Yes, that's probably powdery mildew. It's not really dreaded on the East Coast because it spreads only under very particular weather conditions. A modern systemic fungicide such as Bayer Rose and Flower Disease Control (containing only tebuconazole, at Lowe's) will probably not harm your young plants. It is also very good for blackspot when that develops. Organic remedies can be quite effective for PM, but sulfur and Cornell Mixture (see FAQ of Organic Rose Forum) can burn foliage. Or you can just give the foliage a hard spray of water and wait for the weather to change.

Ohhhhh, to be out of school!!! I have two weeks yet!! and it has been so darn hot, and we don't have air conditioning in any of the buildings. It was 90 on Friday, even to hot to go outside for recess!!!Can you imagine that!! The kids had to lay under the shade trees to get cooled off. But I do love every single one of your daylilies. Queen of Narnia is a great white one. Hope you can spend more time in your gardens now!!! Cindy

Lucille, it depends. It's certainly good to give praise for hard work. However I have seen what happens when children are praised for everything they do. Depends on the child but some will learn that they get the same response for a high effort work as lower effort work and will lose that self-motivation to do their best. I had a kindergartener who was so used to being showered in praise for every little thing she did at home that she would have complete meltdowns at school if the teacher would give minor corrections instead of praising her work. It was really sad to see such a young child's self-esteem be so tied up in adult praise. It's difficult. Every day I have beaming 3 year olds run up to show me their pictures and every instinct I have wants to say "wow! It's beautiful, great job!" But they are smart and they will realize that a carefully colored drawing gets the same response as a few scribbles and they will start expecting praise for less and less. But I also don't want to turn them away so I will say, "thank you for showing me! Would you like to tell me about your picture?" That gives them the attention that they want without the over-praising. I try to anyway, I definitely slip up with those sweet faces looking at me. :) Everyone wants to be recognized so praise is good. But I believe it should be given out with awareness of true hard work and not for every thing a child does with some effort. And never say things like "oh you are so smart" because, like Rita said, children can start to believe that their natural intelligence is enough to get them through, and will grow frustrated when it's not. Recognizing hard work emphasizes that it is effort that matters and will help the kids develop self-motivation, self-discipline and resourcefulness, and these kids will be less likely to give up when facing challenges.

Bus will depart school at 11 so they will get home about 30 minutes later. They get dropped off at the start of the long private drive. I guess its about a football field from my front door. I walk half way to meet them but being able to see them the entire time. Today I'll walk the whole way as we have our songs to sing...No more pencils no more books...and Schools out for summer...lol at the top of our lungs. its very overcast so I'll have umbrellas. The next week will be all fun and games for the boys than 30 minutes a day every day to brush up on things they have learned this year. The school sends home *summer work* things they will be doing next year. Its really great how they send enough, a page of math and a page of vocabulary words, one for each day of the summer. So 30 minutes a day goes a long way. I never have had any flack from the boys over doing this and hope I don't this year. There's no strict time for them to do this..they can pick their own time. I only ask it be done and given to me by 8 pm. Bed time will of course be extended...LOL but us ually after a long day of play and a evening shower you can see while sitting out on the back patio them wanting to drop off around 9'ish. Can you tell I'm happy that Schools Out For Summer!