I haven't been rose shopping the past few years because I have been busy moving ... and moving ... and moving again. There are so many new ones!

I am in a new area in a new home with a little yard that I am transforming into a cottage garden. I'll have room for manageable sized roses and at least one climber. I want fragrant roses with old fashioned full blooms. (Lots of petals, perhaps quartered, "cabbage", suitable for a Renoir painting)

Own root roses perform the best for me, but I am open to quality grafted plants from Canadian nurseries that have done well for people in similar climates - cold winters and humid summers.

I live 30 miles south and a zone warmer than my previous home. It makes a big difference in winter! I am in zone 6b or 7a depending on the source.

I love warm pastels with blue and purple accent perennials. I adore Crown Princess Margareta, my only surviving Austin rose.

English Shrub Rose (Rosa 'Crown Princess Margareta')

I want to add Sharifa. It has been on my wish list forever. It seems to have fallen out of favor with Austin - either because a new rose performs better or because it is off patent. Who knows.
Rose (Rosa 'Sharifa Asma')

I want to grow a white rose also, unsure which one.

I am also interested in roses from outer sources with similar blooms like some Kordes roses, antiques, etc. In this category, I want to grow Grus an Aachen and Souvenier de la Maison again.

Rose (Rosa 'Gruss an Aachen')
Rose (Rosa 'Souvenir de la Malmaison')

I am thinking of Alchemist for the climber, maybe with a companion.
Rose (Rosa 'Alchymist')

I also want to grow two small roses in large pots either two of the same or two different colors with the same form, perhaps the fairy, flanking my door. I have the pots, need the roses.
Rose (Rosa 'The Fairy')

Hi, Andi. It's so good to hear from you. I'm sorry you lost your other Austins, but Crown Princess Margareta is a fine one, so I'm glad you still have that one.

If I were you, I would order my Austins from Roses Unlimited, which has a new website.

https://rosesunlimitedsc.com/

The Austins are $19 each, shipping to your state is $6 per rose, and there's a $5 handling charge for each order, no matter how large the order is. The Canadian nurseries are not a good source for Austins. Pickering is gone, Palatine no longer carries Austins, and Hortico is an iffy source -- sometimes good, but usually bad.

I prefer the grafted Austins, but if you want own-root plants, then Roses Unlimited might be the best choice for you. Their plants are larger and more reasonably priced than the plants of most other own-root nurseries. They have Sharifa Asma. Here's the full list of their English roses.

https://rosesunlimitedsc.com/2...

I think the best white Austin is Fair Bianca, and Roses Unlimited does carry that one. They also have Wildeve, which I remember as one of your favorites. Gruss an Aachen is listed among their floribundas, which are $18 each. Souvenir de la Malmaison is listed (but misspelled as Malmaision) among their bourbons for $18. Alchymist is listed among their shrubs, also for $18. The Fairy is listed among their polyanthas for $17.

So, this could be a one-stop shop, but there are a couple of things you might want to consider: Are you aware that Alchymist is a once-bloomer? Are you also aware that The Fairy might be too large for your containers?

DA Lady of Shallot, Sharifa Asma and Bolero have done very well for me. Good repeats and great fragrance. Good luck with your garden.

I am aware that Alchymist is a once bloomer, but it is so beautiful. I have almost ordered it several times, crossed it off the list because it is a once bloomer, then regretted it later.

I have four tall spruce trees that I want roses and clematis to climb. I think they are spruce, they are the tall, skinny evergreen trees popular for privacy fences. Mine are spaced apart. I think they look too architectural unadorned bordering a cottage style planting.

William Baffin is slated for the big one near the back fence and the back fence itself. My original plant has rooted a second plant. A big, thorny rose is perfect for the back fence. I'll hopefully get more blooms training the canes horizontally too.

ZD, another once bloomer, is on the way from a friend. It will be on the tree closest to the house hopefully with a lavender clematis. That leaves two trees.

I have never trained a rose up a tree before, but I have seen pretty pictures - My attempts never work out like the pictures, especially in English gardening magazines, but I'll give it a try and see what happens.

Crown princess could be grown as a climber - I originally did that with this plant. I prefer to have her in the back corner of the garden near the patio (which was probably someone else's parking pad - parking is scarce in the new neighborhood).

I have baby blanket from Kordes that I grow as a climber that will be along the fence facing the walkway with a light lavender clematis, perhaps blue angel and probably some reseeded morning glories (the remains of some are already there. I wonder what color they are.) Baby blanket roots wherever it touches the ground, so I have several plants.

I have three mini climbers - white, pink and orange to grow on my "ladies" ... black metal forms for the garden that I call the three graces.

I think you are right about the fairy. It only works in containers in fussy English gardens. Left to its own devices it can sprawl. It is still on my wishlist, but not for the containers.

I have bolero, the floribunda. It is exactly the style floribunda I am looking for! If it were fragrant it would be perfect, but it is beautiful nonetheless.

Lady of Shalott is one of the relatively new, pretty dark apricot/coral/salmon roses like Pat Austin and Summer Song. I love that type of color!

