How to Grow Climbing and Rambling Roses

A climbing rose makes a wonderful plant choice when you have a wall, fence or pergola to cover with foliage, flowers, and fragrance. Climbing roses offer a wide range of flower and fragrance types in almost every colour of the rainbow. Not only can they soften vertical surfaces, but they can also add extra beauty and romance to your garden or patio.

With hundreds of different cultivars available, it can certainly make choosing even more difficult in the case of climbing as well as rambling roses. While both types need support for their long canes, there are some key differences in these two groups of roses.

James Galway is a beautiful David Austin rose with classic English-style flowers and light fragrance. In the photos, it is growing on a vertical metal support in the rose garden at the National Botanic Garden Glasnevin in Dublin, Ireland. It can reach 12 feet high and is hardy to zone 4.

What are the differences between climbing and rambling roses?

Climbing roses:

– are less vigorous growing

– provide singular, larger flowers sprinkled throughout the entire plant

– typically repeat bloom in waves throughout the season from June until fall

– have stiffer canes with less flexibility

– bloom on new wood

Rambling roses:

– are more vigorous growing

– have smaller flowers that form in clusters throughout the entire plant often followed by nice rose hips

– typically flower once a year in June (though there are exceptions)

– have more flexible canes that allow for easier wrapping around structures

– bloom on old wood

How long will it take for my climbing or rambling rose to establish?

Keep in mind that most climbing and rambling roses need at least 2-3 years to establish before they can begin to attain their full growth potential.

Make sure to provide rich compost, ample water, and fertilizer. A transplant fertilizer should be applied to provide nutrients and rooting hormone during initial establishment followed later in the season and subsequent years by a good quality rose fertilizer.

During the first season after planting, lots of growth will occur but most of it will take place below ground. Your rose will be working on establishing a strong root system to support future upward growth. Above ground, you’ll still see some stem growth and flowering but year one will feel like a slow start.

Typically, by the third year your rose should be tall, luscious, and full. From year four onwards, it will continue to get fuller and more impressive year after year.

How do I choose between a climbing or a rambling rose?

Most gardeners opt for a climber over a rambler as they want repeat flowering throughout the season, however, there are ramblers that are repeat flowering such as David Austin’s Malvern Hills and The Albrighton Rambler. Those who are looking for low maintenance can consider a rambler as they bloom on old wood and require less pruning. The rambler’s flexible canes can be used to carefully wrap around a column, large tree, or archway without fear of cane breakage. A climbing rose can be more difficult to train and require more pruning, however, its showy, multiple waves of repeat-blooming, large flowers make them more popular than their counterparts.

Malvern Hills is a David Austin rambling rose bearing pale yellow and creamy white flowers with medium fragrance. Unlike other rambling roses, it will rebloom through the season.

The Albrighton Rambler is a reblooming David Austin rambling rose with dense blush pink rosettes and light fragrance.

How do I prune climbing and rambling roses?

Climbing or rambling roses require different pruning and deadheading techniques to encourage flowering and keep plants healthy, manageable and with a pleasing structure.

During the growing season, spent flowers on ramblers can be cut back or left to form rose hips except for repeat-flowering ramblers which should be deadheaded to encourage rebloom. Climbing roses should be deadheaded throughout the season to encourage successive waves of flowers.

Ramblers can be pruned in late summer or early fall or they can be pruned along with climbers in early spring. Remove dead, diseased, or dying canes by cutting them to the base near the ground. New, unbloomed shoots (typically bright green) will bloom in their second year, so maintain these stems as they will provide the upcoming season’s flowers. You can also trim side shoots by two thirds and cut back tips by a couple of buds to encourage branching and more flowers. As ramblers are vigorous growers, established plants can become very thick and dense over the years. Old canes can be cut down to the base to create more space if needed. With full sized, mature plants you can also trim down one third of the canes each season starting with the oldest.

For climbers, major pruning is best done after the last frost, just before spring growth begins. At this point, the rose will have long since shed its leaves which will assist in identifying the canes. Remove dead, diseased, or dying canes by cutting them to the base near the ground. Weak canes any thinner than a pencil should be removed. Keep the main, strong canes and trim their side shoots back to about two inches or five centimetres maintaining one strong bud. Tie new stems to create a well spread out framework that will provide a nice display when in flower and maintains good air circulation through the foliage. If plants become congested after many years, trim out some of the oldest canes.

How do I get more flowers from my climbing and rambling roses?

