I created the Bethany hymnal blog in a panic, when the main source of all the lyrics went dormant.
I like the word "curated," which I hear often on TV. These are carefully selected hymns (all public domain) from The Lutheran Hymnal, perhaps other sources later.
Everything on the Bethany Hymnal Blog is intended to promote each hymn and to highlight the writers and translators.
I try to convince people to leverage social media work by linking. I do not use YouTube, but if I did, I would do a share on a blog each time. In fact, I may start doing that with the online service. It takes several seconds, not exactly a hardship.
YouTube provides a way to post the video so that the player shows and someone can start watching or listening easily. Facebook does the same, so I use the link for that effect every service. Pastor Palangyos also does that.
The Hymns in the Bethany Lutheran Hymnal Blog are being enhanced with art, variant tunes, YouTubes, and histories. Linking the blog in many places has already increased to views to 5,000 total. Search Engine Optimization works.
WELS found itself swallowed up by the Kudzu Vine of Fuller Seminary dogma and gimmicks.
Someone on Facebook took issue with my gentle kidding about Fuller Seminary robbing denominations of millions of dollars.
This woman said, "Fuller Seminary has established world missions in 98% of the world. What fruitage do you have to show in your groups?"
I wonder how often people use the term "fruitage," a real word but rather stuffy, ya think? I gave her my favorite Fuller Seminary quotation, chapter and verse -
I answered that Fuller Seminary has wrecked and shrunken all the denominations. WELS-CLC-ELS-LCMS-ELCA have five things in common:
Repudiation of the Augsburg Confession and the Book of Concord.
An unholy love for evil Bible translations and bad hymnals.
Anti-inerrancy.
Universal absolution without faith.
Shrinkage faster than a cheap shirt in a hot dryer.
"Just deny it? Bill, you are a genius! I am raking in the money from WELS and all the other suckers."
Julia Child is one of the showcase roses (clearance - ha!)
Yesterday I planted the last bare root rose (rainbow collection, clearance, free shipping). That rose was already leafed out - green leaves growing from the stem. Pale leaves often do not mean much, but these get some overhead sun while soaking.
People forget the "early rain and the latter rain."
Joel 2:23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. Deuteronomy 11:14 That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.
The early rain germinates the seed, so the roots follow the water downward, making the plant more stable and able to stay healthy.
The latter rain brings the plant to fruition, quite an energy demand as the flower turns into a case of food enclosing seed.
This only happens because plants are comprised of cells which are clusters of chemical factories, each one having specific tasks and outcomes.
Gardening should mean observing the principles of Creation, not the fads promoted by the hardware store.
This year I have left more roses in more rainwater than ever before. The first were the Veterans Honor, which also benefited from a combination of lengthy rains and sunshine, not just one or the other. Their jump into blooming startled me and the Military Gardening Group as well. We had bunches of flowers, intensely red. "Look at that one. Look at this one - five blooming at once!
The first and second rainbow selection (don't start on me) proved that a rose soaking in water longer would leaf out faster than its buddy that was planted first. Today I watered all five. The first two, planted first because they should be showpieces, are still rather bare of leaves. The last three are leafed out in green.
Yes, the types could make a difference - and so should the size of the bare root plant. This is not science, but I am more credible Faux-ci.
Some are pretty big and stout (the showpieces) so they would need longer to be saturated with rain.
My advice, based on experience, is to soak bare root roses in rainwater (or stored water, free of chlorine) with the stems out of the water, sunlight allowed.
Heirloom Rose - another clearance rose - times 3 - for $10 each, not $39.
Part Deux
I like the French sound - Part Deux.
After roses are planted, I dote on the canes and keep them moist daily with a watering can (rainwater or stored water). Early in the morning is good; late in the day will make the slugs happy.
Water droplets do not burn plants.
The top layer of every rose planting is a generous amount of Peat Humus or compost. Compost is great if you like hauling, stirring, and hauling tons of plant material. Peat Humus is inexpensive, easy to wheelbarrow to the right place, and not full of weeds.
I like using large amounts of mulch around the rose bush. This suppresses weeds and marks the bush so it is not bumped over, "weeded," or neglected. Wood mulch is attractive, too.
