I've had a little more time to research this topic, but still may not have the final answer. As best I can tell, the rose as the queen of flowers dates back to Greek/Roman mythology--namely, the stories about Chloris who was called Flora by the Romans. Usually she is considered the goddess of springtime. Part of her story is famously told by Ovid (43 BC Â 17 AD) who notes she was raped by the West Wind (Zephyr) who then married her and pronounced her in charge of all the flowers. In some versions, that translates as "Queen of the Flowers"--but there's the hitch. "Translates." I can't read Ovid in the original, so I don't know if he actually called her that, or if the "queen of flowers" is an English phrasing of Ovid. There is also a second story about Chloris transforming a dead nymph into the first rose, but I can't determine where that story comes from--maybe Ovid also. At any rate, the summary version given repeatedly on the internet is as follows: Chloris is said to have created the first rose. Walking one day in her garden, she came upon a lifeless nymph in a clearing surrounded by forest. She decided to change the girl into a flower to preserve her beauty. Chloris beseeched Aphrodite for help, and the Goddess of Love was kind and gave the nymph a portion of her beauty; Dionysus, the God of Wine, then gave a drop of nectar to give her a pleasurable fragrance, and The Three Graces gave her allure, brilliance and elation. Zephyrus came and blew a clearing in the clouds so that Apollo, the Sun God, could shine upon the nymph and cause her to bloom. And so the Rose was born and was immediately crowned the Queen of Flowers. My main concern about that passage is that no one ever cites a source for it--it is just mindlessly repeated in pretty much the same words used above. So I don't know how authentic the story is or whose language is being used. It's kind of like the continual repetition of the words "queen of flowers" that supposedly Sappho uttered in a four-line verse. The only problem is that Sappho did not say that--that is not her verse. Moral of the story: Lies and errors will be endlessly repeated on the internet, but that doesn't make them any more true. If I had the time and interest, I could go to academic sources and find an excellent translation of Ovid, read it, and thus verify how much of this story is Ovidean--and check several academic commentators on that translation to find out how other experts view it, etc. In other words, this mystery could probably be tracked down--but I don't care to take that much time to confirm the answer, so . . . . Well, at least I tried. Hope that helps someone else pick up the trail. Kate Here is a link that might be useful: Chloris, Queen of Flowers

I love gardenweb! Where else could you find the answer to a question like this? Thank you both so much! Unfortunately, it's not the answer I wanted--it's queen anne's lace--but I'm glad I didn't spend hours transplanting the wrong seedlings! Thanks a lot! Elizabeth

if QAL is a biennial primarily and u had a lot of it flowering the first year after prep work, u see my problem? and now u say u have a goldenrod coming up only 2 years after prep work. i would postulate on a reason for ur situation this way; rototilling did a total soil distruption and chopped up agressive perennials and others roots and stems and rhizomes, etc into a thick biological soup. u then proceded to kill off annuals and perennials with ur apps of round up thruout the growing season. but what may also have happened is that u mix'ed it up too strong and only topkilled some of the stronger and harder to kill longer lived plants vs easily killing shorter to live annuals (and their offspring cuz their annuals) that were easily rounded up. there is also the simple fact that one season of roundup sometimes just plainly doesnt do the trick on many spp. what remains is QAL and other 'stronger' plants. and this is where my original question comes up about what else is lurking there... as to ur comment before about taking out the goldenrod with round up. how and when did u go about doing that? because, not only have u killed that little area of goldenrod (if ur lucky, u killed it...) but u prolly also killed many of the little seedings that are trying to eek out a living under the cover of larger plants; ie ur seeded prairie seedlings. my suggestion is to make sure that u spray the goldenrod whilst in flower with a very fine 1.5% solution on a calm morning after the freeze date or just as the goldenrod is in full hight of flowering. after freeze date is less agressive and full flowering is a more agressive treatment. and as one moves up the agressive scale, one also moves up the side effects of the treatment. thats why i say that one has to pick their battles wisely, because many times the treatment is causing more harm than the surface disease. i would also re-seed these treated areas with the faster growing pioneering plants. because chances are better than not that all that is gonna come up after a spot treatment of a complete killer like round up is more bad stuff because u have already seen what is already in the soil and u have just sprayed away ur 2year old seedlings. round up kills green but not seeds, roots and other would be nastyies. nature abhors a vacuum and sumthing is gonna grow there...if u have 30 years of weed seeds and roots and others vs 1 seeding of prairie that takes 10+yrs to get moving... froggy

Welcome to the forum. I've renovated in the Lower Garden District and our first home was behind Fat Harrys. Sadly, we've left NOLA. But, renovating there is an adventure. Don't forget that you will need to tip the inspector when he does you the courtesy of inspecting the installation of those new on-demand hot water heaters. $20.00 should do it. Number one priority is to take care of any water issues, roof, gutters, drains and foundations. Formosan's are the enemy. Second priority is the electrical. Everything else can wait unless someone is making their debut. Looks like that could be a while. In which case, you can just do a New Orleans paint job:) (You will never understand that unless you have lived in New Orleans.) Plenty of good spots for that Rex memorabilia, too. Can't wait to see what you do to the old girl. Just don't be in too big a hurry to get it all done for the Junior League Tour of Homes. They can wait. If you rush, you make mistakes. Best of luck to you. These are labors of love that should keep you busy for this lifetime and into the next. Boy, this makes me home sick.