first ... get over the guilt/unhappiness .. every flower has its season .. and sometimes that season is not long.. you wouldnt complain.. that a tulip only blooms for a week.. would you??? so be happy for your success .. and move on ... crimminey.. you grew them from an embryo ... aka .. a seed ... second.. it has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE SPOT .. meaning the soil ... see PS ...... its a cultural problem.. most mildews.. occur and thrive during hot, humid NIGHTS [perhaps they are the vampires of the garden] ... my PM does anyway ... and i will yell.. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE SOIL .... CULTURE is how the plant is treated above ground .. as in heat.. sun.. humid nights.. etc ... though the spores.. if that is the right term.. can be on the soil surface i suppose .... but once disturbed.. that should not be an issue ... and probably solved simply with a mulch ... [and rhiz can correct me again.. if i am wrong.. lol] ... amending planting holes.. ONLY .. can lead to problems.. you really should NOT throw things ONLY in holes.. just because you have it laying around ... a little perlite.. is NOT going to change the drainage capacity of a clay soil ... especially not a hole dug into a poor soil ... BTW .. if you are growing.. and succeeding with rose.. what i consider one of the most foo.. of the foo foo ... you really shouldnt be all wrapped up in problems with cosmos ... you really are.. much further ahead.. than you consider yourself ... ken ps: i said it has nothing to do with the spot.. but one thing that reduces it.. is night air movement.. when things are too jammed together.. and air movement is restricted.. that culture.. can make a problem explode.. PM is endemic in monarda also ... it was a nightmare for me way back.. so i dug it up and set it in full sun ... by itself.. and the problem was reduced significantly .. and the biggest thing.. culture again.. was that i learned not to come home from work.. and in the late evening.. give everything a shower with the hose.. if your plants go into dark.. DRY!!! ... again.. you reduce the 'potential' greatly ... darn.. the PS is getting longer than the reply.. lol ... reducing potential.. would be part of IPM .. integrated pest management.. and should be next on your learning curve.. so as to reduce the need to run to the chemical bin.. and getting out the sprayer.. every time something is not perfect ... [PM is not a pest.. per se .. but it would be within the concept of such.. wouldnt it???] PPS: .. if i were to be thinking of spraying the roses.. i would have cut the cosmos to the first or second buds.. down near 6 inches.. and then sprayed those with the the roses.. and with severe canopy reduction.. removal of the PM.. and an intact mature root system.. they probably would have been back to 3 feet in weeks ... it would have been a neat experiment ... and would have increased your learning curve.. had you not had the chicken little complex of utter destruction ... based on fear .. there is a mixed metaphor for you .. lol

Moccasin, I actually bought one H.'Half & Half' and also one H.'Woop Woop' at the Hosta Library Auction. They looked so good. I hope they will not repeat my odyssey I am having with H. 'Dancing in the Rain' and 'Eskimo Pie'. I just moved the D.R.s to a more sunnier spot and found out that they were strangulated by two strong roots of a nearby tree at their old location. It looks like we should cut through any roots around hostas which seem to be under stress. That is, get a sharpened spade and sink it into the soil at the side towards a neighbor tree, but safely away from any hosta roots. Bernd

I am wondering about Marion in Arkansas who posts here now and then. I know her road washes out badly. Marion, if you are checking in, please let us know how you fared. I had just over 3 inches this morning, but had a petunia leaning over the can....so may have lost some due to that. It has been a wonderful rain, coming down slow and easy. The poor Floridians are poised for another bad storm.

Well, It was glorious! We left for OKC for family reunion on Saturday morning and the rain just followed us there, what a wonderful weekend. A graduation and a wedding and not one person complained about the rain. I see that Amarillo got 3 1/2" where we got 1 1/2" total for the whole time, being just 50 miles North in Borger. I hope Lake Meredith got more than we did. We have this phenomena here, when we have a storm or a front coming from the southwest, once it reaches lake Meredith, it splits, going north and south, and completely misses us, regrouping just west of Pampa, they always get the brunt of it. Very strange, any thoughts on that?