Changing the Schedule - Creation Gardening Is Next

Norma Boeckler designed this cover,
with a photograph from her garden.

My Moline classmates and Facebook friends have been commenting on the posts about roses and asking for the gardening book, so I am finishing Creation Gardening as quickly as I can. The Lost Dutchman's Goldmine will be completed later.

The gardening book will be in full color, including the interior, and available at the author's price.

Norma Boeckler has published a number of books 
and is now helping others complete theirs.

Unusual Rose Choices - Make the Neighbors Beg for More

Double Delight must be ordered early,
because the supplies keep getting sold out.

My high school classmate wanted to know how to find a family favorite, an antique rose named Seven Sisters. I found it quickly through the Net and advised her, "Order online, because that is the only way to get the roses you want."

A nearby nursery will probably have KnockOuts, because they are so popular right now, but only in the numbers they care to order. The same is true of hybrid tea roses, the favorite ones selling out fast.

I am listing a few names to get people thinking about what they want to plant.

Double Delight is varied in color and also fragrant. Treated well, the rose really produces blooms. In New Ulm, I dedicated one planting area to Double Delight, daffodils,and garlic chives, with wood mulch over the entire planter. I had about six of the rose bushes in one area, and everyone enjoyed the display.

 Barbra Streisand

Mixing up colors is fun, so Barbra Streisand adds a distinct shift toward lavender and purple. Big Purple is another possibility. I planted Streisand in the fence garden, and the rose is always quick to bloom.

 Paradise

As one friend warned me, "Roses should not be planted under a maple tree." I suggested the pertinent facts to Mrs. Ichabod, but she wanted 20 $5 roses planted there. Our Army Ranger neighbor pruned the maple, decimating it like it was an enemy regiment. All the roses have done well there, getting early morning and mid-morning sun. Paradise blooms again as soon as I cut blooms.

Digging in roses where shallow rose roots dominate the surface - that is not an experience I wish to repeat. However, it worked well, because of previous loads of mushroom compost, red wiggler earthworms, and shredded wood mulch.

Fragrant Cloud is beautiful in form, powerfully fragrant,
and difficult to define in color.

The two most fragrant roses I have grown are Mr. Lincoln and Fragrant Cloud. Stinkin' Lincoln is even stronger in scent than Fragrant Cloud. The old favorite is Mr. Lincoln, which is large fast growing, needing a lot of elbow room. Fragrant Cloud is closer to normal in growth, offering many potent blooms through the summer. The color is not so normal. One magazine called it "brick," and it is brickish but not the common dull color of bricks. When I see the buds forming, there is a red that does not want to be pure red, a color so distinct it should be called fragrant-cloudish. FC is shorter in stem length, ideal for picking the best blooms for individual bud vases.

 Orange is a difficult flavor to reproduce,
a difficult color in roses.
Easy Does It roses start with the orange range of colors,
produce furiously, and have strong stems for cutting.

Floribundas are known for abundant flowers, and Easy Does It delivers plenty of them.

Best and lasting blooms in the vase:

• Veterans' Honor
• Tropicana
• Falling in Love

Fragrance:

• Mr. Lincoln
• Fragrant Cloud
• Double Delight

Color or contrast in the garden:

• Easy Does It
• Pope John Paul II
• Paradise

Easy care pinks, but not everyone's choice:

• Queen Elizabeth
• Pink KnockOut
• Pink Peace
• Bride's Dream

California Dreamin' offers a
palette of soft colors.

Voice Cracking, "I Like All of Them." Today's Roses for North Arkansas Chiropractic

 Tropicana is another long-lasting rose
for arrangements.

Today we brought roses to our chiro. The receptionist is the chiro's mother-in-law, and we often speak about gardening. She really likes purple roses, so I make an effort to get one into the vases. When I pointed out her favorite color, she said, her voice cracking, "I like them all."

Most people say the same thing. I was having trouble getting good rose photos while they were still attached. I learned quickly enough that the Canon will expertly balance light and focus in close-ups in the vase. Similar casual shots on the plant are blurred from the breezes, including my attempts to make them hold still by grasping the stem.

