We have grown many pink roses, from the very pale Bride's Dream, to the pink and white Falling in Love, to the deepest tones of Pink Peace.
Nothing compares to the glow of Queen Elizabeth, even though the others are praiseworthy and loved by many recipients. Most roses do not last in their popularity, because some flaw is discovered or tastes change. Queen Elizabeth has remained popular since it was developed in 1954.
All About Rose Gardening:
Lovely pink roses on the Queen Elizabeth Rose, makes this hardy Grandiflora rose very popular, and considered the best in it's class.
The pure, soft pink blooms of the Queen Elizabeth are perfect! They are the closest thing to a Hybrid Tea rose that I can grow in my area. I have two in my garden, and I simply LOVE them!
This Grandiflora is a must if you have a cutting garden! The beautiful flowers grow on long straight stems, and have a delightful sweet scent.
Keep it deadheaded to encourage more blooms.The bush is also very disease resistant.
Our summer drought created a quandary. I needed rainwater to encourage more blooms, but I quickly ran out of it when I needed it the most. When fall rains drenched the bushes and I added the stored rainwater, the perfect blend of water with usable nitrogen gave the roses a boost for blooming without the side-effects of tapwater or the detrimental effects of man-made fertilizer.
Rainwater is definitely a feature of Creation. The clash of warm and cold fronts pulls moisture from the clouds in the form of snow, which melts on its way down to us. Lightning fixes nitrogen, an abundant gas, but useless until it transforms into a compound plants can use. Much of this fixation is done in the soil by legumes, more precisely, by bacteria that live on the roots of legumes (bean family).
Some downplay the value of nitrogen in rainwater, but every gardener and farmer loves a long, soaking rain that greens up all plant life and washes the dust from plants and trees. How can anyone calculate the tons of fertilizer coming down, so evenly distributed and instantly available?
I have learned to put five gallons of rainwater at a time on a rose bush, when I have stored some. The barrels have grown in number and capacity, because the results are evident and impossible to reproduce.
Three Veterans Honor roses, one Fragrant Cloud, two Queen Elizabeth, and one Pope John Paul II - all combine a fragrance so strong - almost choking in the hallway, like a closed room full of Easter lilies, but not as heavy and sweet.
Heavy rains and added rain from the barrels gave us this harvest and even more roses, still forming and blooming in abundance.
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| From Norma Boeckler |
If rainwater is so effective, how much more is the Word of God? Rain is the result of Creation, but Creation itself began with the Word of God. "All things were created through Him, and nothing was created apart from Him." (John 1)
Everyone would love rainwater from a special tap, going back to the old days when people stored rain and pumped it out when needed. Constantinople had vast storage areas for water underneath the city, to protect them against hard times and invasions. Jerusalem likewise was blessed with water sources and also engineered in ancient days to protect its water.
If water is so necessary and life-giving, always effective, then the Word of God is even more so, since all blessings flow from the Mouth of God. If God commands, it is so, no matter what man thinks, imagines, or decides. The Word turned water into the finest wine, stilled the storm, and raised Lazarus from death itself. Jesus stopped a funeral procession and gave a widow's only son back to her. He let the mourners laugh at Him, just before He gave a little girl back to her parents, no longer dead but living.
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| From Norma Boeckler |
