David Austin's Beautiful and Fragrant English Roses

As a boy David Austin loved gardening and was fascinated by the idea of breeding new varieties of plants. He thought about trying to breed various kinds, both agricultural (he was a farmer's son) and horticultural, before finally deciding on roses.

At that time, in the early 60s, the Hybrid Tea was king, not only of roses but also of all garden plants. The Old Roses, the Gallicas, Damasks and Albas were all but lost and forgotten. David Austin liked the Old Roses but he also saw their limitations when compared to their modern counterparts - flowering for only 4 to 5 weeks as opposed to 4 to 5 months and having a limited colour range which didn't include yellow, apricot or true red.

By crossing Old Roses with modern varieties, he was able to select roses that were repeat flowering and that included the missing colours but at the same time retained the beauty, fragrance and charm of the Old Roses. He decided to call his new strain of roses - English Roses.

In 1969 he started his nursery, David Austin Roses, as a way of introducing and selling the English Rose to gardeners. After a slow start, his major breakthrough came in the early 80s with the introduction of Mary Rose, Heritage and Graham Thomas and soon English Roses became well known not only in the United Kingdom but also in the rest of the rose growing world.

With their beautiful flowers and their elegant, rather informal growth they exude a charm that is immediately attractive to gardeners and which also makes them very easy to incorporate into the garden, not only as shrubs but also as climbers. Their fragrance is quite wonderful too; it is not only strong in nearly all varieties but differs dramatically between varieties.

Over the years English Roses have won the reputation of being extremely tough, reliable and very healthy. Combine this with wonderful charm, delicious fragrance and great versatility and it is very easy to see why their popularity is forever increasing.

David Austin is now in his mid 70s and is still responsible for the breeding programme; he will undoubtedly continue to delight gardeners with new varieties of English Roses for many years to come.

Michael Marriott

www.davidaustinroses.com