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R.I.P... David C.H. Austin - rosarian - 1926-2018

MarlorenaMarlorena Posts: 8,705
in The potting shed
The end of an era with the passing of Mr David Austin, Snr, yesterday... along with the late Peter Beales and Graham Stuart Thomas, they brought old fashioned and English roses back into the forefront of rose gardening..  

You don't have to like roses,  but he sent the best of British to the outside world.. a great British entrepreneur in rose horticulture, one that specialized in roses of a particular kind that many of us will continue to enjoy and regard as essential in our gardening landscape... 


East Anglia, England
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Posts

  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Well said Marlorena.  May their work continue with their successors and inspire others.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • PhaidraPhaidra Posts: 582
    When I need anything in particular, I don't particularly, go by the reputation of the breeder as by the advice that I get on this forum.  I haven't regretted it yet!
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    That's all very well but on here what you'll get is advice, info, experience, humour, the occasional spat.  You won't get roses bred for colour, perfume, disease resistance, suitability for smaller modern gardens............
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    Another of the great gardeners gone. He, more than anybody else, did so much to improve the quality and range of roses available to the public.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    The idea of a rose garden had become rather tired ... David Austin breathed new life into the traditional English garden. He will be missed but like Sir Christopher Wren, his memorial is around us  <3

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • NanniemoNanniemo Posts: 226
    Very sad, I love my David Austin roses. May he rest in peace.
  • Lily PillyLily Pilly Posts: 3,845
    I must admit I have not always had success with DA roses but I have huge admiration for the man and what he achieved. RIP
    Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.”
    A A Milne
  • TopbirdTopbird Posts: 8,355
    I grew up with a father who grew hybrid tea roses in a large rose bed. Nothing else in that bed except some wall flowers for spring colour and scent. For most of the year it looked like a large border of sticks - and horrid thorny sticks which seemed to need a lot of spraying and attention. When the roses bloomed they were lurid colours and had little scent.

    Consequently, I thought I didn’t like roses.

    Then I discovered my first DA rose...

    I don’t have a garden ‘full’ of roses - but there are quite a lot. All have a beautiful form and colour, are highly scented, repeat flower over a long season, require no spraying and grow happily in mixed borders with other plants growing through them and round them. They are star performers throughout the summer.

    Thank you David Austin you will live on forever in our gardens.
    Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
  • PhaidraPhaidra Posts: 582
    Obelixx said:
    That's all very well but on here what you'll get is advice, info, experience, humour, the occasional spat.  You won't get roses bred for colour, perfume, disease resistance, suitability for smaller modern gardens............
    Of course, and he was, indisputably, great in his field.  He will be missed by rose lovers, no doubt.
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    I have several of his lovely roses in SW France, but sometimes they struggle with the summer heat and need a lot of watering. But when they do well  they are so beautiful and so fragrant. Thank goodness he had a son to carry on who is the managing director. Rose growing must be good for you, he was 92.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
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