The last few years my desire to acquire more roses has waned due to my terrible Japanese Beetle infestation.
I have shovel pruned all of my slacker roses. Those who've survived my spartan, rural rose growing conditions have been mainly Rugosa's, Rambler's, Alba's and several Old Garden Roses.
They have flourished, some growing into monster shrubs.
I'm zone 5 but might as well be zone 4 since I'm in a low lying area and we can get down to 30 below zero
but the above mentioned varieties have done the best for me.
I absolutely love David Austin roses and have grow a lot of them but many did not do well for me.
These varieties have remained standing and are doing well growing well for several years now and would be worthy of consideration for those having problems growing English roses in cold climates.

Constance Spry
Heritage
William Shakespeare 2000
Cressida (might be out of commerce)
St. Cecilia
Geoff Hamilton
James Galway
The Dark Lady

David Austin Photos: (mine are all on my old computer)

Constance Spry - OUTSTANDING!


Heritage


The Dark Lady


James Galway


Geoff Hamilton


WS 2000


St. Cecilia

Those are beautiful and make me think that I should reconsider some of those.
They might do all right with a rose hut over in winter.

Love the pictures Vicky. The English roses are so lovely.

There are many people in Calgary who grow David Austins Caroline. But they do need to be covered in winter. I have a Graham Thomas in its 3rd year. I need to find a sunnier spot for it though. It is being shaded by a delphinium, and it didn't have many flowers until I cut the delphinium down. Kind of frustrating that it only had one or two flowers all summer and them popped out 3 or 4 buds just before frost.


Dora

I have a couple of English.. I think Othello is a DA but I'm not sure if Oshen is.. I doubt it. I was thinking about getting Pat Austin because I love the orange. And I can never find WS2000 here. But they're SOOOOOO expensive!!! They usually are $40/ea here...

You should order the Austins from Regan's for $19.99, Toni.

http://www.regannursery.com/in...

Oshun is a Paul Barden rose.

Gorgeous photos, CR! Yes, Cressida regrettably is unavailable in commerce these days. Hortico pretends to have it, but sends Autumn Damask to anyone ordering Cressida. It's happened to me twice now and I'm furious that I gave them a second chance to gyp me.

Thanks, Dora-that is encouraging.
I just never tried them,-- because I thought they were too tender for here.
There is a franchised grower of David Austin roses out on one of the Gulf Islands in B.C.

Most of the greenhouses here have a few--the Rose Society had Evelyns available in its advance order for next spring. I've seen Winchester Cathedral, Jude the Obscure, Gertrude Jekyll and William Morris in gardens here, but can't comment on their winter survival rate.

People from the Rose Society sometimes go out to the coast on buying trips. I'm not sure which growers they're visiting offhand though.
Dora

I once had Winchester Cathedral, but it only survived for a few years.

I'm just happy if they aren't an expensive annual!

dorab said:I'm just happy if they aren't an expensive annual!

That's what my MIL treats them as! That's why I stopped buying her roses for Mother's Day.. got tired of them lasting until the first real frost & then BOOM dead.

Conversely, the Austin's don't fare all that brilliantly in the summer heat here, either. The blooms on the 8 or 9 I've had just sizzle when it get's over 80*.
I'll go see if I still have pics. of some mature Austin's taken at a rose grower here. They don't prune them (they're in the ground, not in nursery containers) and they're HUGE. They're planted in groups of three's, fives or sevens...hence their huge size.
When the DA's hit the scene here in the 80's it was suggested they get planted in groups vs. just one of a single cultivar.

Calsurf73 said:Conversely, the Austin's don't fare all that brilliantly in the summer heat here, either. The blooms on the 8 or 9 I've had just sizzle when it get's over 80*.

Really? Must be the humidity because Othello goes to town when it finally gets over 80degs and keeps going all summer. Even on the rare days when it hit over 100 (well, not rare this year, we had over 40 days of over 90degs, which is unheard of! and 100+ degs at 6000+ feet is HOT) he kept putting out gorgeous blooms that lasted & didn't shatter like some others.

My Austins do okay and bloom well here where it is hot and humid all summer and usually quite mild and humid in the brief winters. They do, however suffer from fungus diseases and are often nearly leafless if not preventively sprayed like mine. I have not had any of them for more than about ten years so I can't testify to their longevity.

I should propagate some Cressida.
Remind me next year.

I've had a Gertrude Jekyll for about 8 years. Some years the blooms are a bit stingy and other years fabulous. One year it grew over 10 feet tall, but most years it is under 6 feet

Joanna - Too bad I don't care for the pink roses.. your Gertrude Jekyll is fabulously gorgeous & I know it smells luscious!

My hubby just bought be a beautiful book from Chapters: The English Roses Classic Favorites & New Selections, David Austin, Firefly, 2008