Someone described KnockOuts as "inexpensive roses," but I paid full-price for mine. They are fast-blooming roses, fairly small, no fragrant, but enormously productive when treated right (water and prune). Most people do not prune them, which means they look like gigantic weeds most of the time.

True, KnockOuts are great for color when the roses are left on the plant, but regular pruning is the key for constant color.

Today I will gather the best KnockOuts and put them in their own vase. They have long stems and beautifully formed blooms. I have a large number of pink doubles and red doubles.

I enjoy pruning and I learned, as others have, that the number of snips increases as I do the work. I used to prune mesquite in Phoenix. A few intended prunes ended up a mountain of branches. The same is true of roses, because many death-stars (no petals left, five sepals forming a star) are lurking in the plant.

Today I am writing first and photographing the results second.

Here are some tips for rose-buying next year.

Pope John Paul II
This is a stunning white, fragrant rose on the bush, but not good for the vase. For contrast and astonishing bloomage, one can hardly beat this rose. I would pick this over KnockOuts for a hedge featuring color. The blooms are larger than KOs and will elicit oohs and ahs.

Pope John Paul II received an honorary doctorate from Notre Dame, so don't mind if I just call him Deuce.

Easy Does It
This orange rose is not pure orange but has a variety of colors in each bloom. The production is equal or better than KnockOuts. The blooms are not as long-lasting as many hybrid teas (Falling in Love, Veterans' Honor) but they are still great in the vase. These are double-duty with very strong stems, something often lacking in good roses. They are large, colorful bushes and could be used as a hedge or just in a group for fun (our future plan).

Mr. Lincoln
Insecure about roses? Nervous about your first trials? Avoid all the others and plant Mr. Lincoln. No rose I have grown is so likely to soar out of the soil and produce large, powerfully perfumed flowers that are classic from bud to fading bloom. Their turn toward blue in the vase is also fascinating.

This is one rose where a single stem can be cut with one large bloom on it. Place it in a bud vase, cut to the right length. That rose alone will fill a room with fragrance faster than any other.

Falling in Love has proven to be thorny, fragrant,
and long lasting. No other rose has so many tough thorns.

Yes and No to Roses

From bud to bloom,
colors and stages of the rose.

Sassy got to meet her old but young friend, Little Almost Eden - when we walked over to the nursery providentially located at the end of our cul-de-sac.

Sassy saw him riding the front end loader with his grampa, so she turned to me, as Sassy does when she wants to see someone. "You want to see him? Let's go." She trotted ahead of me and checked to make sure I was catching up, the reverse of our walks, where I Iook back to find her on the trail of another squirrel.

Little AE and I talked about Sassy's missing leg and how long he had known her. I said, "You met her two years ago and your Mom said you needed a dog. Your dad questioned that, and soon you had Opie." (Opie is the dog who puts his little muzzle in the air and howls for me to pet him.) Grampa said, "He has grown a lot." I agreed, "You are really a big boy now." Little AE grinned and stood taller.

On the way back I scanned the main rose garden for new blooms. Our nights are cold but the days are sunny and in the 70s. The long rain we had is still producing roses.

I had one group in a vase, pictured on top, and I will gather more this morning, after the sun is up. Photographs will follow - so much work. I have to put the flash drive back in the camera, get photographs with auto-lighting and auto-focus, and put the flash drive in the computer's slot again, to view and use them. I am glad for the time I spent in developing black and white photos - digital makes me thankful for the ease and quality of the photos.

Computers break everything down to 1's and 0's, binary digits or bits. The camera records photos the same way and copies the photos a bits on the computer. The Internet  transmits the 1's and 0's so the designated computer can assemble them at the destination.

Matthew 537 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.

But now we live in an age of deceptive language, maximum deniability, and equivocation. Krauth wrote: "Error loves ambiguities."

I have the same reaction to roses as the readers. They stun me every day with their beauty. I never get used to them. Mrs. Ichabod said, "Did you ever dream the roses would be this good?" I said, "I had something in mind, but nothing like this."

