ICHABOD, THE GLORY HAS DEPARTED - explores the Age of Apostasy, predicted in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, to attack Objective Faithless Justification, Church Growth Clowns, and their ringmasters. The antidote is trusting the efficacious Word in the Means of Grace. John 16:8. Isaiah 55:8ff. Romans 10. Most readers are WELS, LCMS, ELS, or ELCA. This blog also covers the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, and the National Council of Churches.
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| Slow to bloom - Veterans Honor is dazzling once more. |
Every mention of rain here is accompanied by the Peanut Gallery (Howdy Doody) - who ask and laugh and wonder. The sparse, short rain got the parched stubble wet, some dampness on the soil. Damp, dried up rose blooms are not impressive. Some new ones just started, so there is hope.
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| The Paradise rose in the centeris posed on the hood of a Lincoln Town Car. Easy Does It rose is on the left. |
I found a new way to protect flowers from the devouring weed-eater. I have used plastic collars, but carboard boxes are even better - shorter, flaps easily folded inward, rugged, and soil enriching. The entire yard has been covered with cardboard and wood mulch, one time or another. Rich soil is also loved by weeds, so I circulate among the plants and trim back the weeds and let them rot into the greedy soil, always looking for more organic enrichment.
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| White Knockout roses flourished for a time. White roses are weaker because the redness has been downplayed. |
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| Double red Knockouts were a great way to fill in vases of flowers. We took them in plastic cups to various medical offices. Several doctors said, "You are in another league altogether." Yes - bush league. |
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| These roses were gathered as a favor for a chiropractor's office promotion. The staff loved the bounty of roses. |
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| Notice the fine Limoges rose vase. No wait, that is a soft drink cup. |
Neighbors said, "You are planting roses now?" and "Will they freeze?"
Left unsaid, "Are you crazy?" These are not hybrid tea roses, which are grafted and more easily killed by cold weather. They are Freedom roses from Springhill, my favorite provider, and they only cost $10 each with no shipping fee.
It is the gambling with a purpose fever within me. I like to see how plants turn out, and roses have been a great thrill for many - Queen Elizabeth (the best pink), Veterans Honor (best red, best cut flower), Easy Does It (50 sunset colored and varied blooms at once, becoming long-stemmed besides), Falling in Love (bi-color, fragrant, very thorny).
Each plant wonder is a gamble. Some I never see mature. Others fool me and pop up later with great strength.
I may see Yarrow and Comfrey in my dreams next year. Both are poised to take over swaths of land unless I intervene.
