the dreaded Japanese stiltgrass, which will snake its way through all kinds of other plants, and is incredibly tedious to pull. It had completely taken over about 1/2 an acre of my land, but I have slowly gotten it under control and barely felt the need to mix a batch this year.

BTW I don't know that it is what your "lawn guy" was actually spraying. A lot of them are idiots. It's a lot more expensive than generic RU so he might just have been telling you what you wanted to hear.

bsmith, it does sound like you might have one of the lesser educated lawn guys. I suggest that you call the company and ask the owner/manager about the specifics of the herbicide used on that day.

In order to get value and successful results from the yard maintenance company, you should have an idea of what kind of weeds that they were targeting. I don't mean the name of the weeds, but whether they are grasses, sedges, broadleaf, annual, or perennial. For example, do you have lots of grassy weeds in the beds?

Nutgrass, a sedge, is only grassy weed that I have problems with. Sedges are extremely resistant to most herbicides intended for grasses and really require a specific type of chemical. Personally, I find sedges easy to control by pulling them when young. As a matter of fact, manual removal is the fastest and most effective method of all kinds of weeds, other than those that are still seeds in the ground.

Your lawn guy could also have applied a pre-emergent herbicide.

My point is that you need to be an informed customer. You might be paying for unnecessary applications and ineffective pesticides. Call the owner of the company today.

I invite you to post the name of the herbicide when you have the information.