Of course, full sun, rich soil, ample water, and good fertilizing are of paramount importance but here’s a fun tip: training both climbers and ramblers to grow horizontally will encourage the plant to produce more flowers on the side shoots along the entire cane, rather than long, tall octopus-like canes with flowers just at the tips. Be careful when training stems horizontally to avoid snapping off the main canes. New shoots are softer, more malleable, and easier to work with.

Should I plant companion plants with my climbing or rambling roses?

The strong stems and woody framework of climbing and rambling roses make a great support to grow complimentary vines with and through your roses to add extra layers of colour, flower contrast, and fragrance. Honeysuckles, jasmines, and clematis, all make great companions that will grow through your rose popping out with flowers that may bloom at the same time as the rose flowers or may maintain the show after your rambler is done flowering for the season or between flushes on your climbing rose.

Clematis ‘Duchess of Edinburgh’ makes a great companion for this climbing rose in Gary’s garden.

You can also plant perennials and groundcovers at the base of your roses. As long as you are providing ample water, good soil, and abundant fertilizer, there will be enough resources to go around allowing all plants to thrive.

In general, perennial companions should not be taller than 2-3 feet (60-90 cm) so as not to obscure the rose flowers. Any number of perennial plants could be used including Campanula, Astrantia, Agastache, Alstroemeria, summer-blooming, non-bulbous Allium, stonecrops, and Salvia. Avoid plants such as Monarda and Phlox which can be susceptible to powdery mildew which could also affect your rose.

When it comes to ground covers, it’s important to choose the right growth type since you’ll want to be applying compost each year to maintain soil fertility and water holding capacity for your rose. Use rhizomatous or running ground covers that can handle the addition of compost in spring like sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum), Ajuga, Fragaria, lily-of-the-valley, Bergenia, and Epimedium. Or use mass-planted clumping plants like Brunnera, Hosta, Heuchera, Pulmonaria, and hellebores to form a ground cover around the base of your rose. Since black spot and powdery mildew spores can often infect plants by splashing up onto leaves from the soil during a rainstorm, planting ground covers at the base of your roses can help keep your plants healthier.

What are the top ten best climbing roses?

There are so many beautiful options in climbing roses and everyone has their preferences for colour and fragrance. But here are our top ten staff picks for climbing roses:

Crown Princess Margareta is a David Austin rose that is a must-have for collectors thanks to its densely packed apricot-orange blooms.

Eden is a cult favourite with its bicolour flowers that are bright pink in the centre with a cream outer layer that adds visual interest to any garden.

Florentina is a classic red English style rose from Kordes with rounded, globe-shaped flowers that form in gorgeous clusters.

Bathsheba is a David Austin climbing rose bearing apricot rosettes and a wonderful myrrh fragrance.

Strawberry Hill forms large pink rosettes and is considered a short climber which can be ideal for container growing and in small spaces.

Graham Thomas has golden yellow flowers and a light tea fragrance. It has won many awards including the world’s favourite rose!

Lavender Crush can be grown as a shrub or a short climbing rose perfect for small spaces. It has unique lavender purple petals and a strong lemony fragrance.

Lady of Shalott has beautiful peachy orange and yellow flowers with medium fragrance and makes a good short climber to eight feet.

Kiss Me Kate is a beautiful pink climber with a strong, gorgeous fragrance.

The Generous Gardener has beautiful light pink flowers and a strong myrrh fragrance.

At Phoenix Perennials we carry a wide selection of roses each year for British Columbian and Canadian gardeners, with a particular focus on English-style and David Austin roses, Brad Jalbert roses, and roses from other top breeders like Kordes, Meilland, and Weeks. We offer them for pre-order starting in the summer and running through the fall and winter with regular launches as our suppliers confirm our orders. In the spring these are provided potted for local customers or shipped bare root across Canada. Extra roses are then available for sale in the nursery from spring through fall. Make sure to sign up for the Rose Alert to be the first to know about the Great Rose Pre-Order and all things roses at Phoenix Perennials. We’ll send you occasional updates on our roses and email you first when our pre-orders launch.

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At Phoenix Perennials we offer over 5000 different plants every year for in-person shopping at our garden centre and plant nursery in Richmond, British Columbia, part of Greater Vancouver. Additionally, we offer more than 3000 different plants each year for mail-order shipping across Canada. Stay connected with our diverse offerings and all things Phoenix Perennials by signing up for our E-Newsletter and Alerts and engaging with us on social media. Happy gardening!