I make mistakes with too much water or too little, and some need more attention than they get. Nevertheless, the roses pop out like multi-colored fireworks - reds, oranges, pinks, purples, and whites. I keep thinking in this prolonged summer, "Cut roses and force more growth or let them finish and become dormant?" For now, I am harvesting every rose I can.

The 1's and 0's of computerdom remind me of Creation and Evolution, the two warring philosophies of our age. One or the other explains the data, gathering all the evidence and making sense of the entire file - or server farm full of files. The data  is the same, but the perspective varies. In fact, the perspective can distort the data, deny the facts, and lead to bad mistakes.

My favorite rose question was found on a forum - "I am not getting many blooms. I keep using fertilizer but have no luck. My friends have stopped using fertilizer. Should I switch to their all-natural methods?" The 19th century view of fertilizer as N-P-K made the gardener think the hardware store must be right. The correct blend would give her abundant roses - the facts were starting to wear her down.

Man can pull abundant nitrogen from the atmosphere, change its composition, and make it available to plants. But blind science now realizes this approach is 19th century in origin and 20th century in folly. The 21st century reveals - through science -  the fertilizing efforts of fungi, bacteria, nematodes, and protozoa. Some are starting to admit, the bags of fertilizer hurt the microbes and stunt the growth of the desirable plants.

People state, "Roses are difficult to grow," so I counter their chemical No with Creation's Yes. They could make it difficult with tillers, NPK fertilizer, and various theories of yesteryear. Our helper soaked his roses with fungicide to make black spot go away - and it did. He saw it come back again. My response, "I love fungus and want more of it. I gather rotten wood falling from trees and add it to the garden."

I make rose production easy by using the engineering genius of Creation. If the revelation of God's Creation - in Genesis 1, John 1, and many Scriptures - is true, then God's creatures will do 99+% of the work.  The soil is an essential part of this Creation, and the engineering is flawless, a mechanism for growth and self-repair.

 The base of the Crepe Myrtle bush always
enjoys a healthy and nutritious layer of organic matter
for the winter. Wood mulch, pine needles, and leaves
will pile up to feed a soil population
that will feed the roots all summer.

The Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Trinity, 2016

The Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Trinity, 2016

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

Bethany Lutheran Church, 10 AM Central Time

The Hymn #514      God Moves in a Mysterious Way                   

The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual       

The Gospel              

Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed             p. 22

The Sermon Hymn #347       Jesus Priceless Treasure

Comfort from the Apostle

The Communion Hymn #246              Holy, Holy, Holy 

The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #649           Jesus Savior Pilot Me  

KJV 1 Thessalonians 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent [precede] them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

KJV Matthew 24:15 

When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: 17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: 21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. 23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. 24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 25 Behold, I have told you before. 26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. 27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

 

Comfort from the Apostle

KJV 1 Thessalonians 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 

This letter from Paul is considered his first one that we have. The problem addressed here is that people had questions and anxieties about the end of time. One issue was about people dying before the return of Christ. In that mood of uncertainty and expectation, the loss of loved ones grieved them. Now we have the reverse, as if the world will continue forever. One religious writer said the world was ending and wrote a best-seller - The Late, Great Planet Earth. He bought a Mercedes-Benz dealership, which  is more of a way to prepare forever, since the cars last so long.

However, we have the same issues of grief, since we have more loved ones gone, friends and family, the longer we live. Like all the great passages in the New Testament, these memorable verses come from a problem which was painful then and remain so now. Grief is no less an issue for us now than it was then, and it may be compounded because our culture lives in a state of denial. In fact, that has caused a number of famous studies and works, scholarly and popular, from Freud, who had unresolved grief to the best seller called The Denial of Death.

When an Augustana professor wrote a book called Good Grief, people thought the title was strangely contradictory, but it became a perpetual best-seller in the Lutheran market.

