Decobug, You are right, it's agonizing to wait for the first flowers to open, I just didn't expect all that excitement so early :) Greenheaven, Thank you for the compliment on my GZ foliage. GZ was very healthy looking from the day # one in my garden, no single leaf was affected by black spot or other diseases all season long (and I did not spray GZ on purpose to verify if it was really disease-resistant as J&P claimed). The old foliage was still attractive and completely clean last winter and in early spring. It just turned blue-ish green color in winter, and it was strange to see GZ covered with nice-looking foliage while every rose in my garden was bare or hanging on some old and ugly looking leaves. I wish I took a picture of GZ in February or early March. Ramblinrosez, I wish I could say I provided a good care to GZ, but I have to admit it was neglected most of the summer. When the rose arrived, I did not have any decent spot in the garden available, so I planted GZ in a 3-gallon pot. Because I am not good at taking care of potted plants in summer, in July I planted GZ in the ground, in a temporary spot, and not the best one, to be honest. And only in late fall I finally granted my GZ a permanent residence in my garden. I think I did not feed this rose at all last year because of constant moving it around the garden, and for sure I did not water it enough in July-September 2007. Very tough childhood. Probably, GZ is genetically healthy and vigorous. This spring Golden Zest gets as much attention as any other rose in my garden. I feed my roses with Rose Tone, sometimes with kelp & fish emulsion, and they are all mulched with mushroom compost every spring. Canadian_rose, Wow, GZ and her 11 sisters, it sounds great! If you like how healthy and vibrant my GZ looks, youÂve got to take a look at the pictures of a FANTASTIC GZ that Huttnem posted on the Rose Gallery! I hope my GZ will become a blooming maniac as HuttnemÂs in a couple of years too! Triple b, Your roses will wake up and leaf out very soon in no time. Until then, you can enjoy lots of other amazing things that happen only this time of the year. Spring brings us the excitement of watching how plants that are dormant in winter start showing signs of life... forsythias, crocuses, daffodils, azaleas, tulips, and so on. duchesse_nalabama I agree it is lots of fun waiting for the first buds to open, and not just on roses, but on spring blooming plants too. So far, I have been occupied with watching my favorite everchanging tulips, QueenÂs Castle. They start white and gradually become hot pink. I apologize for posting non-rose pictures on the Rose Forum; I am still in the spring mood!

Agree on the Safari Primrose, although this is my first year with the 'primrose' ones specifically. Can't wait to see that color. But I've had the Safari mix previously, and I do like the semi-double blooms. Yep, they'll go right through frost for you. Cosmos. I think I've recommended them to death, but I've got a shorter (30") "Gazebo" percolating in a few containers right now to replace the poopy poppies later on. They'll take that bed right through October here. My poppies are doing 'ok' despite the constant barrage of rain here. I think I'll end up pulling them out earlier than usual this year, simply because there are too many, and they are blooming shorter & smaller because of it. I'm going to pull out a lot of the soil in the bed this year, and replace it with some new compost and start over so they aren't as thick next year to make for a taller/better show. But they're still pretty...from far away. Just don't get up close & personal (ick!). I've had nasturtiums keel on me like that before, but I don't have an answer for you as to why. Perhaps the cutworm diagnosis was right. Zinnia will be fine til just about frost, too...keep them cut to keep the show going. Coreopsis and Blanketflower are also the last to go around my yard. Keep the coreopsis deadheaded...they'll get all stringy with dead blooms on you and go to seed, but they'll stick around for the duration.

In Luke and Matthew the conception of Jesus is the virginal conception. In Matthew the wording that Joseph did not have sexual relations with Mary until after the birth of Jesus literally means Mary was not a life long virgin. Jews of that period other than sone ofcthe Essenes did not espouse virginity as a physical social or spiritual goal. The term immaculate conception refers to Mary conceived in the womb of her mother Anna without original sin. Anna and Joachim had sexual relations in order to conceive Mary after years of infertility. This story is not in the Bible. Much of it comes from the Protevangelion of James. The dogma developed later in the Middle Ages but was not made official until the mid 19th century. Many people confuse the virginal conception with the immaculate conception. Sorry for going way off topic.

Hi @dedtired I'm an ophthalmologist. If you are experiencing frequent flashes of light/ new floaters/ shadow or veil blocking your vision (cover each eye while looking at letters/numbers at a distance and at 16 inches like a store receipt while wearing eye prescription glasses if needed for correction of vision ) any eye injury, sudden loss of vision or continuous persistent inner eye pain then absolutely do seek urgent care/ER ASAP to be seen by an on-call eye-specialist right away. If your condition is worsening or you'd like a peace of mind seek any eye care professional like an Optometrist who would be able to determine the urgency to see an Ophthalmologist. Medical eye care may be billed to medical insurance as long as the Eye care office bills medically. Some Optometry offices do bill medical insurances while some other Optometry offices only bill "vision" insurance which covers an eye exam to determine the condition of your eye health however no medical treatment (such as laser, surgery however some states do have licensed Optometrists who do perform laser & some superficial surgery and all states have licensed Optometrists who prescribe oral and topical medications.) It is always best to have an eye exam yearly for preventing vision loss. Hopefully you are visiting a dental office frequently as well. We unfortunatly take our vision for granted. HTH and to everyone reading this, book an eye exam online !