As I sit in my office at my computer, I look out on my neighbors' planting of dahlias - although flowering well, they are so completely riddled with PM as to have a uniform silvery-gray appearance, even from a distance of perhaps 30 feet. This season seems to have been partcularly bad for powdery mildew, perhaps because of the extreme lack of rainfall. I've encountered several posts about it locally, both on this forum and others, have seen it prolifically in client's gardens and have had to deal with it at the nursery. Other than a few ares of my lawn, which I tend to not mow as often as I should and which receives a bit more shade than ideal, I have had very few problems with PM personally this year, which I suspect is due to the way I water as well as avoiding plants that are especially prone.

I'd be interested to hear what others have experienced this season and what cultural controls (not pesticidal, organic or otherwise) they have found effective, other than obviously selecting PM-resistant varieties.