Today's Old Rose is the repeat-flowering Tea 'Archiduc Joseph' (Nabonnand, 1892). Rose pink cupped double blooms can open peach or copper shades & fade to crimson. Healthy dark green foliage with red tinted stems. A good tea fragrance. Makes a lovely 5ft bush 🌹🌱 #Roses

Today's Old Rose is the richly scented Bourbon 'Boule de Neige' (Lacharme, 1867). Camellia-like double white globular blooms stand on glossy dark green foliage. Mine is climbing around a pillar but doesn't exceed 7ft. Does well in partial shade. Buds are tinged with crimson🌹🌱 #Roses

For #RoseWednesday 🌹 the repeat-flowering 'Quatre Saisons Blanc Mousseux'. An ancient mossy rose which is a natural sport of the Autumn Damask 'Quatre Saisons'. Brownish green moss on stem & bud & a profusion of small double white flowers with a blush tint. Sweet fragrance 🌱 #Roses

The most stunningly fragrant rose in my garden is Hybrid Tea 'Fragonard' (Delbard, 2001). An upright bush with glossy dark green leaves & large double silvery pink blooms whose intense rich fruity old rose perfume scents the whole garden around it. Fabulous as a cut flower.🌹🌱 #Roses

A watched tomato never ripens 🌱🍅

First of the courgettes. My favourite Trieste White (a Cousa type zucchini) & Goldrush 🌱

For #RoseWednesday 🌹 the diminuitive China 'Irène Watts' (Guillot, 1896). Double creamy blooms which open shades of salmon, peach or apricot with a sweet fragrance. A dwarf bush of around 2ft, the leaves may be tinged with bronze. Fabulous for a pot or the front of a border. 🌱 #Roses

Today's Old Rose is the classic Bourbon 'Souvenir de la Malmaison' (Beluze, 1843). Very large pale to blush pink quartered blooms that open flat & are strongly fragrant. A superb, free flowering rose that forms a short bush. Her one weakness is a tendency to ball in the rain. 🌹 #Roses

Today's rose is the superb 'Old Velvet Rose', the Gallica 'Tuscany'. Described by the herbalist John Gerard, 1596 it is dark carmine red to mauve with the gorgeous sculpted petals of the Tudor Rose. To my mind better than its offspring Rivers' Superb Tuscany ('Tuscany Superb').🌹🌱 #Roaes

What big eyes you have

Today's Old Rose is 'Shailer's White Moss' (discovered by Henry Shailer, 1788). A white form of Old Pink Moss (R. centifolia muscosa). Lovely mossy buds, highly scented full flat & quartered flowers which have a blush tint in the centre passing to pure white. Summer flowering. #RoseWednesday🌹🌱

Today's Old Rose is Rosa centifolia Muscosa 'Old Pink Moss'. A natural sport of R. centifolia discovered circa 1696. Medium to large full double pink blooms which fade slightly as they age. Mossed buds & strong thorny arching growth. Lovely strong fragrance. A 4ft shrub 🌹🌱 #Roses

Today's Old Rose is the Autumn Damask (Rosa damascena semperflorens) 'Quatre Saisons'. An ancient rose thought to be R. gallica x R. moschata. Loosely double flowers, sometimes quartered, which can look a little crumpled. Strong fragrance. Flowers from June til October 🌹🌱 #Roses

Today's Old Rose is the gorgeous 'Crimson Boursault' climber 'Amadis' (Laffay, 1829). One of the few Boursault roses (R. pendulina x R. chinensis) still commercially available. Long arching thornless stems (10-12ft) with sculpted pink flowers. No perfume but I forgive her🌹🌱 #Roses

Today's Old Rose is the Bourbon 'Louise Odier' (Margottin, 1851). A strongly scented vigorous bush full of very double pink to lilac medium-sized blooms. Almost continuous flowering, the scent is sublime. 🌹🌱 #Roses

Today's Old Rose is the compact hybrid Gallica the 'Rose de la Maître-École' (Coquereau, 1831). Named after a district of Angers where Coquereau lived & ran his nursery. Rose pink fading to lilac & mauve quartered double blooms with a strong old rose fragrance. #RoseWednesday🌹🌱 #Roses

Today's Old Rose is a highly fragrant Alba 'Mme Legras de St Germain'. Of unknown origin (pre 1840) she has large cupped blooms of exquisitely ordered ivory white petals fading to a clotted cream centre. Tall for a shrub & almost thornless with a heady lemony citrus perfume.🌹🌱 #Roses

Today's Old Rose is an old cottage garden favourite 'Bourbon Queen' ('Reine de L'ile Bourbon'; Mauget, 1834). Double deep pink to magenta, crinkled & beautifully veined blooms. A strong sweet fragrance. A vigorous bush or small climber. Summer flowering. A rose to stop & inhale🌹🌱 #Roses