Calm Down about Weeds
Every living root should be kept in the soil as long as possible. I have a patch in the Rose Garden that went wild last year. We mowed it down, but it comes back strong. The good side is that the weeds are building the soil, 75% of additions come from roots. They also penetrate the clay soil, break it up, and send rain down their root systems for many different benefits.
I can prune a weed away from a rose, perhaps planted by a prankster squirrel who knows his treasure is protected. Squirrels all have degrees from MIT (Mammalian Institute of Treachery), so do not doubt their intentions.
Hauling weeds away is not my passion. I add them to the mulch layer or tuck them in a convenient place. All the rain gutter trash - a veritable greenhouse of new plants and compost - went to the Blackberry patch.
Matt the Fatt repudiates the Augsburg Confession. Mirthless Mark repudiates the Augsburg Confession. Pope John the Malefactor repudiates the Augsburg Confession. And - they rejoice in their unfaithful agreement - Objective Justification.
What makes the LCMS-ELS-WELS-CLC Papacy so antagonistic toward Melanchthon and the Augsburg Confession?
Melanchthon was a genius, so valuable to the Reformation that Luther never wanted his associate leave their partnership. Philip would have been the Reformer in any other country, such as England.
Lutheran clergy today - anxious that they might miss lunch or an appointment to the district camping committee - could never have endured the Reformation. Luther was still in danger of being roasted by His Holiness the Pope if he attended at Augsburg, so Melanchthon became the leader. The laity put their necks in the noose, too, insisting on signing it with the theologians.
If we pick 1517 as the start of the Reformation and 1530 as the establishment of Evangelical Biblical doctrine, then that is the span of time when Luther's life was in constant danger. He married in 1525, expecting to die a martyr.
Melanchthon is either ignored or hated. In typical LCMS fashion, there are so many inconsequential bits to engulf Phillip's reputation.
The real cause - Justification by Faith is clearly taught in the Augsburg Confession, elaborated in the Apology. The leaders would look foolish, even demonic, if they attacked the Confessions, the entire Book of Concord.
Luther and the Book of Concord editors considered themselves "theologians of the Augsburg Confession." That is the bedrock of the Bible and the Reformation.
The Lutheran Papacy - and ELCA - simply gloss over their opposition to the Chief Article of Christianity and promote Objective (without faith) Justification. Grassy weeds in my garden do the same thing, gradually displacing the roses with their shade and greedy roots. The results are inevitable.
Look at that - they made the Book of Concord disappear, and they got a bit chonky since then.
"I Know My Faith is Founded"
by Erdmann Neumeister, 1671-1756
1. I know my faith is founded
On Jesus Christ, my God and Lord;
And this my faith confessing
Unmoved I stand upon His Word.
Man's reason cannot fathom
The truth of God profound;
Who trusts her subtle wisdom
Relies on shifting ground.
God's Word is all-sufficient,
It makes divinely sure,
And trusting in its wisdom,
My faith shall rest secure.
2. Increase my faith, dear Savior,
For Satan seeks by night and day
To rob me of this treasure
And take my hope of bliss away.
But, Lord, with Thee beside me,
I shall be undismayed;
And led by Thy good Spirit,
I shall be unafraid.
Abide with me, O Savior,
A firmer faith bestow;
Then I shall bid defiance
To every evil foe.
3. In faith, Lord, let me serve Thee;
Though persecution, grief and pain
Should seek to overwhelm me,
Let me a steadfast trust retain;
And then at my departure
Take Thou me home to Thee
And let me there inherit
All thou hast promised me.
In life and death, Lord, keep me
Until Thy heaven I gain,
Where I by Thy great mercy
The end of faith attain.
Hymn #381
The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: 2 Timothy 1:12
Author: Erdmann Neumeister, 1718
Translated by: composite
Tune: "Nun lob, mein' Seel'"
1st Published in: Concentus Novi
Town: Augsburg, 1540
1. I fall asleep in Jesus' wounds,
There pardon for my sins abounds;
Yes, Jesus' blood and righteousness
My jewels are, my glorious dress.
In these before my God I'll stand
When I shall reach the heavenly land.
2. With peace and joy I now depart;
God's child I am with all my heart.
I thank thee, Death, thou leadest me
To that true life where I would be.
