David Austin Roses

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

A new release I bought, because I had written to the grower to ID the most fragrant of my several possible whites and they came back with a definite for CA. It also won a trophy for the most fragrant rose at the NRTGA in 2011, and the silver medal it won at the same time was merely a bonus.

It’s extremely vigorous and very quickly produced a multitude of yellow buds, running second in production only to Felicia, an OGR with much smaller flowers; today I counted 41 in total and there are still more coming. The early flowers are the spitting image of my Iceberg; they even have that same pink tinge in the centre.

The fragrance is quite strong, but not as strong as I expected from the most fragrant rose at the NRTGA, but then we haven’t had much sun since the first flowers opened, and I just have to wait and see. It’s completely foreign to anything I smelled before and I run a blank in trying to describe it, but the catalogue sais myrrh; so I’m thinking: ah, so that’s myrrh. The “dashes of meadowsweet, vanilla and heliotrope” that are also present remain, at least temporarily, undetectable to me.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

CA= Claire Austin, Jac? Sorry, early in the am, and I think I'm missing a post. Wow, that bush is bearing a lot of goodies. The fragrance sounds lovely. Wonder if it shatters in the vase like so many Austins.

In respect of another new-ish Austin that seems floriforus at the get-go : last year I saw a potted-up nursery rose 1 1/2 year old Darcy Bussell that was nothing short of a living bouquet - perfectly rounded, with around 20 buds all over it. Quite the prettiest rose plant I have seen. Eyedropper of fragrance, sadly.

Oh no, I’ve forgotten the name again!
It’s Claire Austin, Betsy; planted bare rooted on 1 July 2012.

There were some comments that CA is not suited for cutting when I checked her out, but I don’t often cut my roses, only when I give a bunch to friends, so I didn’t mind. On the bush, the flowers keep for about the same time as Gertrude Jekyll’s and Abraham Darby’s. We’ve had some strong winds that brought a lot of dust from a near park and my roses got bashed about a bit and all the leaves are very dusty now. CA kept all her petals and they stayed fresh and creamy white throughout.

GJ and Abe go through a variety of stages where I get very different colours and overall effects, which doesn’t happen with CA. She seems to drop the petals before they dehydrate and look a bit daggy, and they drop off cleanly together in one go.
I don’t have a Darcy Bussell, probably because I sort by fragrance first and foremost, so many roses never make it onto my list; but agree that the sheer amount of buds and flowers on the more recent DAs, particularly of this size and so soon after planting is astonishing.
I did get a bit of vanilla yesterday as well; can’t wait for the whole bush to burst into flower, it’s next to my front door.

Boy, what a thorough and delightful run-down on young Claire, Jac. You are really good at this rose-parsing. I'd love to hear/see more as time passes - especially would like to see a pic when the buds are all blooming. Also will be intrigued to hear how the scent devlops as the weather warms.

I don't know that she calls to me, though. Flat and noddy flowers - Austin written all over it. Then again, I have dubious taste in these matters: everyone loves Jude the Obscure to pieces, and I loathed mine - noddy blobfest that looked to me like a bush of brobdinagian snot.

Having said all that rude stuff, I'm as susceptible to DA promotion as they come. Have crumbled in the spin push on Young Lycidas.

Know anything about YL, anyone?

Betsy, I’m not a DA rep; just can’t see what’s so wrong with them that they need to be banished. I knew the flowers would nod and didn’t care one bit; I like it when they cascade and spill over other plans and pathways, and am assured by many similar comments that this will improve as the canes strengthen over time. I also got Pat A, shunned by many for this property.
My ex-Jude actually didn’t droop her flowers at all and was my only rose that looked exactly like her catalogue images, absolutely stunning, and the fragrance … wow! But I’ve heard Europeans complain about her colour, so maybe she benefits from warmer climates. No YLs in my garden at the moment, but could be persuaded.

More pics? Don’t encourage me; had no idea how much I would enjoy photography and got literally hundreds already. Here is one more for now:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Consider yourself majorly, majorly encouraged

As I keep roses almost solely for the vase, anything that nods has to be a climber, so that the blooms can smile down on me. For cutting, a noddy rose smiles down on the floor/table, so is useless and actually looks stupid.

But see, that's just me. BTW, why is your Jude an ex-Jude?

And I am still seeking an RTA grow-pal with Young Lycidas. Is this rose a real dog, that no one has come forward? Could this one be my Deplorable Mistake 2012 ?

My Jude perished during a period of severe neglect after moving house and when my life went pear-shaped, and left no time for gardening. I wasn’t really going to have roses again after that (not the roses’ fault, just the horrible memory), but James wanted to buy me some potted roses for my birthday in January, locally. The trip was planned and the grower contacted for a stick-list, which promptly arrived. Guess what? No Jude in stock … so I waited until June when I could order a Jude bare-rooted.

I like Jude, Jac. A few years ago I crossed this rose (A Better Tomorrow) [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
and got this which I really like. Hot pink with chrome yellow reverse to the petals.[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Good grief, True Colours looks a million times more interesting than its parent JtO. Who says you can't overcome a rotten childhood?*

*(although other parent ABT is darling, for sure)

Hmm, very nice, but hot pink is not my favorite. Just out of curiosity though, does it have the same fragrance as JO?

Nah it lost a lot of its fragrance only has a mild smell

Betsy when I was naming (A Better Tomorrow) it looked such a cheerful rose and if anyone was having a hard time and saw it, hopefully would make them happy. This rose is very tough, 48c temp don't worry it and is healthy to boot , absolutely no PM or BS.