14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 

This clause - if we believe - should not be overlooked. All the apostates warn us that nothing should be tied to faith, because that denies the glory of God. That strange claim really comes from Calvin (founder, Presbyterian Church and other Reformed denominations) - the idea being God is Sovereign. That is a clever ruse, because God pledges His work tied directly to His Word (Isaiah 55), so one cannot bypass the direct statements of the Bible for a pious, fatuous claim.

If we believe - that is an important warning and source of comfort. Abraham is the Father of Faith, because he believed God's Promises. Like others, I thought, "Believed in having children and then enormous numbers after? How is that faith in Christ?" The reason that Abraham was justified is this - he believed in everything included in that Promise, because that Promise included Jesus Christ and all the multitudes of followers who would be part of that great Kingdom through faith.

The Calvinists may have good intentions but they rationalistic foundation leads to pure rationalism and Unitarianism. In fact, many quasi-Christian cults are based on Calvinism and so is modern mainline apostasy. I noticed and learned that all modern theologians (with few exceptions) warn against "making faith a contingency" because that detracts from God's grace. Of course, most people will scoff at that claim, which is absurd and contradictory. Why bother to write thousands of pages of theology? Why write as if faith matters some times, but not in the most basic way?

Paul warns - if we believe. Many do lose faith in the Word, and they lose faith in the grace of God. We worship and study the Word because our fragile nature leads us away from faith. As one mother said about taking herself and her children to church, "I'll pray about it." The longer we are away from the Means of Grace (John 15), the less we trust in Him and the more we trust in ourselves or others, as if we are our own saviors.

If we believe in this greatest miracle of all, that God became man, died for our sins, and rose from death, then we will share in the glory of His return and see that those who died before us are with Him also.

15 For this we say unto you by the Word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent [precede] them which are asleep. 

By the Word of the Lord is Jesus' direct teaching to Paul, so that people realize it is not his speculation. So many crazy ideas would be ended if people relied on the Word instead of the imaginations of false teachers. God does not give us many details about the end, except to tell us we do not know the time. Because of that and relatively few details about eternal life, the false teachers jump in and create more stories that a complete set of Mark Twain, but not as amusing. They lead people astray and say, "Listen to me!" instead of the Word.

Those who are alive at the Return of Christ will see these Promises fulfilled, and they will see sights that no one has ever seen or even imagined. 

16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 

Here is the summary, very brief and concise for something so glorious. As suggested in the verse before, the dead in Christ (believers only) will rise first. In the New Testament, "in Christ" only refers to believers, never to unbelievers. The world is not "in Christ," as claimed by last's year's Emmaus Conference. It is blasphemy to teach such nonsense, and yet the LCMS-ELS-WELS all agree with ELCA on this foundational claim of Unitarianism.

Some phrases are synonymous - the dead in Christ are believers who died earlier. They are also saints (holy), as are all those who believe in Christ. They are the righteous, because in faith they received the righteousness of Christ. 

Pietism and many variations make it seem like this - the really bad people are in Hell and the really good are in Heaven. That leads people to think about salvation as works, earned by works, avoiding sin. That also makes them categorize sins as definitely sending people to Hell, so one must avoid those people, as the Pharisees did. 

However the Scriptures teach that believers are in Heaven and non-believers in Hell. To say otherwise is a denying the importance of faith in Christ.

and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 

This is the great message of comfort in this passage, that whether living or in eternal life, we are with Christ and not truly separated from loved ones. That means we grieve, but in a healthy way, with faith in Christ and the benefits of belonging to Him.

18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Believers have a role in comforting others with this comfort, as Paul urged in Corinthians. This is one of our most important duties as believers in a world denying faith and denying grief. People do strange things in their avoidance. Don't talk about it - it's upsetting. Get over it. Don't make me upset about my own grief. And this comes from people with a Christian background. Nothing is better than acknowledging the grief and the Faith that brings us comfort.

Winter Protection for Roses - Easily Done. Warmth and Fertlizer Fall from the Sky

This is an earthworm's view of a rose.
"You did good work, son."

One reader asked about growing roses in Wisconsin. My response was, "I grew them without problems in Minnesota."

