powdery mildew is a function of spending the night with wet foliage .... one cause is sprinklers too late at night [change your program] ... and as noted .. you personally watering in the evening, wetting the whole plant ... which used to be my favorite after work tradition ... also stagnant air decreases drying ... so .. insure the leaves are dry by evening ... and increase air movement [location.. location.. location ].. and you should avoid that problem ... and always look for versions that are resistant ... if any ... in general.. 8 hours of sun is considered full sun .... if that 8 hours is from 6am to 2 pm .. then guess what.. the rest of the day it is in... ta da .. part shade ... some plants.. not many .. need full sun.. all day long ... they would be full sun [think food production plants for optimum performance]... also perhaps.. those like monarda ... they need the drying effects of the sun also .... otherwise ... most plants ... have a lot of leeway on how much sun they need ... but the bottom line is.. when a flowering plant .... no longer flowers ... then it is in too much shade... it puts out more and more green with chlorophyll to compensate for the lack of light.. sacrificing flowers ... and you would probably be surprised how dark that grotto would have to be ... think cave .... listen.. its a near bullet proof plant.. that will 'run' all over the yard ... plant one.. and enjoy it.. until it irritates you.. and you start pulling it out... i doubt you can find the wrong place for this one.. short of the cave .... or where its leaves stay to wet ... and even that will only make it ugly.. but not really impact the flowering ... good luck ken ps: as to PM .... same with lilac and roses ... no wet leaves at dusk ...

onetwothreetim: I've given up on live rootstock. Gurneys burnt me so many times that I lost all faith. Once I ordered a walnut tree and it came with the roots exposed in air and the branches wrapped with sphagnum moss! Me, too, unless I'm desperate. Just isn't worth it. Pay more and get better first or start your own and wait longer. Good luck with your seeds. I'm getting hooked on starting outside in containers....I started my Bee Balm a few weeks ago and I'm having much better luck than planting it in situ. Thanks, I've got 17 containers and assorted ready to plant ASAP. It's a late start, but I've been successful with perennials in prior years that way, as long as you get them in the ground about 2 months B4 hard freeze. One year I stuck 5 1 gal nursery containers of coreopsis in the ground just before a hard freeze. They survived, only have two left but one has spread so much I will need to divide it. 25-cent pkt of seeds. So you never know. I figure even though the tops froze off right away, the roots were still protected, wouldn't work for some things. It was either that or overwinter in sunroom, and I didn't want 5 more things to pamper thru winter. The WS forum has been very inspiring. Here is a tip someone gave me here last year when I wanted to start some gypsophilia (the florist kind) in situ. Scoop out a cavity, fill with potting soil, plant your seeds, put a 2 liter soda bottle over it with cap off. Water when there's no moisture in the bottle. It worked great, but the gypsophilia wasn't happy, have two dinky ones left, never bloomed. Already tried chalk at someone's suggestion, crushed up drywall. It's a gamble when it gets too hot. Gotta post this, daughter here.

Hi, this is on the wrong post - and I thought I posted this notice already. Cheers, Peggy

I've got lots of different kinds of bee balm and they all smell good. Should I just try different ones to see which one makes the best tea? They are just wonderful for keeping the deer out of the roses and blueberries. So far, we have red, white, light pink, medium pink, burgandy and a pretty pink/purple. One of the red ones got 5' tall, but the rest stay at about 2' to 3' tall :)