New 2010 Roses from David Austin

Rosa 'Munstead Wood'

This rose is named after Gertrude Jekyll's garden in Surrey, and you can certainly imagine it in one of her borders.  A very deep crimson color, almost purple, it makes quite an unusual rose. This one is a shrub rose about 3 feet tall by 2.5 wide. It's broad and bushy and is said to have good disease resistance.  There's a strong fragrance which Austin says has been assessed as "warm and fruity with blackberry, blueberry and damson." (sounds like one of those wine descriptions).  To Zone 5.  Also, named "flower of the year" by the French magazine Rustica.

Rosa 'Wisley 2008'

 

Wisley won the top prize for a landscaping rose at this year's Concurs Internacional de Roses in Barcelona. At 5 feet tall and 3.5 feet wide, it can be used as a hedge or either for informal or formal garden styles.  It's a repeat bloomer with light pink flowers about 3 inches in diameter, petals in a rosette formation. To Zone 5, and it's also said to have a fruity fragrance somewhat reminiscent of raspberries.

Rosa 'Young Lycidas'

This year's top fragrance winner at the Barcelona competition, the rose is said to have a scent that's pure tea and old rose with hints of cedar. It's another shrub rose, 4 feet tall, 3 feet wide with large, deeply cupped flowers that have petals of deep magenta, red and pink.  The outer petals are more or less light purple and the color on the outside of these petals is almost silvery. To Zone 5, and the rose is named in honor of the 400th anniversary of the birth of the poet John Milton.

Rosa 'Sir John Betjeman'

 

With deep pink flowers of a light fragrance, this rose is another repeat bloomer, a medium sized shrub with an arching habit that reaches a size of 3.5 feet tall by 2.5 feet wide.  To zone 5, it's named after the British writer, journalist and broadcaster and would make a good gift for that media personality you know and like.

Rosa 'Princess Alexandra of Kent'

This pretty bloomer is named after Queen Elizabeth's cousin, who is an avid gardener and also a lover of roses.  A warm pink color, it's also a repeat bloomer with unusually large blooms.  Austin recommends planting this rose in groups of three to take full advantage of its sizeable flowers. It has a tea fragrance which changes to lemon, and with age, to blackcurrant.  Zone 5, 3.5 feet tall and 2.5 feet wide.

In general David Austin roses do quite well in hot and humid weather.  Some of them, notably 'The Pilgrim' and 'Graham Thomas' are among the roses at the US National Garden in Washington DC that are growing very nicely without the use of any chemicals. 

Comments

[Stopwatch Gardener]

this is interesting -- is David Austin US announcing that these are going to be new introductions in the US this year? I'm based in Scotland and all these roses have appeared in previous catalogs. Did you pick up this news from David Austin, or another publication?