Roses are more like peas, not very happy in hot dry weather,  but productive in cool, wet weather. Peas also do well in Minnesota. We used to wave hello to the Jolly Green Giant on the way to Minneapolis and then to the Little Green Sprout nearby. LeSueur Valley is loaded with peas.

I used to astonish people by planting peas in Midland before the last snow. "Snow peas," I explained. Chemists are not necessarily up to date in botany,  I found out.

Which view is best?

For some reason, people cannot grasp that God engineered many plants for cold weather, so they thrive in the cold. Spinach and peas are champions for early planting  - and there are many more in that category.

The main concern with roses is harsh winter penetrating the soil and killing the bud union, where the hybrid upper part is grafted to the wild rose base. However, God has provided a solution, which I used in New Ulm. I circled the rose bed with chicken wire and filled it up with autumn leaves, four feet high. The interlocking leaves create air voids within the pile, perfect insulation to hold in warmth and keep back the drying, frost-biting winds. We had 60 below wind chill one winter. The roses were fine.

Secondly, the leaves keep the soil creatures active longer in the fall and start them earlier in the spring, to help pull the organic matter into the soil. The melting snow and early rains feed this on the spot composting. I found that the leaves matted down and provided great mulch for spring, so I did not rake the leaves away at all.

Readers will remember, I hope, that leaves were knee-high in my backyard last fall. They were almost as high in early spring. As spring progressed and composting took place on the spot, the entire area consumed the leaves until only a thin layer on top of the cardboard at the end of summer. Heavily watered areas sprouted weeds through the cardboard and leaves, but we covered them with new cardboard, waiting for the promised but not yet fallen leaves.

If roses are still mostly covered up in spring, the start of new growth is the sign that leaves can be pulled away somewhat. However, I suggest just pulling them back a bit to let more sun in. The impact of warmth and spring rains on composting is impressive, especially when the leaves had all winter to break down.

Fungus and bacteria are two of the microbes that serve the plant kingdom by breaking down organic matter into useful chemicals for the roots to take up. Chemical gardeners scoff at leaves, "Not enough N-P-K, too much carbon." But carbon is the element fungi need to grow, and they are so addicted they give up any chemical needed - even water - to get their carbon fix.

The white reverse of the pink Falling in Love rose
creates a striped look in the bud,
then a glow to show off the dominant color.
The tiny spider patrols the bloom to capture pests.

So I look forward to neighbors bagging up their leaves to add to my yard, even though I have trees of my own and a blanket of leaves. But I want several quilts of leaves, so I keep my eyes on the curbs for more.

Today I plan to rake needles from my neighbor's pine trees. She uses them for mulch, too, but the trees outproduce her needs and become an annoyance. I will use them to cover parts of the maple tree rose garden that are too eager to support random weeds and the trees planted by squirrels.

 Fragrant Cloud enjoys plenty of rainfall
and stored rainwater.

Veterans' Day - Veterans' Honor Rose

Veterans' Honor rose has been called
the ultimate red rose, a good way to remember
and thank our military service members.

Veterans' Day reminds me of our friend in Columbus who ran out of the LST for each beach landing in the Pacific, carrying a smoke pot to disguise and protect his fellow soldiers. Norm Woehrle is still alive, in his 90s.

I think of classmates from Moline, living and dead, who served in Viet Nam.

At the reunion previous to the 50th, we had dinner with Dave and Linda Pearson. He had a previous health crisis and passed into eternal life not long after that.

Recently, cousin Peter Ellenberger was honored by his peers in the military, just weeks before he passed away. Phone calls to Pete and Helene were routinely fun, even though he had many health problems. We are so glad he was so pleasantly surprised and uplifted by those in uniform.

Someone - not I - won a trophy with
these Veterans' Honor roses.

Now on Amazon Introduction to the Christian Faith: Jesus Priceless Treasure. Kindle Edition Available

Introduction to the Christian Faith - Print Edition.
Introduction to the Christian Faith - Kindle E-book Edition

I am moving most of the Lulu books over to Amazon. This is the Amazon author page for Gregory L. Jackson. The author page needs some revising, but that will have to wait.

