Coming back to say I stopped by the nursery to describe my spots and actually found the same spots on their rosemary plants, so I showed them and they said the spots are due to thrips. They sold me some organic Dr. Earth spray (the kind that has different oils & such in it) so I came home and soaked the plant and moved it into the shade. Hopefully that will help with all of the "visitors"!

I spent the last couple of days reworking a section of my front yard. I had been growing the rosemary in a raised bed on the south side of the house (along with lavender). It did very well but started to get very crowded. So, I transplanted the rosemary plants (about two feet in diameter) to along the side the walkway leading up to the house. I plan on keeping it as a formal hedge (like boxwood).--Only I hope I didn't plant to close to the walkway now. I don't mind if it overlaps some and I guess I can just keep pruning back. Rosemary outside is easy (where hardy)--I never had luck with them in the house though!

A pic would help. Are they anything like the woolly aphids in the pix at the link below? If you think it's a bug, try one of these sprays: CITRUS SPRAY FOR APHIDS: Boil 2 cups water in a saucepan. Remove from heat and add the peel of 1 lemon or grapefruit. Cover, leave overnight. Mix half water and half citrus liquid, and use as a spray for aphids and other soft-bodied pests. The spray must come into contact with the pests to be effective. FUNGICIDE/POWDERY MILDEW SPRAY: 4 litres water 3 tablespoons bicarbonate of soda 1 tablespoon household bleach 1 teaspoon dishwashing detergent Snip and remove leaves that are worst affected. Mix ingredients with water. Spray remaining leaves top and undersides. Apply a heavier dose on leaves that have signs of infection and only lightly on unaffected leaves as bleach can actually harm and discolor the leaves. BASIL SPRAY: Pour 1 litre of boiling water over 2 firmly packed cupfuls of basil leaves. Leave to get cold, strain. Use within a few days. Basil spray will deter and sometimes kill aphids, woolly aphids, flies, fruit flies, leaf-miners, mosquitoes, scale, spider mites, thrips, whitefly, bugs, caterpillars, earwigs, millipedes, beetles, slaters, spiders and weevils. CANOLA OIL SPRAY: Mix 1 part canola oil into 50 parts water (approximately 1 tablespoon oil to 1 litre water). Add a few drops of diswashing detergent and shake well. Spray tops and bottoms of leaves and stems generously to get rid of aphids, mealy bugs, spider mites, soft scale or earwigs. CHIVE SPRAY: An infusion of 1 litre of water and 1 cup of chopped leaves is a mild insect repellent, a fungicide and an antiseptic. It may assist in the treatment of downy or powdery mildew if applied regularly. Use the spray within a few hours. You can also try a Garlic Spray, a Coriander Spray (using the leaves made into a strong tea), a Eucalyptus Spray (using the leaves made into a tea, or some diluted essential oil), Nasturtium Spray (if it's aphid) , Mint or Lavender or Lemongrass (as a tea, if it's aphid), Chamomile (if it's a fungus). Or Rhubarb (leaf tea) or Tomato (leaf tea) (both for assorted bugs). Pyrethrum is a good all-rounder. http://gardening.about.com/od/gardenproblems/qt/PowderyMildew.htm All these will wash off easily to make the rosemary safe to eat, and won't affect the flavour. Here is a link that might be useful: woolly aphid

Vaporvac, I have Heritage and was thinking about adding them on the side of the wall where it would be nice not to have thorns. Heritage does great for me in the shade and in sandy soil. But the one I have in clay wasn't doing much, though it looked healthy, but now is growing as the weather cools off. Straw and others have commented on Heritage not liking clay and the wall has a clay foundation. Falstaff would be great except the color doesn't work, looking for pink or violet if possible. I have the other 8 ND tied up and have to admit that it looks great from a distance, though it's probably going to refuse to make flowers since it's not so horizontal now! Just measured some of the canes at 12 feet long already and I just didn't expect that kind of growth for years, not months! But 2 of them have to be moved as they are attacking people, LOL! Heirloom's site said that ND could be a shrub also but with 12' canes all the way around, that's a 24' diameter in a first year plant. It's very hard to mow around so now I'm convinced that I need a shrub. I wonder if Rein de Violettes could deal with the shade and clay? I do like your advice of Austins because I've had such good luck with them though. I do give them an obscene amount of water in the heat. Nahema is gorgeous! Oh, and I did see the beetles hiding everywhere during a very windy day yesterday, not just Memorial Day.