So cleansed by Christ, I fear not death,
Lord Jesus strengthen thou my faith.
1. God of mercy, God of grace,
Show the brightness of Thy face;
Shine upon us, Savior, shine,
Fill Thy church with light divine,
And Thy saving health extend
Unto earth's remotest end.
2. Let the people praise Thee, Lord!
Be by all that live adored;
Let the nations shout and sing
Glory to their Savior King,
At Thy feet their tribute pay,
And Thy holy will obey.
3. Let the people praise Thee, Lord!
Earth shall then her fruits afford,
God to man His blessing give,
Man to God devoted live;
All below and all above
One in joy and light and love.
The Lutheran Hymnal
Hymn #20
Text: Ps. 67
Author: Henry F. Lyte, 1834
Tune: "Ratisbon"
1st Published in: Saechsisches Choralbuch
Town: Leipzig, 1815
"Lusciously lovely, delectable peachy-pink color sets apart this sister seedling of Sparkle & Shine. They may have their differences (peach-pink vs. deep yellow). But, like most sisters, they share some likenesses, too. Both are distinctive because of their large showy clusters, long-lived flowers with lovely color, round bushy super-flowerful habit, loads of glossy green leaves & consistent dark red new growth. Buy 'em both & let these sisters battle it out for who's the best in your garden."
I found the best descriptions and photos are from Weeks, a major rose wholesaler. Add Weeks to your rose search and you will get a good description and a perspective on that rose's best qualities.
Rose Canes
This rose is most like Easy Does It, which has hypnotized so many.
Today's lesson concerns rose canes. People think of watering the base of roses, the roots. However, the canes are rather fragile and vulnerable to drying out.
Now that I have newly planted bare root canes, I am using the watering can to mimic rain. Yes, I am using the last barrel of rainwater, since the meteorologists conned us into a "week of rain" when it is a week of rays instead.
This is not the normal weather for newly planted roses, so I am making up for the abundance of sun and the lack of rain.
Today I will snip weeds away from the front yard roses, add some Peat Humus, and pile the wood mulch around them. The grassy weeds really grow in the sun, so I have to suppress them.
Roses enjoy frequent pruning, especially the faded roses, but also the deadwood here and there.
Mr. Lincoln dominated this vase, plus Pink Peace and Easy Does it. Mr. Lincoln has a potent fragrance.
This morning, I was recalling John W. Montgomery's observation that Christian News was like the Policeman's Gazette, always promising an article that would prompt a heart attack. Dr. Dr. Dr. Montgomery clutched his chest dramatically.
The cub editor of the periodical has turned CN into Good Ol' Daze, a bit nostalgic, as threatening as My Weekly Reader.
What were his qualifications? Hale has eight children and OJ, just like Otten.
The current issue does not mention Justification by Faith, the Means of Grace, the efficacy of the Word, Objective Justification, or Subjective Justification.
That is like gardening without tools. Someone could plant some things with bare hands, but it would take a long time.
Terminology is a tool, words to define, support, reject.
Easy To Please is the last new rose of 2020...I think.
We no longer sow weeping. In the early stages of agriculture, some of the grain seed was saved for the next year. What if the crop being sown failed? How can the family and the animals be fed without the grain we are counting on for our lives?
Psalm 126 5 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. 6 He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
I was thinking of the Psalm and hymn while I planted the last new rose for this year.
My great aunt wrote about free land they were given for farming, a bonus to get people settled in Ohio long ago.
Even with free land they could not survive there. The experience was so hard and bitter than her parents never wanted to see it again. My great aunt wanted to go back and talked them into it. Perhaps a child only remembered what was good and loving. Or the parents thought of the baby they lost - I am not sure when that happened. Looking at the carefully wrapped hair was an annual event, which meant a lot to my great aunt.
The Ohio farm failure got them out of Adventism, because they could not raise hogs in Iowa and be good Adventists. The family did well there.
"Behold a Host, Arrayed in White"
by Hans A. Brorson, 1694-1764
Hans Brorson also wrote "I Walk in Danger All the Way." He was a Danish Pietist.
