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David Austin Roses, are they worth it?

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  • rosemummyrosemummy Posts: 2,010

    interesting your commment on the lack of scent Verdun, I have been very disappointed with 3 DA roses,same because of light and not a true rose scent, though Gertrude Jekyll is amazing,scept'd isle, egalantine and alan tirchmarsh all v disappointing st swithun I couldn't bear the smell of and dug it up and gave it away!!

  • YviestevieYviestevie Posts: 7,066

    Hi Rosemummy, I haven't got any of the three you mention (I have got GJ and she is a delight).  I have the following DA roses and they all smell lovely and perform well (as I said verdict out on Munstead Woods - not because of perfume, got quite a bit of black spot last year)

    Mortimer Sackler, Claire Austin, Molineaux, Munstead Woods, Golden Beauty, Mayflower and Susan William-Ellis.

    Hi from Kingswinford in the West Midlands
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,086

    RM - my Sceptr'd Isle has a great perfume.  Not as strong as GJ but still good and the flowers are lovely and some still going since we've had such a mild winter.

    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
  • YviestevieYviestevie Posts: 7,066

    I do think the perfume improves with age. Claire Austin was new to me last summer and the perfume was beautiful but not very strong.  Also the weather has an impact, I find they always smell stronger in the warm sun and after summer rain.

    Hi from Kingswinford in the West Midlands
  • rosemummyrosemummy Posts: 2,010

    ah interesting mine (s.i) not quite 2 years old smell very light

  • Suz3Suz3 Posts: 105

    I would say a definite YES!


    In May 2014 my Sister-In-Law bought us two DA rose bushes - variety Molineux (my Hubby is a Wolves fan!!) . I planted them in a South facing new garden and they have flowered prolifically since then.
    They stopped producing new flowers late November last year.

    She bought them from the DA place near Albrighton which is on the way to Wolverhampton.

    Worth the premium I believe in this instance.

  • Lou12Lou12 Posts: 1,149

    I really do love David Austin roses and plan to buy many more this year. I found the scent amazing, I have Gertrude Jekyll and Lady of the Lake. The scent grew as the plants matured. I do order them directly from David Austin and they both arrived in perfect condition. I am going to get a Lady Hamilton climber this year when my new fence has been put in.

  • Aster2Aster2 Posts: 629

    I ordered two bare-rooted roses directly from DA last winter. One of them had a bit of dieback and DA promptly sent a replacement. Very polite and professional. Both the original roses and the replacement survived. They got blackspot in early winter, but the lady in our local GC said that "if that's the worst you've got, they're in very good shape". So mine are fairly disease-resistant.

    Re a white or pink rambler, DA The Lady of the Lake is a lovely pale pink (nearly white) rambler with smallish flowers and has a gorgeous scent.

    I'm going to get Lady Emma Hamilton next.

    As far as are they worth the price, my point of view is that if you want a particular plant, then there's no point buying something else and thinking, every time you look at it, "OK, it's not what I wanted but I saved five quid."

  • Aster2Aster2 Posts: 629

    Lou12, Lady Emma Hamilton and Geoff Hamilton are shrub roses, not climbers.

  • I would pay the extra to have any rose supplied by David Austin but would buy direct  from David Austin. The  chain garden centres can have had potted roses for some time and they prune them when they have been on the shelf too long and this is not often done well. If you buy direct from Dabid Austin they will arrive in perfect condition and well shaped.

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