Dog Rose.

Mrs TD was on quilting duty today in Cockenzie; an instruction course on and she was there to publicise Linus. I took a bike and went out to reconnoitre Traprain Law. It is the site of a stone age settlement and I feel that a U3A History Group outing to see it is in order. The main achievement was finding the car park where we would meet, but it would also be nice to find a knowledgeable guide to lead the tour.
Adjacent to the car park I found this dog rose, one of my favourite flowers; its delicate simplicity appeals to me and the fact that it is so attractive to pollinating insects even though it does not secrete a significant amount of nectar. The Hybrid-Tea so popular in modern gardens constitutes, as near as makes no difference, a desert unless you happen to be either an aphid or a ladybird. I remember, many years ago, a photograph of a dog rose eliciting the comment that it was the first rose the commentator had seen that year that wasn't sheathed in aphids, he hadn't realised that the primitive flora are highly resistant to such assaults.