"Behold a Host, Arrayed in White"
by Hans A. Brorson, 1694-1764
1. Behold a host, arrayed in white,
Like thousand snow-clad mountains bright,
With palms they stand. Who is this band
Before the throne of light?
Lo, these are they of glorious fame
Who from the great affliction came
And in the flood of Jesus' blood
Are cleansed from guilt and blame.
Now gathered in the holy place,
Their voices they in worship raise,
Their anthems swell where God doth dwell,
Mid angels' songs of praise.
2. Despised and scorned, they sojourned here;
But now, how glorious they must appear!
Those martyrs stand a priestly band,
God's throne forever near.
So oft, in troubled days gone by,
In anguish they would weep and sigh,
At home above the God of Love
For aye their tears shall dry.
They now enjoy their Sabbath rest,
The paschal banquet of the blest;
The Lamb, their Lord, at festal board
Himself is Host and Guest.
3. Then hail, ye mighty legions, yea,
All hail! Now safe and blest for aye,
And praise the Lord, who with His Word
Sustained you on the way.
Ye did the joys of earth disdain, Ye toiled and sowed in tears and pain. Farewell, now bring your sheaves and sing Salvation's glad refrain.
Swing high your palms, lift up your song,
Yea, make it myriad voices strong,
Eternally shall praise to Thee,
God, and the Lamb belong.
Hymn #656
The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: Revelation 7:13-17
Author: Hans Adolf Brorson, c. 1760
Translated by: composite
Titled: "Den store hvide Flok vi se"
Norwegian folk-tune, c. 1600
Tune: "Great White Host"
Arranged by: Edvard H. Grieg, 1907, ad.
Sometimes the Trumpet Vine flowers are so big, they look like plastic decorations from a party store.
I was going to claim all my vine efforts were failures. I made several attempts late last year, marked them, and wrote them off as bunny food.
But then I looked up into the maple tree in the front yard. That Trumpet Vine was spread out around the tree, going up the trunk, and blooming high above me.
Books are published on vertical gardening, getting as many plants as possible growing up with supports. I did this instead with a lot of tall, perennial plants.
The opposition party is the grassy weed. Mulching does not do the job; plastic collars are the best way to protect flowers while weed-whacking.
Bee Balm - plant it and they will come - bees, butterflies, hummingbirds.
The Military-Gardening Group enjoys watching the development of all the plants from the front porch. They are exquisitely and divinely planned to provide food for the bees, from early spring on.
Everyone's favorite bird needs insects for its diet. I expect to see more hummingbirds feeding as the days stay warm and the garden is packed with flowers -
Hostas
Bee Balm
Mountain Mints
Clethra - the Cinnabon shrub
Dandelions
Butterfly Weed
Shasta Daisies
Roses
Balloon Flowers
Ranger Bob asked, "Where are all the roses from this plant?" I answered, "I cut them for the altar and gave them to you for the cemetery. They bloom better if I harvest them all the time."
As I wrote before, I used to marvel at the way my mother had flowers blooming all through the summer. I created the same effect, just by planting a lot of types for one reason or another.
God has a plan and a calendar for each flower, plant, and creature.
This year began with massive discouragement, the accumulated sorrows of two summers of drenching rain. Nothing stopped the Japanese Beetles and the weather extremes killed off the roses.
I ordered some Veterans Honor roses. The rains came down on them at the start, but the sun began to make them grow too. I had the earliest best roses in years.
Luther said we should just keep doing our tasks and let God sort out the victories.
Butterfly Weed decorates the porch border, a good place to observe the patient bees doing their work.
I am feeling especially optimistic about America. Although there are Herculean efforts to scare everyone, the plans are failing. America caught cabin fever after months of limited freedom and hypoxia from breathing through cotton.
When I am forced, I briefly use the Demshevik mask - covering my mouth and breathing through my nose.
I view China as a giant with a glass jaw -
A fragile economy extended foolishly to create a global empire
The largest dam in the world - Three Gorges - on the brink of failure from shoddy construction and flooding.
Movement of industry back to America where it belongs. I have two friends who lost their factory jobs to China, but I do not know anyone who had Wuhan Flu.
Their ideology is failing while America is asserting its traditional stance - conservative, religious, freedom-loving.