This book was originally published with the current title as the subtitle, the sub-title as the title. Although that causes a bit of confusion, the fact is, the Net picks up on the main title, so I decided to feature the substance of the book, a basic book about the Christian Faith.

For those who like Kindle for their mobile devices and quoting, the best approach is to get Kindle Unlimited for $10 a month and download all the Kindle books you want, even mine, for that tiny sum. $10 a month covers every book listed under Kindle Unlimited - and include all mine in that category.

These publications do not generate direct cash for me. I built in $1 profit for each one to keep prices low, as my personal email suggests - edlp - Every Day Low Prices. At the moment I am putting together three boxes of books to give away to people who showed an interest in my books and some classic Lutheran books.

The goal is to influence others to concentrate on reliable Bibles - like the KJV family - and the best Gospel theologians - Luther, Melanchthon, and Chemnitz.

Introduction to the Christian Faith
A sainted member of Bethany Lutheran Church asked me to write a book about the basics of the Christian faith, so that anyone could study it and get a Scriptural understanding of Christianity.

My other books are about specific topics, such as the efficacy of the Word and Creation. Introduction to the Christian Faith is more general and basic, centered on the Person and work of Jesus Christ the Savior.

Each section deals with Scripture and many include hymn quotations as well.

The print is large and the book is illustrated by Norma Boeckler.

The Next Two Books
I am finishing The Lost Dutchman's Goldmine and then completing Creation Gardening.

I am planning some shorter works in the future, on single topics, like commercialism in the church, the Heidelberg Disputation, 1518, etc.

Free and Low-Cost Books
I favor sending books to people at the astonishingly low author's price, especially in bulk. I can complete an order of various titles, various numbers of each book, in a few minutes. They arrive faster than Amazon promises. Introduction to the Christian Faith is only $3.50 at the author's price.

Those who want to order Christmas gifts might consider ordering via the author's price. Just send an email for an estimate  and mail a check to cover that amount plus shipping.

Free books are given away all the time, because some people have sent gifts to cover free books. The idea is to share printed books, which are kept for a long period of time, and let the Word of God take effect. Matthew 13 has a Parable about the Sower and the Seed, and Paul offered a similar analogy.

I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 1 Corinthians 3:15 KJV

I Had To Harvest a Queen Elizabeth Rose, Came in with Five Other Varieties. November 10, 2016

Falling in Love is harboring a little spider;
no toxins mean the beneficial bugs do the work for me.

Fragrant Cloud is on the lower right:
one bud will fill the room with rose fragrance.

Fragrant Cloud shows off a high-pointed bud and bloom

The group photo has Falling in Love on top,
Veterans Honor, Tropicana, and Barbra Streisand in the back,
Queen Elizabeth in front on the left,
Fragrant Cloud on the lower right.

This is either Barbra Streisand or another purple
rose from the first collection we bought for $8 each.

Collections of roses open up our minds about favorite roses. I have had to itch to grow many varieties, but the best surprises came from three group purchases, sight unseen. The first was a TV offer that included Falling in Love, Easy Does It, and Barbra Streisand.

The other two included Europeana, Bride's Dream, Purple Splash, Hot Cocoa, and some others we love.

Secrets of Growing Roses
I promised FB friends that I would reveal my secrets for growing splendid roses. So here they are, soon to be developed in my upcoming book, Creation Gardening.

The title gives away my secrets hiding in plain sight, like the purloined letter of Sherlock Holmes. Nevertheless, the garden chemical industry and lazy gardening writers have obscured the obvious. I will just outline these secrets for now.

