Looking for recommendations for the healthiest (and fertile) David Austin roses from people in the mid Atlantic region.
I went with Molineux
I grew Molineux briefly when I lived in zone 7 Alabama. I never got it out of a large pot. It did not like the heat and humidity and the color washed out badly in the sun. I never got it to set a hip and got nothing from its pollen. I was unimpressed enough that I left it behind when I moved even though I brought along almost all my potted roses.
Mark
Hi Rob, have you got a color in mind ?.
Hi Rob,
The David Austin rose " molineux" is a product of “Graham Thomas” . A search on HMF shows it has lots of offspring.
Why won’t you use GT, a proven parent?
Chuckp
I felt that Heritage gave me some interesting roses.
I can recommend Crown Princess Margareta, blooming whole season, quite healthy, fragrant and with good winter hardyness.
Doesn’t have much pollen, but it has some, which is fertile. Sets hips too. Not very much seedlings germinated, but breeding with it can have nice results.
Here’s a seedling of mine with CPM as pollen parent: Circus Lamberti (Florende Delattre x Crown Princess Margareta).
And another one with CPM as seed parent. CPMxLaika3
Both photographed in their first season, a few moths old.
Hi Rob,
I have grown 8 or 10 Austins over the past decade but by the last few years they had been winnowed down to 4 plants: Crocus Rose, Lillian Austin, Sophy’s Rose and Wenlock. Of those, LA was consistently the healthiest but it also is the least Austin like of them. It set hips and I used it’s pollen on a number of plants. Wenlock also sets hips and produces pollen but it wasn’t reliably healthy so I didn’t use it much. Crocus Rose is so double that it is sterile but it is nice rose otherwise. Sophy’s Rose was the newest of them and I didn’t use it in any crosses. It’s also quite double and I don’t remember any hips on it. I had Graham Thomas for a number of years and even used it in some crosses but it proved quite susceptible to BS so I culled it.
P
I don’t have a color in mind. Anything other than pink, plain red or white would be desireable but I’m not set against those colors. It’s more about the bloom form for me. I found many good postings concerning Molineux over at the Garden Web Forum.
I’ve not tried any of those ypu mention Paul but don’t think they will work based on your observations.
I’ve grown Graham Thomas, Crown Princess Margareta and Heritage and had leaf spot issues with them here. I’m thinkng about revisting Abraham Darby and Pat Austin possibly.
Several David Austin roses I recommend that have good disease resistance and are good for crossing are the following:
Lilian Austin, pink blend, ARS rating 8.5 - Aloha strain. Nice bush, sets seeds readily. I’ve used for a lot of crossing.
Pat Austin, orange blend, ARS rating 7.9. I’ve had it for 10 years and am just starting to use it for crossing.
I much prefer Happy Child to Molineaux and Golden Celebration. ARS rating 8.0. Excellent, nice round bush. Lovely lemon yellow blooms.
I have two roses registered with the ARS and in HelpMeFind under my account (John Jelinek) that came from Lilian Austin: Reach for the Skies, an upright climber, and Heavenly Heights, also an upright climber with long individual stems.
These roses have held up well in Zone 6-7 on the west coast here.
Another rose that David Austin likes and includes in his catalogs is Gruss an Aachen, a floribunda with light pink blossoms, 1909, a
RS rating. I’ve had it for 15 years and used it occasionally in crossing.
John,
Gruss an Aachen is a pretty rose and has the look I’m seeking but I wonder about fertilty. Is Happy Child a good seed parent do you know?
I’m just starting to use Happy Child for crossing. It has pollen in it, but it’s harder to get out because it is buried in its tight type of flower, so you have to use tweezers to get the pollen out. It sets a few open pollinated seeds. The bush is very healthy and well-rounded, with good black spot resistance.
I’ve used Gruss an Aachen for the first time this year, so I haven’t seen the results yet.
My Golden Celebration is very nice, but seems to have blackspot in the summer and has a much bigger bush.
I tried Graham Thomas in the past, but in the summer it got big round black spots that annoyed me.
I’m also hanging onto Yellow Button, which is a short little yellow rose. It has a little black spot, but I’m keeping it for future use.
I tried Charlotte a couple years, but wasn’t impressed. It was a rather large plant, and its flowers fell apart immediately so I got rid of it.
I’m testing Buttercup, from the David Austin catalog. The crosses haven’t taken so far. I’m still checking it out.
I’m also starting to check out Teasing Georgia, an Austin climber.
