Rosa canina

The Dog Rose is one of our most beautiful of summer hedgerow flowers and it is a real joy to see its appearance along the lanes and in the fields with other wild roses at this time of year.

The simple rose goes back a long way in English history as well as being the ancestor of our garden roses. The Wars of the Roses were fought between the Plantagenet Houses of Lancaster (Red Rose) and of York (the White Rose) between 1455 and 1485 over the English throne. The Red Rose won and Henry VII became the first Tudor king. His successor, Henry VIII, chose the Tudor rose as his emblem and ever since it has been the emblem of British monarchy.

Today has been a day of gardening and mowing the lawn before the next onslaught of rain. T collected a lot of scrap iron off the farm, old feeders, broken gates etc, to take to the scapyard tomorrow. Needless to say it didn't do his back any good nor did the milking over 500 cows last night as a relief dairyman to one of the enormous dairies in Dorset. Fortunately he doesn't do this very often!