English roses: varieties, photos, description 

David Austin’s English roses stand apart from the group of shrub roses. All of them are distinguished by captivating beauty, a large wide glass, a beautiful bush, resistance to diseases, and the enchanting aroma has become their hallmark. David Austin’s roses are by far the newest and not yet officially allocated in a separate group series. This is probably unfair, because the number of varieties has already exceeded two hundred, and all of them are recognizable at first sight. In addition, since its inception, Austin roses have been consistently in high demand in the flower market.

The history of the creation of the series

David Austin did not deal with roses until he saw old varieties in France in the 50s of the twentieth century. He decided to create modern flowers that would resemble the undeservedly forgotten old spray roses in appearance, preserving and enhancing their wondrous aroma and sophisticated beauty of the buds. At the same time, it was necessary to make them re-blooming, to give the bush a harmonious shape and the ability to grow in different climatic zones. In addition, the old varieties were completely devoid of yellow and orange color, which David Austin wanted to fix by all means.

By crossing the old Gallic variety “Bel Isis” and the modern floribunda “Le Grace”, in 1961 the first rose of the Constance Spray series was presented to the public. It was a very beautiful peony rose with a delightful myrrh scent and huge cupped glasses of pink color. Unfortunately, it bloomed once, but otherwise it exceeded all expectations of both the public and the author. “Constance Spray” is still very popular, despite the emergence of new, re-blooming varieties.

23 years later, in 1984, D. Austin at the Chelsea Exhibition presented to the public already 50 varieties of new English roses, obtained by repeatedly crossing old varieties with hybrid tea rose and floribunda, as well as wild rose hips.

You may be interested in how many years ago a family business was created and how new varieties are being created today. The story of David Austin himself, the video from his interview was filmed a long time ago, but has not lost its relevance:

Today he is the most successful of the breeders and sells more than 4 million seedlings a year worldwide.

General characteristics of Austin roses

English roses are outwardly similar to old varieties – Damascus, Bourbon, Gallic, Alba, but they have a rich palette of colors, are able to grow on poor soil, and are resistant to adverse growing conditions. For all their nostalgic-old-fashioned appearance, David Austin roses usually bloom repeatedly or continuously and inherited undemanding lighting from their English ancestors – 4-5 hours of sunlight per day are enough for them.

D. Austin always put the outline of a flower at the forefront when creating a variety. English roses are distinguished by a rosette, pompon or cupped shape of a glass. It is interesting that when cone-shaped buds appeared as a result of selection (as in hybrid tea varieties), the creator mercilessly rejected them.

All varieties of David Austin roses have a strong pleasant aroma. In the collection of more than 200 varieties, you will not find a single unscented flower. But “Jude the Obscurus” is considered the rose with the strongest scent, able to compete even with the aroma of French perfumes.

The creator himself does not tire of repeating that David Austin’s roses must meet four requirements:

• Beautiful shape of the glass;
• pure color;
• Juicy aroma;
• High vitality.

Now he rejects even flowers that do not meet one of the requirements before announcing the creation of a new variety and is very sorry that he once brought insufficiently resistant roses to the market.

Austin roses differ in that under different conditions they can behave differently, for example, in central Our Country the following is noted:

• Usually they have a greater frost resistance than indicated in the description.
• Often grow higher than stated. This must be taken into account when planting, since at the age of 6-7 years it is problematic to transplant English roses.
• Some varieties, on the contrary, do not reach the declared growth.
• If the plant is grown as a climbing plant, it will certainly grow well beyond its stated height.
• About two years after planting, the flowers are smaller than usual, and the branches are weak and bend under their weight. When the plants adapt, everything will return to normal.

Today, D. Austin’s family company registers an average of 3-4 new varieties per year. Among them are shrubs, many of which, if desired, can be grown as climbing varieties, erect tall or low shrubs, miniature flowers suitable for growing in a container. All of them have excellent characteristics and are easily recognizable.

The first two years, young shoots will be thin and will not always be able to hold a heavy glass. Don’t let that worry you, after a short period of time everything will be back to normal.

Austin rose varieties

Austin roses do not have any official classification. We are not going to replace respected international rose-growing organizations, but simply separate them into groups according to individual characteristics. Perhaps for someone the size of the bush or the size of the glass matters, and for someone it will be nice to have the titled roses of David Austin in the garden. We present photos and descriptions of varieties to the attention of our readers.

The tallest varieties

We repeat that in our conditions, English roses do not always behave as indicated in the description of the variety. Their official sizes will be indicated in the table, but all of them grow taller in central Our Country with good care, and besides, they can be safely grown one climate zone to the north. We will try to bring to your attention the best varieties.

• Crown of Princess Margaret

  

• Golden Celebration

  

• Gertrude Jekyll

  

• James Galway

  

• Leander

  

• Spirit of Freedom

  

• William Morris

  

• Generose Gaden

  

• Tess of the d’Urberville

  

Roses for growing in containers

There are varieties that do well in containers.

• Ann Bolein

  

• Christopher Marlowe

  

• Grace

  

• Sophie Rose

  

• Prince

  

Roses with extra large glasses

English roses all have large flowers. But some just need to be told about them separately, among them are the already familiar varieties Golden Celebration and Spirit of Freedom. It should be noted that the size of the bud does not reach its maximum immediately, but several years after planting.

• Jubil Celebration

  

• Lady of Meginch

  

• Constance Spray

  

• Abraham Derby

  

• Princess Alexandra of Kent

  

Pure colors

Austinki are famous for their pure colors, and we invite you to see this for yourself.

• Graham Thomas

  

• Claire Austin

  

• L.D. Brightwhite

  

• Braze Cadwile

  

Conclusion

Austin roses have received many awards at international exhibitions and performed well in Our Country.

Watch a video about varieties that are successfully grown in Our Country:

We hope that English roses will decorate your garden and serve as a source of inexhaustible joy from contemplating their perfect beauty.

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