Today's Old Rose is the Gallica 'Tricolore de Fandre' (Parmentier, 1844). An eye-catching compact 3ft bush with intensely striped medium double blooms of blackberry purple & raspberry pink on cream. Very pretty & sweetly fragrant. I am surprised it is not more widely known. 🌹🌱 #Roses

Today's Old Rose is the fragrant Damask 'Gloire de Guilan'. Of unknown antiquity it was collected in the mountains of Iran where it was used for making attar by plant hunter Nancy Lindsay. Introduced 1949. Large, pretty open blooms which stand up well to rain. Summer flowering 🌹🌱 #Roses

For #RoseWednesday 🌹 the pretty Bourbon 'Honorine de Brabant' (a sport of Commandant Beaurepaire: Remi Tanne, 1916). Informally cupped & quartered fragrant blooms of creamy white to blush pink striped with cerise, violet & mauve. The striping varies in each bloom. Few thorns. 🌱 #Roses

Today's rose is 'The Wax Rose' - the Gallica 'Duchesse d'Angoulême' (Vibert, 1836). Delicate soft pale blush pink flowers with a deeper pink centre, sometimes tinged crimson from the buds. Strong old rose perfume. A delightful, refined 3ft bush with few prickles. Summer flowering 🌱 🌹 #Roses

Today's Old Rose is the Hybrid Perpetual 'Sidonie' (Vibert, 1847). A Damask Perpetual, akin to a Portland, with a lovely strong Damask fragrance. Fully double flowers of blush to deep pink usually formed in clusters. A very pretty, short, repeat-flowering bush. 🌱 #Roses 🌹

Rosa glauca, the red leafed #rose (once known as R. rubrifolia). Native to the mountains of central & southern Europe. A pretty bush whose shape is rather like the dog rose. The leaves are violet grey & it has single bright pink flowers in summer which contrast the foliage. 🌹🌱 #Roses

A rose that for all the world looks like a peony! The stunning Hybrid Perpetual 'Paul Neyron' (Antoine Levet, 1869) has very large upright deep rosy pink blooms on glossy dark green foliage. Nearly thornless, fragrant & repeat-flowering. Makes an excellent cut flower. A beauty 🌹🌱 #Roses

Introducing Rose of the Year 2027, ART DECO Floribunda rose, semi-double, pollinator-friendly lightly scented flowers in plentiful clusters. With sunlight intensity, the edges of the white petals blush in deepening shades of pink. Bushy dark green, glossy foliage with excellent disease resistance. 🌱

Today's Old Rose is the Gallica 'Charles de Mills'. Of unknown origin, likely Dutch, before 1786. Very pretty large deep crimson to purple or dark lilac full-petalled flowers with a unique flattened shape & a dark green centre eye. A compact but vigorous nearly thornless shrub 🌹🌱 #Roses

On days of heavy summer rain my mind is drawn to Cherrapunji. I have been to Shillong many times but never quite made it up the hill to the wettest place on Earth. This is one of my favourite books - the perfect read for a wet afternoon. ☔️ 📚 💦

A few more Moss roses as the rain hammers down to water them. 'Mousseaux du Japon' (unknown), 'Shailer's White Moss' (Henry Shailer, 1788), newly opened 'William Lobb' (Laffay, 1855) which will fade to mauve/purple & 'Mousseline' aka 'Alfred de Delmas' (Moreau-Robert, 1881). 🌹🌱 #Roses

For #RoseWednesday 🌹 the ancient Gallica Versicolor 'Rosa Mundi'. Beautiful fragrant large blooms striped with deep pink & white, occasionally throwing up a plain crimson bloom from its parent Rosa Gallica. Each flower differs in its striped pattern but all are loved by bees. 🐝 🌱 #Roses

I love Rugosas for their gorgeous fragrance. I have a large clump of R. alba as well as these less vigorous varieties: Sarah Van Fleet (Dr Walter Van Fleet, 1922), Agnes (Dr William Saunders, 1902), Pink Grootendorst (Grootendorst, 1923) & Fru Dagmar Hastrup (Hastrup, 1914). 🌹🌱 #Roses

A few Moss roses for a wet Monday, a natural sport of Rosa centifolia with mossy stems & buds. Old Pink Moss (unknown breeder around 1696), gloriously dark Nuits de Young (Laffay, 1845), Mme De La Roche-Lambert (Robert, 1851) & the sumptious Mme Louis Lévêque (Lévêque, 1898).🌹🌱 #Roses

A Black Hairstreak butterfly this afternoon on the farm with its face in a flower. There were three feeding simultaneously on this plant - 2 newly emerged & a tatty one @ukbutterflies.bsky.social #UKButterflies