• I assume God created and engineered every single living creature and all elements in our universe, commanding them into existence through His Creating Word - the Logos - as revealed in Genesis 1 and John 1.
• Every living thing has a purpose, so knowing and using this purpose is the way to enjoy beautiful, productive flowers and food plants.
• Killing insects with chemicals means killing all the beneficial bugs and spiders while harming the soil and adding toxins to the water table.
• Leaving pests alone will let the pest-eaters (beneficial bugs, spiders, toads, birds) fill up and reproduce where they are needed most. Very important for roses!
• Killing fungus (blackspot) works as well as killing weeds, but worst of all, kills beneficial fungus in the soil. Not smart.
• Killing all weeds is dumb because weeds can be harnessed to feed and harbor birds. Every weed does something good, but they are not always welcome and can be pulled or covered over for building compost.
• Stored rainwater is a great blessing for all plants, especially roses, so every effort should be made to gather a supply when it rains.

The Four Noble Truths of Rose Gardening

1. Red wiggler earthworms build, tunnel, and mix the soil, allowing water to penetrate more easily and benefit the plants. They should be purchased and added to every lawn and garden.
2. Organic mulch improves soil, turns into compost on the spot, holds water, harbors beneficial bugs and spiders, and prevents wind erosion. 
3. Pruning follows the truth of John 15:1-10. The deadwood must be cut away. The productive branches must be trimmed to make them even more productive. Lazy non-pruners put their roses to sleep by letting them go to seed. 
4. Roses are not a member of the cactus family, so they are especially vulnerable to drying out or over-watering. They need rainwater first of all, stored water second, and extra watering when those are not available. One good soak a week is necessary.

I ended up with two Hot Cocoa plants for $5 each
last year, when they were in short supply.

Dr. Bruce Church and Brett Meyer on UOJ - From 2010

bruce-church (http://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Seminary Costs Compared - Missouri Leads With Most...":

The seminaries of the ELS, WELS and LCMS, remind me a little of Scientology in that they think their Waltherian doctrine is soooo much better than all other doctrinal systems, including that of other Lutherans, that students ought to pay a pretty penny to learn it. CG doctrine and practice is just another layer of Gnostic secrets that makes LCMS seminaries worthy of being 9th and 11th most expensive in N America, and the ELS and WELS unaccredited seminaries worthy of being more pricey than the average accredited seminary in N America.

The "Gnostic Secrets Premium" (GSP) is about $5 grand, and if you want accredited GSP (LCMS), add another $7 grand:

http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2010/09/seminary-costs-compared-missouri-leads.html
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Scientology:
http://www.bible.ca/scientology-gnostic-roots.htm

A religion where you pay to learn secret knowledge that saves you!!!

Scroll down/search for "picture from a Scientology book" and read:
http://zombietime.com/mohammed_image_archive/misc_mo/

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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Sloppy Synod Sermon":

Pastor Samelson states, "But that forgiveness doesn't do me, you, or my neighbor any good without faith"

This UOJ statement that Pastor Samelson regurgitates for spiritual enlightenment is in the same spirit as a secular backwards compliment.

Note that UOJ has God forgiving the whole unbelieving world of their sins but it isn't true and doesn't do them any good unless they believe it. The Triune God who created the world in a Word. Who speaks of what isn't and it is. Who said "Let there be ..." and it was. That same Triune God has in a Word declared the whole unbelieving world forgiven. But it doesn't benefit them unless they believe they're forgiven. UOJ teaches that God declared the whole unbelieving world forgiven of all sin, righteous in Christ, children of the Almighty God, justified and guiltless in His sight - and yet they aren't unless He calls them to believe that they already are. And that faith they use to believe they're already forgiven children of God doesn't do anything but accept that it's true.

UOJists claim that there's only certainty and comfort in Objective Justification as the UOJ doctrine teaches. It's in fact the opposite. The same God who declares them fogiven of all sin when they believe it is the same God who declared them forgiven of all sin while they were unbelievers and it wasn't true then. It didn't benefit them when God declared them forgiven before - how can you be sure it benefits you now - especially since nothing changes through faith. Remember, UOJ teaches faith doesn't do anything but accept what was already declared to be true.

