I'm not sure how he's doing. When I came back a second time, 15 minutes later, he'd hopped off, or climbed into the shrubs.... either way, I couldn't find him. By googling, I found out pesticides don't even work on white flies because it's very difficult to cover ALL of the leaves, tops & bottoms, stems, etc, in order for the pesticide to be effective. Lady bugs or the little non-stinging wasps that lay their eggs in white flies would've been more effective. I ended up throwing out the flower pot because the pesticide didn't work, but now I know to get beneficial insects the next time white flies come calling. I felt so badly about that little frog, he looked like the Geico gecko, only in frog form.... so cute!

Hi Beatrice: Welcome to the pond forum. I have been ponding for 10 years now and I always tend to rush the season when we have nice weather. Your frogs are probably still in hibernation. One year when we had an early spring I hurried to get the pond up and running. When I vacuumed my top pond and settlement pond I found what I thought were five frogs dead. I placed them on the ground in a row till I had time to bury them. I didn't get to it that day, and when I looked for them the next morning they were gone. I guess they were still hibernating and when I took them out of the cold pond water and laid them in the sun they eventually warmed up and jumped back into the pond. Last year was the first year I had tadpoles. I hope some of them made it through the winter. I haven't seen any frogs yet. One of my pond forum buddies told me they will probably appear in May. She, too, thought she lost her frog last year, but it showed up in May. She reminded me we are still in April and even though we are having warm weather the pond water is still cold. Hang in there, they should be waking up soon. Jenny

There are some photos here... The spores are bright orange, not yellow and very powdery. If you look at the photos you can actually see little raised bumps. Every fall I go bargin hunting at the local nurseries looking for prennials I refuse to pay the full price for and a couple of years ago almost every Daylily they had was covered with rust, so yes nurseries can be a source of rust. If you decide to speay make sure you use a systemic. The first time I had it here I used a contact spray which looked like it was working but the rust kept coming back. I eventually gave up and let it run it's course. I am in Zone 5 so winter kills it. I had it in 2005, 2006, and 2007. I have since changed my buying habits and have not seen it again. I no longer buy from people in the south or areas without the extended cold spells it takes to kill it. If they buy new intros from the south I get them to send my plants out as early as possible to avoid their new plants sending it here. It is unsightly but I cannot say it has actually killed any plants here. I am sure it set some back and they did not preform as well the following years. Leaf streak can look like rust, look for the little RAISED bumps and the orange powdery spores. I was out in the garden this morning and saw 1 case of leaf streak that made me check to make sure that's what it was so even though you have seen rust a quick view of any miscolored leaves tends to make you think about it. It is not the end of the world either. Here is a link that might be useful: Rust

I had that exact pink and brown tile in my last house. I must have tried 10 different decorating schemes in there; the pink is hard to coordinate with. I ended up replacing the vanity and used plain white 4x4 tile on it. That looked okay, and might look okay over your shower surround. A little awkward, but okay. I could also envision just using some sheet formica up there, well caulked; if you want to do something cool, get "boomerang" or some other 50s-inspired pattern and play up the kitsch factor. I discovered that it was going to be a big challenge to replace the bath/shower fixtures (mine were brass, very corroded - ick!). It sounded like I would have to rip out tile to get to the valve and plumbing inner workings, as you can't just pop on new handles and tub spouts very easily. But you can replace the shower head relatively easily. As far as figuring out whether it's structurally sound, I guess I'd go into the crawl space and try to inspect the floor under the tub and toilet. Poke at the wood with a screw driver and see what happens. If you replace your toilet, you'll have a chance to see if any horrors lie underneath - in mine, the subfloor was not in great shape (thanks to a previous owner who liked carpet in her bathrooms :) If you don't see rot, I would guess your bathroom will last a long time. I've read in the New York Times that tile from the 50s was made really strong. (I'm attaching a fun link you've probably already visited, but just in case...) Here is a link that might be useful: Pink Bathrooms