I have several of these lovely bushes in my garden and my understanding if they need minimal to no pruning only broken or dead canes. What is your experience in this area?

I do not prune any of my roses, but many Austin roses grow quite large. You may want to prune to control the size or shape of your bushes, however it is not necessary for their health.

I have several Austin roses, and they come with different growth habits and forms, so I wouldn't say that there's one way to prune them (or not).

In my garden:
Graham Thomas is tall with a fountain shape. I take out old canes, and take it back to 3-4'..
Nefertiti is smaller and gets pruned like a hybrid tea.
Gertrude Jekyll is kind of a upright twiggy mess that I didn't get to for a couple years (now it's many years), so it's just as it is...
Christopher Marlowe is small and twiggy and is pruned like a floribunda.
Radio Times I have in two places.. one is a fountain, and the other is espaliered against a fence.

I have a couple that just got planted last fall that were rescues (Othello and Golden Celebration).. and a couple more that are too young to get a good understanding of their form yet..

DA in England say to prune just once a year, and to take off about a third. That said, we do find that some benefit from a harder pruning than others. We have a hedge of Harlow Carr, which fell over two years ago because we hadn't pruned it hard enough. Cutting to to half its then size worked wonders and since then it has behaved perfectly. We find that some varieties, like Lady of Shalott (gorgeous in case you don't know it), Claire Austin (also wonderful) are vigorous and need quite a tough pruning, to around half; others like Kew Gardens, Graham Thomas, Winchester Cathedral, are happy with a gentler approach. DAs grown as climbers (for us including the Generous Gardener, Crown Princess Margareta, Albrighton Rambler, Fighting Temeraire) we let grow to the height we want before pruning. The good news is that they are very tough and if you get it wrong (as we did with the Harlow Carr hedge) they forgive you and bounce back!

I would love to see a hedge of Harlow Carr.
Sherry, my Christopher Marlowes both are huge shrubs, but very twiggy. Gertrude Jekyll is one I have to prune or it goes everywhere with those vicious thorns. I completely remove a couple of old canes each year, and it seems there's always a bit of winter dieback on that one.

I'll post a photo once it's in flower again (very little to see now!) A surprising number of DAs can be grown as hedges; they all look amazing. I chose Harlow Carr because I wanted something not too tall and because it flowers every year down to the ground. Many roses stop flowering at their lower extremities as they age.

Sorry, people, I had an internet glitch! And don't know how to delete a post!!

Hi there,

I am new here and live in Fort Worth, TX.
I bought 5 roses from Chamblees Roses : Queen of Sweden, The Alnwick Rose, Love Song, Dark Desiree and Beverly.
Anyone who has these beauty, please let me know how do you like them etc.

Thank you so much,
Nanette

Hi, Nanette. Welcome to the Rose Forum. I don't have any of the five roses you bought, but I'm sure someone else here does. Someone will give you some rose reviews soon, I'm sure.

Thank you !!! I have Mr. Lincoln, Queen Elizabeth, Dick Clark, Miss All American Beauty and some that I have no idea what they are...
I got rid of a couple of my double pink knock out, they are getting too big and not pretty anymore...

Happy St Patrick's Day !

Thank you!

I do have the four you mention in your first paragraph. All of them get very big in a warm climate like yours. We might be able to take a guess at the identity of the others if you post pictures of them when they bloom.

Thanks..I will definitely do that...

Of the first group you mentioned, Love Song and Beverly are two of my favorite roses. Make sure you place Love Song where you can sniff the intoxicating perfume! That lavender color is really soft and beautiful, and blends well with companion plants. I planted white vinca and pink bubblegum petunias around it, and it was pretty all season. Beverly bloomed well into November.
My hedge of pink dbl Knock Outs is too tall, so I'm cutting it way back this spring. They bloom pretty much nonstop. A nursery near me prunes them and their carpet roses down to 6" each winter, and by midsummer, they are 3' tall and gorgeous.
This will be my first year to prune back any Austins for reasons other than winter dieback. I'm not seeing any dead canes this year, so I'm going to take out some of the bigger older canes, and do a little thinning. I'll shorten a few that are taller than me.
Temps are supposed to fall to 29 this weekend, so I may end up with some dieback after all, depending on how long the freeze lasts.

I have Queen of Sweden and the Alnwick. Both are strong, disease resistant, and repeat flower well. Queen of Sweden is my favourite of the two, although in the Alnwick probably has a stronger scent. But both are really lovely! You may find growing them in Texas you will need to provide regular watering (perhaps an irrigation system?). We grow some David Austin roses (although not these two) in the south of France and without irrigation they can struggle. They also like regular feeding!

javaMom: I have Queen of Sweden. It does "ok" in my climate, but isn't what I'd call spectacular. It definitely sulked all of last summer in the unending heat and humidity we had. The blooms seem to open too fast here and shatter quickly. That may all be weather related...don't know for sure.

Javamom, I have Beverly, planted last year, and it was gorgeous! Not a touch of disease and kept producing blooms though the hottest part of summer. I just planted Dark Desire a couple of weeks ago, but saw them as potted plants last summer (and had regretted not getting it then). The blooms I saw were gorgeous and fragrant, and seem to transition through various jewel tones as they develop. I planted that one near a Red Dragon Periscaria and Black Beauty Lilies in hopes of seeing some color echo.

That looks as if it will be a lovely combination, Neal.

Agreed - going to compliment each other very well - great choice!