The 5 year plan to suppress and eliminate Trump reminds me of the famous quote from Admiral Yamamoto after Pearl Harbor -
“I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”
Trump and his leadership have motivated perhaps 50 million people to study the issues, so we knew all the players on the top floor of the FBI building before they were ash-canned into history. That never happened before.
Many more sinister characters have been exposed and joined the long grey line into oblivion or prison.
Everyone has access to The Art of War. Why is only one side reading it?
More importantly, why have so many discounted the way God works in history, using the greatest evil to effect the greatest good?
This is Norma Boeckler's garden, and she designed the cover of Creation Gardening.
Ranger Bob was looking at the graphics that repeat on the Bethany video website. He wanted to see the one above.
Later, I had four copies arrive for distribution. One went to a neighbor on the next block. I saved another for PFC, a member of the Military-Gardening Group. Various items pass back and forth, such as the 3D book on the HMS Hood.
"Bob, what do you think of a 3D book on a WWII Japanese sub?" He made a face and said he only liked the Japanese subs that carried airplanes. I said, "OK. I won't let you read my copy I ordered - about a Japanese sub."
Bob said, "You have one coming?" The Hood copy was brand new, very inexpensive, and has exquisite graphics, close ups of every detail on the famous battle cruiser, lost during the battle with the Bismarck.
Bob had his hands on the book for a couple of days. He said before our latest confab on the porch, "Could I borrow a copy for a while? I picked up your gardening book and could not put it down."
Bob got the next book.
Mrs. Ichabod joined us last night as we sipped various drinks on the porch - Brazilian coffee and Diet Pepsi. Veterans Honor rose is often the favorite, but new blooms are opening all the time.
Bee Balm is just starting.
Butterfly Weed is in full bloom.
Joe Pye and Clethra are read to bloom.
Daisies are mostly in flower.
Oriental Lilies have emerged to bloom.
Borage, easily overlooked,is blooming white and blue.
Balloon flowers are showing off.
Hosta flowers attract the hummingbirds.
Bees work over the Butterfly Weed, close to our chairs on the narrow porch. Everyone enjoys watching them work over the blooms.
"Every time is different in this garden," PFC observed.
I said on Sunday that I would elaborate on lessons from my father, Homer Noel Jackson. He was born in 1910 when there was a classical revival. Ancient names sounded classic, but now Homer and Horace are considered rural names from the past - and funny.
Dad grew up on a farm, just like Mom. Both farms failed from FDR's schemes, so both reached adulthood during the Great Depression. It must have been great, because they never stopped talking about.
Dad was obsessive about saving everything that might be useful, and he carried a wad of money in his pocket, like all Depression survivors.
Those people expected to work, felt good about working, and were tough and resilient at the same time. Not working was a sin, and earning money was a day well spent.
Lessons from Hours of Repetition
A lot of work was repetitive, such as the time we sugared and bagged 900 dozen donuts for a money-raising sale at a Roman Catholic Church. Fortunately, I was able to hide evidence of donut breakage by eating the broken pieces.
Research can be tedious at times, and getting things done is often no more than copying and pasting - the Bethany Hymnal Blog - and placing links for Search Engine Optimization.
Quality Parts Management
Melo-Cream donuts were always getting better because Dad insisted on the best ingredients, long before W. Edwards Deming. The shortening, flour, cocoa, vanilla, sugar (cane, not beet), and nuts were the highest quality. My friends from 50 years ago want me to revive Melo-Cream for the cinnamon fries.
Dad got some kind of award, but the newspaper photo showed him looking through the hole of a donut. He loved that shot.
This also applies to theology. If someone constructs a book or article from junk - like carob for chocolate, cheap chemical flavors - the results will always be poor. Why start with the felon CFW Walther when Martin Luther is the greatest Biblical scholar of all time? Do you want a genius baker to make the wedding cake or some friend who makes cement style cakes for a deep discount? Yet people use their friends, relatives, and professors as the greatest authorities on the Word even when against the Word.
This was my first calendar, age 4, and I remember disliking the flour on my face to make me look cute.
This was my last photo-shoot for a calendar, at the nearby apple orchard, holding a Classics Illustrated comic book and my favorite vanilla iced bread donut.
