Considering that grammar 'experts' use different rules according to what type of material they are publishing -- one example is the APA Style Manual, a guide for publishing in the behavioral and social sciences; another example is the AP style manual that journalists use -- I think we should use whatever makes sense to us. Working in a university as I do, we have some interesting discussions about which to use in our official University publications - the journalism-trained people against those trained in academia. Our president is our decider as to what our official style will be and luckily, that's the style I prefer. I like what the English Forum says about this issue: "In American usage printers usually place a period or comma inside closing quotation marks whether it belongs logically to the quoted matter or to the whole sentence or context.... But when a logical or exact distinction is desired in specialized work in which clarity is more important than usual (as in this dictionary), a period or comma can be placed outside quotation marks when it belongs not in the quoted matter but to a larger unit containing the quoted matter. The package is labeled 'Handle with Care'." To me this includes such things as official cultivar names, and as Dr. Manner said, "Single quotes are actually a part of the official cultivar name, so must always be within punctuation, regardless of country of use or any other consideration. There are no exceptions."

Hi, Good idea! (Poison ivy is a native plant, though.) Try the National Wildlife Federation's Backyard Habitat Program. I raised $800 out of my classroom in just 5 months by selling snacks I bought at Costco. I got seeds from good people online, planted them in a portable greenhouse, in addition to buying native plants and planting them. (We created a native butterfly garden in addition to adding native flowers throughout the school grounds. A student's father donated his wood and work and made 4 bluebird houses. I just had to but the posts and make baffles. I recommend they do fund raising as well as seek donations. Bake sales, tag sales, etc. Good luck. (Here is the garden we created: http://community.webshots.com/album/348247343IHURcbhref> Here is a link that might be useful: Backyard Habitats

I graduated HS in 1972........had I and my freinds been caught for some of the pranks/jokes we played back then with today's "no tolerance" rules....we would have never graduated!!!!!! Raised 2 sons attending the Clark County School District from 1986-2002. I had my share of "Required Parent Teacher Conferences" from innocent fun to what the district thought was zero tolerance! #1 son was caught "mooning" his girlfriend...RPC'd for 3 days. #2 son was "hit in the head" (trip to ER) with a dirt filled Pringles can...punched the kid's lights out"....HE was RPC'd for 3 days. #1 son (GPA 4.0) was "thought" to be skipping school as he drove away from campus to a doctors appointment...again RPC's for 3 days. #2 son and friends "saran wrapped" a girls car on her birthday....all were RPC'd for 3 days. #1 and #2 sons and several dozen friends "toilet papered" the front lawn of the high school in honor of winning some sports event....again I was one of the many parents accepting the usual "RPC". Funny thing....all the parents were laughing and snickering as we signed the papers. And I am sure there were more pranks/jokes I did not know about....all in fun and part of being a high school student. I felt as long as they did not intentionally hurt someone or damage property, it was all in good fun.

I'm a worry freak, esp. when I'm short of sleep. My guardian angel whispered in my ears yesterday when I felt so bad about my daughter's crying, "Life is so hard, don't make it harder by taking it so seriously." Here are some quotes on worrying, from below link" http://www.quotegarden.com/worry.html If I had my life to live over, I would perhaps have more actual troubles but I'd have fewer imaginary ones. ~Don Herold Today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday. ~Author Unknown Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy. ~Leo Buscaglia People gather bundles of sticks to build bridges they never cross. ~Author Unknown People become attached to their burdens sometimes more than the burdens are attached to them. ~George Bernard Shaw, "Family Affection," Parents and Children, 1914 For peace of mind, resign as general manager of the universe. ~Author Unknown Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow. ~Swedish Proverb We can easily manage if we will only take, each day, the burden appointed to it. But the load will be too heavy for us if we carry yesterday's burden over again today, and then add the burden of the morrow before we are required to bear it. ~John Newton A day of worry is more exhausting than a day of work. ~John Lubbock Worry trades the joy of now for the unlikely catastrophes of later. ~Tim Fargo As a rule, what is out of sight disturbs men's minds more seriously than what they see. ~Julius Caesar Don't shoulder the burdens of others!... Each man has his own special troubles, His worries and problems and woes; Give aid when you can to each mortal, But try not to feel all his blows! For you, too, have burdens to carry; And, if you just wear yourself out In agony over all others, How can you, your own troubles, rout? ~Gertrude Buckingham, "Good Advice" It is not the cares of today, but the cares of tomorrow, that weigh a man down. ~George MacDonald Some of your hurts you have cured, And the sharpest you still have survived, But what torments of grief you endured From the evil which never arrived. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson Worry is a prayer for what you don't want. ~Cultivate Greatness Blog, August 2008 There are people who are always anticipating trouble, and in this way they manage to enjoy many sorrows that never really happen to them. ~Josh Billings Love looks forward, hate looks back, anxiety has eyes all over its head. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960 Worry is interest paid on trouble before it comes due. ~William Ralph Inge There are more things, Lucilius, that frighten us than injure us, and we suffer more in imagination than in reality. ~Seneca We are more disturbed by a calamity which threatens us than by one which has befallen us. ~John Lancaster Spalding We are, perhaps, uniquely among the earth's creatures, the worrying animal. We worry away our lives. ~Lewis Thomas, The Medusa and the Snail, 1979 Do not be afraid of tomorrow; for God is already there. ~Author Unknown Real difficulties can be overcome, it is only the imaginary ones that are unconquerable. ~Theodore N. Vail No man ever sank under the burden of the day. It is when tomorrow's burden is added to the burden of today that the weight is more than a man can bear. ~George MacDonald Rule number one is, don't sweat the small stuff. Rule number two is, it's all small stuff. ~Robert Eliot He who fears he shall suffer, already suffers what he fears. ~Michel de Montaigne No human thing is of serious importance. ~Plato, The Republic Fear can keep us up all night long, but faith makes one fine pillow. ~Philip Gulley Every evening I turn my worries over to God. He's going to be up all night anyway. ~Mary C. Crowley