I bought 3 of these roses as bare roots last winter and they are all thriving beautifully. I was enamored with this rose when I saw it la...Read Morest year at a public rose garden. It's easily in my top 5 favorite David Austin roses. I adore the vibrant, rich magenta color and the sweet scent of this rose. The bushes are rather strong and upright. I only wish that the blooms were bigger, but then, that could possibly be improved with more fertilizer.
Performs very well in the Melbourne, AU climate (Zone 9b).
Gets bigger than DA's description - about H 2m (6'6")x W 1.5m (5'). Lov...Read Morees the heat in Summer (up to around 45C/115F) and flowers prolifically.
The only negative is the thorns... soooo many of them! Requires gauntlets to prune :-)
Its neutral rating because I don't grow this rose but saw it at a public garden. Its rather healthy for a DA rose. It has a very vivid a...Read Morelmost neon raspberry color which is very attractive to me. Unusual color that is not found in most roses, I didn't see a lot of blooms but then I don't know how much care it gets in the park.
This rose is a vigorous grower for us, but the color? Just a really deep hot pink - nothing special at all and NOTHING like the obviousl...Read Morey color-altered image that DA uses on their site. And as noted by another reviewer, it is covered in gnarly thorns and is sort of unfriendly. And gets bigger than DA said. Would I buy this one again? Probably not - there are better hot pink roses...
@Joann - you may want to look at some pictures of rose rosette disease. At least 2 DA roses I've ordered (from the US branch in TX) or over the last 3 years had RRD from the get go and had to be destroyed. Other roses had other issues like canker. 'BB' should have "normal" sized thorns and while it is a bit thorny, it shouldn't be "covered" in them. SO I think something is going on with your bush. If you determine what is going on, please update your review - if it is RRD, then folks need to avoid DA until they get it under control.
I had to get 2 of these from DA. The first had a weeping canker on the shank and looked diseased, so I contacted DA and destroyed that plant. They sent another to replace it, and while it didn't look very good, I went ahead and planted it. Here in MO, it really struggled to establish itself during a year of drought (and late summer shipping) and still managed to bloom a few blooms before winter set in. I won't order from DA in TX again, because I think they have serious husbandry issues (see my review under Garden Watchdog for DA), but wouldn't hesitate to recommend purchasing this rose from a different supplier.
For me one of the perks is that while it has a better smell than many roses (though as noted, not a terribly fragrant DA offering), it is a simpler rose than many DA has been breeding, and BEES can actually feed from this rose. Many DA roses are too densely packed to be any good for bees and insects, though they are lovely.
I have had excellent success with many Austin Roses, but this is not one of my favorites. The flowers are small and a cherry red color r...Read Moreegardless of weather. There is no orange tint as shown in the catalog. I had hoped that cooler fall weather would bring the orange coloring, but not so. I detect on a very slight fragance on my rose.
This is a very strong growing rose for me in Z 8b (South Carolina), in fact it's so wild and wooly I nicknamed it Audry II. It throws out very long, unruly canes COVERED in thorns of all shapes and sizes. It is a bear to handle, consequently I moved it to a remote spot in the garden where it can do it's thing without injury to us or our guests.
One note: Austin recommends this variety for large pots and planters. I grew this plant in a very large planter (24" diameter) for the first year. When I went to move the planter the following spring the plant had rooted into the ground so strongly that the bottom of the pot broke when we tried to pick it up. This was a grafted rose, and I don't know what the root stock was, but the roots were astonishing. Between the rampant root growth and the wild and thorny canes, I would not recommend this rose (at least not the grafted variety) for containers - especially not close to high traffic areas. It probably would, however, make an nice impenitrable hedge.
On the whole, I've been disappointed in this plant, but I give it a neutral rather than negative just because it is such a strong grower. Planted where is has plenty of room and I can admire it from afar, it does just fine. (Now about 4X5 ft at midsummer. ) I would try pegging the canes to the ground, but I don't want to get that close to the plant again!
It does get black spot, so plan to do some spraying. The flowers are only moderately long lasting when cut. One other review said the flowers don't do well in heat, but mine have opened well and lasted a reasonable time - and we have some serious heat and humidity here.
I can really only recommend this plant as a hedging plant any where that you might want to discourage neighboring children, dogs, wild hogs, or a possible invasion of elephants.
This is one of my favorite roses. Here in zone 4 the winters kill it back to the ground each year, but it grows back to a full beautiful ...Read Morebush covered with gorgeous, full deep pink flowers with a tinge of coral. And the scent! Roses and raspberries, absolutely heavenly.
I don't know if I have a more hardy, robust rose in my garden. It never gets blackspot and grows by leaps and bounds every year and bloom...Read Mores heavily from early summer through fall - blooms are not as heavily old-rose scented as some austins but they definitely have a moderately strong nice, light, fruity type of rose scent. They are a real bright cerise pink/red magenta type of color...
The flowers are round and the plant has a shrubby form. Firm canes holds themselves upright without support. The flowers smell very "cher...Read Morery" and are cherry in color as well.
The flowers are rather tender and don't take extreme heat - they wilt before opening - but the plant hasn't shown any distress as long as it's well-watered.
Very pretty bicoloured peony type flower in my garden, with a fresh medium strength fruity fragrance.
It's only drawback for me is...Read More it's curious habit of losing the vivid pink colouration about an hour after it's picked, loss of water from the petals I suppose but it's a strange phenomenon that I also see in 'Kronenbourg' roses.
Hardy, doesn't mind a little shade, quick to establish.
According to David Austin's 2009 Handbook of Roses, they named this rose in commemoration of the life and work of the famous English com...Read Moreposer, conductor and performer.
I bought 3 of these roses as bare roots last winter and they are all thriving beautifully. I was enamored with this rose when I saw it la...Read More
Performs very well in the Melbourne, AU climate (Zone 9b).
Gets bigger than DA's description - about H 2m (6'6")x W 1.5m (5'). Lov...Read More
Its neutral rating because I don't grow this rose but saw it at a public garden. Its rather healthy for a DA rose. It has a very vivid a...Read More
This rose is a vigorous grower for us, but the color? Just a really deep hot pink - nothing special at all and NOTHING like the obviousl...Read More
I have had excellent success with many Austin Roses, but this is not one of my favorites. The flowers are small and a cherry red color r...Read More
This is one of my favorite roses. Here in zone 4 the winters kill it back to the ground each year, but it grows back to a full beautiful ...Read More
I don't know if I have a more hardy, robust rose in my garden. It never gets blackspot and grows by leaps and bounds every year and bloom...Read More
The flowers are round and the plant has a shrubby form. Firm canes holds themselves upright without support. The flowers smell very "cher...Read More
Very pretty bicoloured peony type flower in my garden, with a fresh medium strength fruity fragrance.
It's only drawback for me is...Read More
According to David Austin's 2009 Handbook of Roses, they named this rose in commemoration of the life and work of the famous English com...Read More