Abraham Darby is one of the most widely grown David Austin English roses, and with good reason. Abraham Darby is a shrub with classic flowers that also has the desired qualities of wonderful fragrance, excellent re-bloom, strong growth and disease resistance. Abraham Darby is the kind of result David Austin had in mind when he began his search for the new English Rose. Large blossoms can vary in color from soft peach to pink to apricot, and each perfectly formed flower is truly lovely. More, the fragrance is rich and memorable.

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Of limited availability, David Austin English rose Sir Walter Raleigh is best suited for experienced gardeners, largely due to the cultural demands required to ensure success. The blossoms, outstanding in form and fragrance, are produced somewhat stingily throughout the season. The blooms are a warm pink, and have been described as being similar to a peony. Watch out for mildew and rust in areas where these maladies are prevalent.

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Another David Austin English Rose, The Pilgrim offers the soft texture of pale yellow on flat, quartered blooms. Re-bloom is good, with two to three strong flushes of bloom during the growing season. Flowers are produced in sprays of three to seven, and The Pilgrim has an unusual habit in that flower stems may emerge from the main stem (in addition to the normal leaf joints).

Growth habit is strong and healthy. Blackspot may make an appearance from time to time, but The Pilgrim shrugs it off without missing a beat. I have never coddled The Pilgrim with sprays, and it marches merrily on. Foliage is shiny and holly green. Habit is upright for the first four to six feet, but as canes lengthen they begin to arch over into the classic old rose vase shape.

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A sport of Red Coat, David Austin English Rose Dapple Dawn bears large, four to five inch blooms of single-flowered form. Warm pink petals move to a creamy white color towards the center of the bloom, and prominent yellow stamens add to the relaxed character of the blossoms. Due to the informality of the flowers, Dapple Dawn makes an excellent choice for the informal or cottage garden. Growing to a robust eight feet, Dapple Dawn does best at the back or middle of the border. Dapple Dawn’s flowers are borne continuously throughout the entire season; often the shrub will be covered in a mass of bloom. Despite a general healthy and vigorous demeanor, Dapple Dawn is slightly susceptible to blackspot.

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David Austin Cottage Rose has lovely, soft pink flowers that are to my eyes at least superior in color to the blooms of its famed parent Mary Rose. Blooms are produced in abundance throughout the entire growing season; Cottage Rose does indeed meet David Austin’s goal of developing plants of old rose character that rebloom reliably (although, there have long been roses which rebloom throughout the season - for example, Souvenir de La Malmaison - one of the best).

Growth habit is bushy, covered with medium green foliage. Cottage Rose has only light fragrance.

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David Austin English rose Tradescant is a good choice for those who favor dark roses. Large clusters of ten to fifteen buds open to flat, fully double blooms of the deepest crimson; in fact, Tradescant would be a good rose for gardeners who are looking for a black rose (although all black roses are actually very dark red). Fragrance in Tradescant is strong, and reminiscent of many of the old roses. Foliage is light green and disease resistant on arching canes which may reach eight feet in southern gardens.

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David Austin rose Perdita bears clusters of flowers which move through a range of color as they mature, starting as creamy buff buds which change to soft peach or apricot as they open. Repeat bloom is good. David Austin’s penchant for focusing on fragrant roses is borne out with Perdita. Fragrance is excellent indeed, as Perdita was awarded the Royal National Rose Society’s Henry Edland Medal for Fragrance in 1984.

Perdita takes a couple of years to become well established in the garden, maintaining an open habit until the center of the shrub begins to fill in. Growth habit is slightly arching.

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There are a number of fragrant David Austin English roses. Many of David Austin’s English roses have excellent fragrance, for this is a trait he specifically breeds for. Many gardeners have noticed that garden roses are not as fragrant as our memories would have us believe; this is not our imagination, as one of the traits unfortunately bred out of modern roses is fragrance.

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The term English Rose was invented by David Austin to describe roses which have been bred to combine the graceful growth habit and flower form of old roses with the repeat flowering of modern cultivars. In the late 1950’s, David Austin began breeding Floribunda and Hybrid Tea roses with Old Roses, and after much patience, his efforts paid off with truly ground-breaking roses. In order to maintain the old charm of antique roses, David Austin often ‘back-crosses’ his English Roses with old roses; some of his best hybrids have been the result of this ‘back-crossing’.

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The David Austin rose ‘Evelyn’ (pronounced EVE-lyn) is a rose that will fit well into the perennial garden. Grouped with blues and grays, her soft apricot color will blend superbly. Add excellent fragrance (which David Austin considers to be in a class with ‘Gertrude Jekyll’) to the mix, and you have a winning combination.

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