Promotion
Dad was always promoting his products because he said, "I lose 25% of my customer base each year." We had family calendars, paper hats, ads on WQUA, and sponsorship of baseball teams. The WQUA disk jockeys got free donuts and coffee, and the station provided free ads. Dad was considered the other manager of WQUA because Flambo always listened to his advice and took it. Don Nelson told me about that.
Cousin Dean Jacquin wore his Melo-Cream hat for a postcard promotion.
When the Internet became available, I looked for ways to publish, first with websites, then with blogging, later with print on demand books from Lulu and Amazon. The social media allowed me to leverage everything by repeating the same material via links on different platforms, including Facebook. I have also helped promote non-profit activities for free, using the same methods. I showed a small college how to use blogging for world-wide publicity, gaining about 20,000 views for free.
The matches were popular because they were not cheap, crumply ones.
Rev. Charles Willey, Disciples of Christ, the denomination of Donald McGavran, Understanding Church Growth.
Dad Was Active in Church
I remember lots of congregational events at First Christian in Moline, now empty and sold to someone. Dad was an usher and we helped with that. He also made the donuts for their coffee hour.
Someone took this hard, but it is the truth. First Christian - and especially Rev. Willey - were the reasons I became a Lutheran. I asked Lawrence Eyre where he went - Salem Lutheran across the street from FC? - and crossed the street when the family arrived at First Christian.
"Where are you going?" GJ - "Salem Lutheran. I'll walk home."
Right from the start, as a pastor, Church Growth and other pestilences reminded me of Rev. Willey at First Christian. He was always tan, always smiling, and always trying a new gimmick, like arriving in a fire truck with his chaplain's white hat on.
Dad and Mom died as conservative Lutherans.
I gave a talk at the Ohio Conference, WELS, where I asked about using the Deming theory instead of Church Growth. "Why not start with Luther and the Book of Concord?" That was the equivalent of asking for the Left Foot of Fellowship.
Independent Little Business - Long-Lasting
Dad started Melo-Cream in the Depression with his brother, then bought him out and continued. After decades, he sold his recipes to Hasty Tasty, but continued making candy on his own! He never changed his method of preparing food, so it remains a legend among the Moliners who enjoyed it.
That is all we need to do, keep emphasizing the best when everyone wants to cheapen the product to make a few more dollars. That matters the most when it comes to eternal values and the treasure of the Gospel.
Is it possible that McCain helped Al Barry and Matt the Fatt get elected by appealing, chameleon-like, to the Romanists, the Seminexers, and the Bronze Age Otten bunch - all at the same time? McCain's Roman Catholic training was perfect for Missouri politics, where pastors pope and semi-pope regularly.
Compare the following
to what we are witnessing today.
Like Fascism and
Nazism, Roman Catholicism will use science when, but only
when, it suits its purposes. Just as its ‘leadership
principle’ was the groundwork of Nazism — as Goering
testified at the Nuremberg trials last March 14 —
so too were its censorship and Inquisition methods, its book
burnings and other means for the repression of individual
thought and scientific progress. Hitler himself, in Mein
Kampf, laid down the principle that, “The greatness
of every powerful organization… is rooted in the religious
fanaticism with which it intolerably enforces itself against
everything else, fanatically convinced of its own right.”
Further on in the same book (p. 882) he says:
McCain defended Objective Justification by quoting the LCMS professor who penned this drivel and later joined Rome, Edward Preuss.
“Here too one can
learn from the Catholic church. Although its structure of
doctrines in many instances collides, quite unnecessarily,
with exact science and research, yet it is unwilling to
sacrifice even one little syllable of its dogmas. It has
rightly recognized that its irresistibility does not lie in a
more or less great adjustment to the scientific results of the
moment… but rather in a strict adherence to dogmas… Today
therefore the Catholic church stands firmer than ever.”
From “The Roman
Catholic Church and Science” by JJ Murphy. Emphasis added.
We know McCain was the secret agent who forwarded DP Al Barry's material to Otten for early publication. Both pastors denied they were in cahoots while bragging to me that they were. Did McCain arrange or smooth the way for Matt the Fatt to sing Otten's praises when running for LCMS prez?