Today's Old Roses are repeat-flowering Bourbon roses loved for their fragrance. 'Mme Isaac Periere' (Garçon, 1881) & its sport 'Mme Ernst Calvat' (Marie-Louise Schwartz, 1888), 'Rivers' George IV' (Thomas Rivers, 1817) & the faintly striped 'Honorine de Brabant' (Tanne, 1916).🌹🌱 #Roses

Today's Old Roses are the Portland Damask 'Bouquet de la Mariée' (Demaizia, 1858), the vigorous Moss rose 'Jeanne de Montfort' (Robert 1853) & Gallicas 'Hippolyte' (Parmentier, 1842) & 'Sissinghurst Castle' or 'Rose des Maures' (Found by V. Sackville-West, 1947, Sissinghurst).🌹🌱 #Roses

The first of this year's freshly dug new potatoes for dinner. Red Duke of York & Swift 😋 🌱

I spent an hour this afternoon watching a good number of Black Hairstreak butterflies flying from our Blackthorn scrub to feed on Common Valerian. There are no records of this species anywhere in south Rutland so I am pleased to have them @ukbutterflies.bsky.social @britishnatureguide.bsky.social

Today's Old Roses are the Gallicas 'Duchesse de Montabello' (Laffay, 1824) & 'Belle Sans Flatterie' (Schwartzkopf, 1783) & repeat-flowering beauties Portland Damask 'Miranda' (Sansal, 1869) & Hybrid Perpetual 'Paul Neyron' (Levet 1869). Such superb wafts of strong fragrance🌹🩷 🌱 #Roses

Some of the Hybrid Perpetual #roses currently in bloom. Repeat flowering & strongly perfumed they should be more popular than Hybrid Teas. 'Frau Karl Druschki' (Lambert, 1901), 'Duke of Wellington' (Granger, 1874), 'John Hopper' (Ward, 1862) & 'Star of Waltham' (Paul, 1875). 🌹🌱

Today's Old Roses are the fragrant deep pink Gallicas 'Duchesse de Buccleuch' (Vibert, 1837), 'Le Rose du Maître d'École' (Coquereau, 1831) & the delightful 'Crimson Boursault' climbing rose 'Amadis' (Laffay, 1826). Crimson, purple & violet double blooms remind me of sweet peas. #RoseWednesday🌹🌱

Sunset sky with Blodwyn, an Easycare self-shearing sheep. She leaves a rubbed covering of wool on every fence post, hurdle & gate. #SkySheep

Old Roses before the rain arrived. The fabulous Tudor rose 'Tuscany' (look at those sculpted petals!), Rosa Centifolia Variegata aka 'Cottage Maid' (looking like raspberry ripple ice cream) & two Moss roses 'Nuits de Young' (Laffay, 1845) & Mme Louis Lévêque (Lévêque, 1898) 🌹 🌱 #Roses

Today's rose is the delightful variegated Gallica 'Tricolore de Flandre' (Parmentier, 1844). Small to medium fragrant double blooms of white heavily striped with purple & pink & eventually opening to a button eye. A very pretty lovely scented rose that makes a small 3ft bush. 🌹🌱 #Roses

I am beyond excited to have found this elusive & rare Black Hairstreak butterfly on the farm here in south Rutland today. I have spent years hoping to see one & it fluttered past me & perched on the rim of a livestock drinker! They live in thick blackthorn scrub (we have plenty). #UKButterflies

The orchard wildflowers are beginning to open. Already teeming with insects 🐛🐜🐝🪲🐞🦗🕷🪳

Today's rose is my absolute favourite, the beautiful Damask 'Celsiana' (R. damascena mutabilis; unknown, before 1750). A tall shrub or small climber it is covered in large ruffled partially double blush to pale pink blooms with the most exquisite strong perfume. Summer flowering🌹🌱 #Roses

A few white roses. Large fragrant lemony white blooms of 'Paul's Lemon Pillar' (George Paul, 1915). Pretty Painted Damask 'Léda' (anon, 1818). Gorgeous white blend Floribunda 'Margaret Merrill' (Harness, 1977). Creamy white 'Nelsons Pride' (Amanda Beales, 2006) loved by hoverflies 🌹🌱 #Roses

Cinnabar moth in the meadow

Today's rose is a favourite, the Bourbon 'Mrs Paul' (George Paul, 1891). Very large blush pink to salmon scalloped double blooms with a strong fragrance. Repeat flowers. An absolutely gorgeous rose raised in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire from a seedling of Mme Isaac Periere 🌹🌱 #Roses

Just look at these beautiful garlic scapes gifted to me by the wonderful @royandtanyaorganic.bsky.social so that I can pickle them. They are fabulous - both the scapes & the people! 💕 🌱