I Love My Garden: English Roses

I credit my mother for showing me my first David Austin catalog. Years ago, she had one sent to my address, and told me I simply had to have them in my garden. I was captivated by the catalog, carrying it around with me all winter, and ordering two roses to be delivered the following spring. They were bare root, and I had a few years of positive experiences with bare root roses.

They arrived. One giant Golden Celebration, and one giant Cl. Gertrude Jekyl. They were the largest most beautful bare roots I had ever held. Who really knows what went wrong, but the GC died, and the GJ bloomed once, and seemed to have died, but returned with one stem the last two years- no blooms. I wasn't deterred. I even sent away for a second CG, and they gladly sent me one. It's still alive. Actually bloomed last year. Still very small. I was set on having these English beauties in my garden.

I set out to find some potted varieties locally, bringing home in the next 2-3 years one Golden Celebration, one Mary Rose, one Christopher Marlowe, one Brother Cadfael, and one Windermere. I have had incredible success with them all- they are super winter hardy in my zone 5a/4b garden, often having almost no winter die back. I love the shape of their shrub, the layers of their blooms, their heavenly scent. I am HUGE fan of David Austin roses, and hope to add more to the garden year after year. All 6 of them will be making the journey to Minnesota with me.

Here are a few pictures of my English beauties from last June:

Christopher Marlowe: