Mud Glorious Mud

I suppose I should be thankful that our garden is not under a few feet of snow or minus whatever temperature at night but the incessant rain means that we can't even work the raised beds never mind the ones at ground level. This week we have laid the old hawthorn hedge - it had become tall and spindly with lots of dead wood at the bottom - there are climbing and rambling roses planted along the hedge but they didn't really have much to scramble through so hopefully the rejuvenated hedge will lend some support - I can't wait to see how it grows. 

We planted a few new "old" roses in the autumn:

Bobby James - A huge rambler (in excess of 12 metres!) with semi double, creamy white flowers.

Dainty Bess - Ruffled petals of soft pink. Apparently makes a lovely cut flower, according to Rayford Clayton Reddell  in his wonderful book on Cut Flower Roses, "Although each blossom has only five petals, they're broad, wavy at their edges and deliciously fragrant.....petals range from silvery pink to dusky pink and surround dense clusters of maroon stamens - not a big deal unless you know that more than 90 per cent of rose stamens are some shade of yellow." I can't wait! Watch this space!

Ghislaine de Feligonde - a beautiful soft yellow double rose that (hopefully) will flower throughout the growing season.

Rosa Multiflora Platyphylla - "Seven Sisters Rose" Rambler with abundant blooms varying in colour through many shades of pink.

Our roses have been pretty poor, in general, the past few years but then the summers haven't been great so here's hoping for a better performance this year.

Shades of green enjoyed at the start of the month, before the atrocious weather barged in and upset our precious winter tranquility - that's January for you.

rosa multiflora platyphylla