Mutabilis is glorious at the moment...clothed with single blooms of varying shades from brick-red to creamy salmon. This is most definitely a rose to be left alone to its own devices...I would even hide the secateurs behind my back whilst walking past it, such is its hatred of being cut back. My two specimens were pruned seven long years ago, and are still quietly sulking. They bloom prolifically, but have never regained the lovely shrub structure of their former unpruned glory.
Above: The very vigorous Bloomfield Abundance, which in bloom is pretty much identical to the bloom of Climbing Cecile Brunner, with the exception of the length of the length of the sepals. There has been great debate world-wide about the differences between Cecile Brunner, Climbing Cecile Brunner, Spray Cecile Brunner and Bloomfield Abundance...all I know is that whatever the true identity of the three huge specimens that I have here at 'Eurimbla', it is a brilliant, healthy, prolific rose. The delicate little scrolled buds are perfection, and they open into typical old-fashioned blooms, before finally ending up looking almost hybrid-musk in style. We have big shrubs growing at the south-west and north-west corners of our house, and the only downfall of this is the apparent fondness of our resident brown snake population to the latter location...there have been several sightings of snakes that have disappeared into the mound of bloom over the past few years...uuuggghh!!