"We were wondering how we could improve the award-winning Easy-To-Love® collection – the best true rose collection containing fully petaled varieties with very good disease resistance. Well, it's quite simple! We've added a missing color to the collection with the pink flowering variety Easy To Please. Just like its name, this floribunda will please everyone! Want more bang for your bloom? With Easy To Please, not only are you getting a high performing rose in multiple climates, but you are also getting a multitude of classic spiraled flowers on a bush for which the disease resistance surpasses many landscape Shrubs. What else are we missing to make this rose a crowd pleaser? Nothing, as a moderate clove fragrance completes this SUPER flowerful, upright and vigorous plant to near perfection!"
Many of the roses bought were grown at Weeks, a big wholesaler for roses. The rainbow selections I get often have the Weeks tags on them. I get great roses at a big discount, plus an introduction to a new variety that may be spectacular.
Between today and tomorrow, we should have plenty of rain. I have bare root roses sitting in rainwater buckets. They could stay that way for a long time, but that also means keeping the water level even and not letting the roots get established.
Be back soon...
And I am back.
I found two places in the backyard garden for Heirloom (purple) and Julia Childs (yellow).
Another good place was hard as a rock - clay soil, dry. Rain would be coming along, so I decided to let the last three roses soak in rainwater.
Sassy had an overnight with Ranger Bob and she was due to come home. I walked down to fetch her, and she began telling me off. I sat down on the floor at Bob's and said to her, "You need your tummy rub!" She enjoyed that so much, even though Bob doted on her. Yesterday, his friend's wife guessed the same = and I watched Sassy's delighted face as she massaged the dog and talked to her.
When we got home (two houses away), Sassy took her spot on the bed and I went back to the roses and patio. I doubled the patio size by shoveling the mulch off and putting in metal sides to keep soil and debris away from the door and kitchen floor. Sunflower seed leftovers are very prone to come inside on five feet (my two and Sassy's three).
Here are the steps in bare root rose planting:
I soak them in rainwater or stored water, letting the branches stay out of the water (most of the time. The soaking roses can get sunshine and grow green leaves this way.
I plant on the east side of the house, which prevents afternoon baking. The west side is good when the roses get sun but not too much. North is generally too shady and south is too sunny.
I prune the branches somewhat and the roots a little. I take off anything discolored on the branches. That can happen after planting, so I clip that too. ROSES LOVE PRUNING.
I often fill the hole with upside-down sod, a treasure chest of bugs, minerals, fungus, and organic matter.
I used a $1.88 bag of Peat Humus as the top layer, which the soil creatures will pull down for the rose and themselves. That is a ruinous cost, almost a dollar a rose!
I used about 1/3 of a bag of shredded Cyprus wood as mulch on top of each rose, allowing sun for the branches.
I had barrels of rainwater, so I watered the two rose locations liberally.
Julia Child Rose - was I looking for this? No. It came in rainbow selection, free shipping.
"Just before our wonderful American icon left us, she selected this exceptional rose to bear her name. Julia loved the even butter gold color & the licorice candy fragrance. Yet it wasn't just the old-fashioned blooms that inspired the recipe. The perfectly rounded habit, super glossy leaves & great disease resistance finish off the dish. An awesome AARS award winner—a right & proper honor for a dear friend. Consistent, hardy & floriferous in all climates. Very disease resistant. Available budded & own-root."
This is the way I would look if I had my own John Deere tractor.
The Bee Balm is blooming now, and the bees are balmy with all the pollen they gather. The Shasta Daisies changed from little weaklings into large blooming clumps, with aphid-killing flies on them.
Next to bloom will be the Joe Pye Weeds and the two Clethra shrubs (aka Summer Sweet, Sugar Spice), both superb at attracting pollinators and butterflies.
We definitely have a vertical garden, with a lot of roses, Joe Pye, Bee Balm, and tall plants - more in the 5 foot plus category.
So I decided to pursue that and make the central part of the garden all Daffodils for the early spring and tall plants - like Clethra - afterwards.
I can protect plants with collars and weed-whack the grassy weeds.
Sadly (!) I will have roses in the back. I have found that having the plants close is more fun than tripping through a garden to reach distant, neglected plants.
Julia Childs Rose looks like a winner. This one is soaking in rainwater, hoping to be planted before it rains again.