Wasn't there a new lavender Austin? Perhaps it was a dud.

ZD? Do you mean Zephirine Drouhin? It's not a once-bloomer. The spring flush is much more impressive than subsequent flushes, but it does rebloom.

I can't think of any new lavender Austins. Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1988) is the very best lavender Austin, in my opinion. There's also Young Lycidas, which is newer, but still almost 10 years old.

Yes, I meant Zephirine Drouhin. I didn't realize it rebloomed. Since it has few thorns, I may train it along a fence instead - there is a fence near the trees. The trees are tall spikes, so the area gets sunlight. I read ZD is shade tolerant, but I won't push my luck. Besides, I have to put the fancy hostas somewhere.

I am putting down cardboard as I unpack boxes to act as biodegradable weed cloth and to help keep Winston the pug's feet dry. Earlier this week he was ankle deep in muddy clay and not pleased at all - especially when he got a bath. I started arranging the potted roses. They hold down the cardboard and help me visualize the space.

I am quite a fan of DA roses. The obscure Ambridge Rose has the most distinctive odor I've found in DA roses, but it grows slowly into a spindly plant - as did many of DA's early introductions.The bloom is a pale pink with peachy overtones. I've planted it with spindly Linnea's Rose and flanked it with Water Lily. Surprisingly, the whole thing sorta works. In pure white I am utterly captivated by the form of Claire Austin. It's not a rose that grows happily in dryish or poor soil. Nor does it form a dense shrub like, say, Crocus Rose; but I do find the blossoms irresistible. Susan Williams-Ellis has done remarkably well for me with half a day of shade.

I've killed Souvenir de Malmaison three, maybe four times, and my Gruss an Aachen has been languishing in the shade of a towering Grande Dame. Hoping that moving it a little to the left and pruning GD will imrove things. Maybe it will bloom for the first time in its fifth year.

I've failed with Alchymist only two or three times and hoping this time it might survive, knock on wood. (ouch.) It is tempting rabbits and deer even as we speak with its tender new leaves; but this year we are on a Liquid Fence campaign. Will report back.

When I lived in NJ, Zephyrine Drouhine would bloom once a year. It does the same here in AZ. But I mistreat it. In both cases it is planted where "one just doesn't plant roses" because there is too much shade there.

Regarding Lady of Shallott, I cannot remember whether the flowers are fragrant, yet I keep buying more even in the absence of space. It is among the most vigorous and well branched roses I've ever grown. It seems completely immune to disease. It produces lots of flowers. There may be better roses, but while I am thinking of LoS, none springs to mind.

Here is my future rose garden today.

Brrrr!

But the snow will melt soon enough and I see you have already found someone to help you fertilise the soil!

Snow. Sometimes it looks like that here in March and April... but we have a lot of days like today when it's 75, clear, and almost blindingly sunny.

Back on topic..

DA comments that good white roses are hard to breed. I am gaga about the flowers on Claire Austin they start out with a hint of lemon and fade to white. they look very fragile and are deeply cupped. Sadly, the plant seems to need a little more water than I can give it. With half day of light Susan Williams-Ellis seems to be thriving.

My own Teasing Georgia and Crown Princess Margarita enter their third year this year. One gets too much shade and will probably have to be moved. The other is slowly building up into what I expect to be a wonderful plant. I could not grow Golden Celebration in NJ thanks to blackspot. Undecided about whether I can grow it here in AZ. Graham Thomas has reached 8 ft, but the canes are not quite flexible enough to self-peg, so I'm pulling them horizontal on a nearby fence. Lady Emma Hamilton and The Poet arrive soon to inject some excitement into a few more bits of the garden. They'll romp not far from The Lady Gardener and The Generous Gardener. I'm thinking that with all those gardeners out there I'll have to spend less time weeding.

In lavender/purple I planted Young Lycidas which shot up quickly and bloomed nicely. I loved it. It also collapsed quickly in mid summer, possibly due to gopher damage. I often give up on a rose after failing once or twice, but this one is definitely on my 'try again' list. Princess Anne and England's Rose seem to be about the same color, maybe a bit lighter. Lavender is not listed as a search color at the DA site. Ancient Marriner and Olivia Rose Austin are recent introductions in a coolish light pink.

Hi, I'm a great admirer of DA. roses on this other side of the world. I've got quite a collection and would never tire in adding a few each year. Andi, I was wondering about Francine Austin. It blooms forever in huge clusters of very delicate small sized blooms . It can be pegged down and the sprays look like bridal wreaths. My other white is Winchester Cathedral. A very elegant bush that is covered with blooms even now, our fall here. Summer song and Lady Hamilton are on my wish list along with Darcey Busell and W.Shakespeare. One other white is offered here called Lichfield Angel, but I've no experience with it.

Hi just as a reminder two Austin roses still this late in the season:

The Pilgrim



Graham Thomas

I'll try to get some more pics in a few days before the fall season sets in with our first frosts.

Beautiful!