Last year I tried the pollen from Jude the Obscure on Baby Love, a single yellow rose, and I’m waiting for the results.
I also have Crown Princess Marguerita, an Austin tall arching shrub. It has nice color and has been doing well.
I’ve grown Sharifa Asma, which had good vigor and fair disease resistance. It has a great flower, but falls apart too fast.
This year and last I’m testing Young Lycidas. This years it had results from crossing with its pollen. The crosses are just sprouting now.
The shrub rose Mayflower makes a nice bush, but I haven’t used it for any crosses yet.
I put Mary Rose back in my garden last year to use for crossing. It makes a nicely shaped shrub rose.
In the past I grew Gertrude Jekyll. It’s a very nice rose, but is too tall for the space I have.
I’ve grown Abraham Darby several times. It’s also a good rose, but too large for my yard and gets a little black spot here.
I had Charles Rennie Mackintosh in the past. I got rid of it because for some reason it got rust here.
I’m keeping the short rose Prospero for use in crossing red roses, even though it gets black spot here.
I’m also keeping The Prince for crossing red roses, but it’s not as vigorous as I would like and has a rangy bush and some black spot.
Early on, I tried Glamis Castle several times, but it wasn’t vigorous enough. I also tried Queen Nefertiti, but it wasn’t vigorous either.
I’ve used Peach Blossom’s pollen, but the plant has too much disease.
I tried Mortimer Sackler, climber. I wasn’t impressed and dumped it after one year.
I had one of David Austin’s early roses, Bow Bells. It didn’t want to grow for me so I dumped it.
I’ve probably had a few more Austin roses, but I can’t recall them right now. I get their catalog from Texas and observe them when they are planted at the Portland, OR Rose Garden. They have a lovely new Austin climber called The Wedgewood Rose.
I forgot to tell you Golden Celebration sets lots of seeds.
John,
Your list doesn’t say much for Austin roses. Would you say Yellow Button tolerates BS well and is it fertile? Do you have any experience with Jude the Obscure? Thank you.
Although Austin Roses can be very beautiful, maybe there are multiple routes to getting the kind of look, fragrance, health, etc. you are looking for. I love the flower form and fragrances too. I haven’t tried the newer Austin roses in recent years, but Heritage and Sir Clough have been relatively healthy in MN. I love Will Radler’s Orchid Romance for an old fashioned style with fragrant double blooms. The plant is manageable and healthy too. It is triploid and not too fertile. I should try harder with it as a male. I want to try some more groups of roses and don’t have too much experience with them yet, but the Kordes Perfuma roses, Meilland Romantica roses, etc. seem very nice. How do they do by you Rob? I love the fragrance of Meilland rose Dee-Lish. Although it doesn’t seem to have much pollen, it has produced seeds when pollinated and I’m getting some germination now. It has some Austin Rose genetics in its background.
David,
I live in leaf spot central here and honestly, most roses don’t do well here. The exception has been the Radler roses. I have no disease issues with any of his roses and they seem to pass on resistance to F1. The majority of the Austin’s that I’ve tried have had disease issues. if I remember correctly, Pay Austin did fairly well. Abraham Darby, Heritage and Graham Thomas tolerated disease. I may revisit those again. Thank you for pointing out Sir Clough, Dee-Lish and Orchid Romance. Do you know if Orchid Romance produces viable pollen?
I haven’t had much experience with the Romantica or Kordes Perfuma roses but will research them. Anyone have suggestions for healthy breeders from those series?
Thank you David.
The Canadian Artist rose “Bill Reid” has “Golden Celibration” as a pollen parent.
I recently acquired BR. In the greenhouse it succumbed to mildew quickly and turned out to be a spider mite magnet.
I tried GC many years ago. If I can remember accurately, most of the seeding were semi- doubles like BR.
If there is an upside, BR does produce copious amounts of viable pollen.
Researching for this article have given me a few ideas how I may proceed using some of my own proven
seedlings with BR Pollen. It deserve a second look for breeding some winter hardy yellow roses.
http://www.google.ca/search?q=hmf+bill+reid+rose&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari
Chuckp
Which article is that Chuck? Your link takes me to a google search list. How is disease resistance with BR? Thank you.
David,
I looked at the Meilland and Kordes roses and ordered the Kordes roses Zaide and Golden Fairy Tale. Thank you for pointing me in that direction.
Also ordered Austin rose, Darcey Bussel.