Note that UOJ teaches if faith justifies, if faith does anything to make something a reality (justification of the sinner through the righteousness of Christ) then faith is a work of man and synergistic. This is a clear admission that UOJ teaches faith is from man and not from the Holy Spirit. An example: Faith is a work of man if it brings anything about that wasn't there before. So they remove the activity of faith and replace it with pure passivity. Their UOJ confession still makes it the work of man. If they truly believed that faith is a work of the Holy Spirit then when shown by Scripture and the Confessions that it is only faith that makes a just man from an unjust man the work would be attributed correctly to the Holy Spirit and not to man. No wonder Baptists Stetzer and Stanley are so attractive to the (W)ELS.

Lutheran Confessions
71] but we maintain this, that properly and truly, by faith itself, we are for Christ's sake accounted righteous, or are acceptable to God. And because "to be justified" means that out of unjust men just men are made, or born again, it means also that they are pronounced or accounted just. For Scripture speaks in both ways. [The term "to be justified" is used in two ways: to denote, being converted or regenerated; again, being accounted righteous. Accordingly we wish first to show this, that faith alone makes of an unjust, a just man, i.e., receives remission of sins".
http://www.bookofconcord.org/defense_4_justification.php

This BOC declaration alone destroys UOJ for those who are truly Confessional Lutherans:
71] but we maintain this, that properly and truly, by faith itself, we are for Christ's sake accounted righteous, or are acceptable to God.

And if you're not Confessional, meaning if you don't have a quia subscription to the Lutheran Confessions, you're not Lutheran. Just sayin'...

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GJ - WELS does not subscribe to the Book of Concord and says so in one of their divinely inspired collections of essays, either the Wauwatosa set or Our Great Heritage. They are not bound by the Confessions or anything else.

Someone would have to purge the pastors of their synod-worship before they could ever deal with justification by faith. Every WELS discussion begins with their own talking points, which define anything following. The Gnostics would be jealous.

Why Roses? Their Blooming Season Is Long and the Flowers Thrill Everyone

Effortless harvesting, if a few small scratches are ignored.

Rose are not quite as easy as those flowering annuals and hardy perennials that people insert into shallow holes. Designing a garden with perennials and annuals is a challenge, but the effect is great all summer.

Nevertheless, roses are quite easy and repay any extra trouble by producing valuable and valued roses for a long time.

Now that the leaves are finally falling and the colors changing in the sunny South, I can see one more reason why roses are so much fun. The normal flowers are almost done. No one prunes mums, which are losing their color and fading away. Nothing else is really colorful and healthy now - except roses. The rest have closed up for the season - Crepe Myrtle, Rose of Sharon, Hyacinths.

Roses are doing well, in spite of cold nights and light morning frosts. Roses have a long growing season. Of course, it is too easy to ask, "Would you rather have a dozen mums, a dozen daisies, or a dozen roses?"

More importantly, roses surprise us all season, from blooming one month after planting a new, bare-root plant, to those late blooming roses. The last rose of summer is difficult to leave on the bush, because the pests are largely gone, the plant is mature, and autumn rains have refreshed the summer-smitten plant.

The pink KnockOuts are fully blooming right now. I can see them from the end of the block. Closer up, Easy Does It and Veterans Honor are blooming. A Queen Elizabeth has reached six feet to produce a solo bloom.

I am no artist, so I let the Creator paint
the landscape for me.

Every day I am in the rose garden, I turn a corner, around the maple or in the far corner, and see a new bloom. Roses are not as thrilling as grandchildren, but they generate the same thrill of seeing something new and different, something so good that it has to be shared with someone.

 A KnockOut double red blooms fast
and fades fast, but lacks nothing in beauty.

For instance, when Team Jackson grilled on my birthday, we had delicious home-made cheesecake instead of ice cream. On the way out the door, grandson Alex said quietly to me, "Will we have ice cream next time?" I am still chuckling about that, one month later. Mrs. Ichabod will hear it several times more and add her mini-conversations.

Roses power through mistakes I have made. I will give up on one that seems to have been neglected too long. Then it comes back with a perfect flower. One rose in a bud vase will trump any other solo flower.

Fragrant Cloud is like incense in the chapel.