Jac2 wrote:Hmm, very nice, but hot pink is not my favorite. Just out of curiosity though, does it have the same fragrance as JO?

That's okay. He can send all the hot pink ones to me.

On the other hand, if it can stand up to my Bollywood Queen (In Appreciation), maybe …
But 48c temp, that’s something else to consider. Is that 48 degrees Celsius, Ozroz? Because that’s something I know my JO cannot do, and she’s in a pot to be shifted into shade during the hottest summer month.

Jac here in the riverina summers can get pretty fierce and most summers are usually high 30's to 40's. There are times when the temperature exceeds the mid 40's for weeks on end. All these temps are in celcius.

With all the best wishes and intentions posted on your Life’s Work link, those are the roses I would promote, promote, and promote. I’ve said it before and say it again, I laugh in the face of blackspot, because I know what the hot sun can do to my roses here in my totally exposed Brisbane garden over the hottest summer month; and have many of them in pots that can be shifted into shade during emergencies, where I would prefer to have them in the ground.

OK, Betsy, I regret to admit it, but Jude the Obscure is hanging her heads in this garden, too. I’m so completely bowled over that I have no words to describe my surprise. All I can say is that in my old garden JtO produced thick strong canes and the flowers sat pretty much upright, maybe not as straight as a HT, but still horizontal enough for me to just bend down to smell without lifting them.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Here she is, my darling of all darling roses (floppy or not). I love the form, I love the colours and I love, love the fragrance; I’m in heaven. If I were allowed only one rose, I would plant this one. And this is with all the beautiful roses I’m experiencing at the moment and all the others in my old garden combined. If that colour is snot, I’m seriously thinking about going into the ear, nose and throat business.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I agree, she’s a little disheveled in the centre and around the edges, because she’s been hanging upside down, but overall, my perfect rose: the perfect form, the perfect colour and the perfect scent, and in the ground, the perfect bush. (In these photos she’s propped up on a tripod though).

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Keeping her in a pot has just become a ‘No way, José’ situation after I’ve seen what she can for me in the ground. I swear she was aiming for 3m after just over 6 months; and when I tried to move her, dug forever to get to the end of that long center root, which is anchoring a bush into position, and gave up in the end.
And that’s the only explanation I can come up with: she’s in a pot this time. Unless, maybe, this one is on a different root stock, but I’ve no idea if that would actually influence cane strength, and just fish around for explanations for this completely different growth habit between my two JtOs.

Now see, Jac, that's EXACTLY the sort of info/pic that sent me running to buy JtO. Couldn't give 'em my money fast enough.

Maybe it WAS the pot vs ground issue. Whatever it is, your JtO doesn't look anything like my miserable creature.

I’m actually starting to have some serious doubts about some of my other Austins with similar growth habits that are also in pots (large as they may be). After this experience, I really should put them all into the ground a.s.a.p., and before it really gets hot around here. Thanks for noticing what I can see in this darling, Betsy.

This could get interesting. Some people swear by Austins in pots but maybe it's a soil vs potting mix issue here as well.

What's your soil like? I only know that mine is slightly acid , after a century of cultivation (so I've been told). Then again, the only roses in the ground here are the indestructible noisettes.

Maybe it’s because most of the Austins are shrubs and many of them want to climb, if you let them. They need a little more room, especially in our climate where they’ll grow even bigger. I’m guessing if they don’t get the room they need under ground as well as above, something’s got to give. Anyway, this JtO experience has let me to believe this. If some people swear by growing their Austins in pots, maybe they’re the smaller varieties; he’s got some that are indicated to stay below 1m. My taller Austins, JtO, Munstead Wood and Abe that are now in pots will go into the ground a.s.a.p.

Slightly acidic is good. On the PH scale, 7 is neutral with anything under going more acidic and over becoming more alkaline. The level to aim for with soil, as I just found out, is about 6.5; and that’s slightly acidic.
I’m about to undertake a PH test, but wont go anywhere for a couple of days yet. My soil would be pretty good: I’ve been building layer cakes since January and the process is ongoing as I continue to expand my borders and plan to develop the back yard as well. So I’ll do this test more out of curiosity than anything.

My Noisette, Lamarque, has just started to bloom. They’re supposed to do well here in QLD and I’m really happy with it, especially the fresh sweet fragrance. But it’s only a baby and the clusters are very heavy and one bend off. A bit like Claire A, I guess where it might take a couple of years for the plant to come to term and be strong enough to hold its blooms.

CA’s petals do scatter a bit faster now than the other Austin’s, with the increased heat here. When I rinsed all the bushes to get that dust off (completely pointless exercise), I shook them a bit to get rid of the droplets, and she really didn’t like that. But the second round of blooms doesn’t hang as low to the ground either:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I was talking to George Thompson one of the Ozzie rose breeders and he said why a lot of DA tend to be tall is because the Iceberg he used was a climber. When I look at a lot of his roses, the leaves and thorns tell me he has used alot of different things in the breeding.

I knew there was a bit of Iceberg in a lot of them, but not that it was a climber, interesting. What do you think about the pot theory? Would you think guessing some of them turn out floppy in pots, because their roots may not have enough room was reasonable?

I don't think they would turn out floppy, if there breeding is an upright shrub , you cannot change that trait by putting it in a pot. What it will do is slow down , because of its vigour, filling the pot with abundant roots. I have a few standards which I root prune like bonsai trees and prune the canopy in the winter and then place it back in the same pot with fresh soil. I have been doing this for years and they flower their hearts out, growth is not effected.

The thing about growing plants in pots is , because of the frequency of watering , nutrient is washed out, therefore a more fertilizer has to be used to make up for the lost nutrient.