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The Five Different Types of Rose Fragrance

When we plant roses, we think first with our eyes when we consider the colour and form of the bloom. Certainly choosing one’s favourite colour or the perfect hue for that magical colour combination is extremely important. Next, since we’re talking roses, we should think with our noses. Roses are not just famous for their visual beauty but also their fragrance. Roses can have strong, medium strong, light, or no fragrance, depending on the cultivar. But beyond the intensity of the fragrance, roses also offer different types of fragrances to choose from. Let’s explore the different types of scents offered by the world of roses.

There are five distinct fragrances used to describe roses:

The experience of rose fragrances can be complex. Some roses might offer a combination of these five main types of perfumes. Also, what one person smells and experiences when they put their nose deep into the petals of a beautiful rose might not be the same as the next person. We also all have different olfactory capabilities in terms of the sensitivity of our noses to detect fragrances in general and then to appreciate the different nuances within them. Though experiencing fragrance can also be learned. You need to keep smelling the roses!

People who are sensitive to fragrance can choose to plant roses with strengths from light to strong while people who have a weaker sense of smell should choose roses listed as having a medium to strong fragrance. After that, decide which are your favourite types of fragrances and how you want to enjoy them. Do you want to smell your roses as you walk about the garden or sit on your patio? Do you want to use your roses for baking or to scent your bath water? Or do you want to cut your roses to enjoy in a vase indoors?

Tranquility has a strong and romantic old rose fragrance.

The beautiful, deep crimson rosettes of Darcey Bussell have a delightful fruity fragrance.

The beautiful, pure pink blooms of Gentle Hermione have a strong fragrance which is a mix of myrrh and old rose.

The glowing magenta-pink flowers of Princess Anne fade to rich pink and lavender pink and exude a lovely perfume of tea.

Lichfield Angel’s lovely white and yellow flowers offer a light musk perfume.

Golden Celebration is another example of a rose that mixes different fragrance types. Its glowing golden flowers offer a lovely tea fragrance mixed with the fruity notes of citrus, lychee, and strawberries!

Here is a list of the five different types of rose fragrance and different cultivars that offer these heavenly perfumes. All of these roses are ones that we usually offer in our Great Rose Pre-Order that runs from summer through winter for pick-up and shipping each spring and that are then also available for in-person shopping at the nursery through the spring, summer and fall as potted plants.

Old Rose Fragrance
Brother Cadfael
Desdemona
Eglantyne
Gentle Hermione
Gertrude Jekyll
Harlow Carr
Honeymoon
Julie Andrews
Melody Parfumee
Silas Marner
Summer Romance Parfuma
Tess of the D’Ubervilles
Thomas A Becket
Tranquility
Westerland
Yves Piaget

Fruity Fragrance
Anne Marie
All Dressed Up
Arctic Blue
Beverly Anne Clay
Bliss Parfuma
Bolero
Bordeaux
Cinco de Mayo
Cinderella Fairy Tale
Crown Princess Margareta
Darcey Bussell
Dee-Lish
Double Ambre
Earth Angel Parfuma
Elegant Fairy Tale
Emily Bronte
Eustacia Vye
Forever Amber
Full Sail
Gabriel Oak
Gold and Great
Honey Dijon
Honeymoon
Hot Cocoa
Imogen
James L. Austin
Jump for Joy
Kiss Me Kate Arborose
Lavender Crush
Life of the Party
Livin’ Easy
Love at First Sight
Melody Parfumee
Moonlight in Paris
Moonlight Romantica
Olivia Rose Austin
Pop Art
Princesse Charlene de Monaco
State of Grace
Summer Romance Parfuma
Sweet Mademoiselle
The Poet’s Wife
Top Cream
Violet’s Pride
Westerland
Yves Piaget

Myrrh Fragrance
Anne Marie
Bathsheba
Boscobel
Claire Austin
Distant Drums
Gentle Hermione
Harlow Carr
Honey Perfume
Hot Cocoa
Julia Child
Julie Andrews
Mary Lou Whitney
Melody Parfumee
Polka
Queen of Sweden
Sceptr’d Isle
Strawberry Hill
Summer Romance Parfuma
The Generous Gardener
The Pilgrim
Wollerton Old Hall

Tea Fragrance
Beloved Bill
Burst of Joy
Charlotte
Colette
Devotion
Emily Bronte
Golden Celebration
Graham Thomas
Leonardo da Vinci
Molineux
Port Sunlight
Princess Alexandra of Kent
Princess Anne
Roald Dahl
Summer Song
Teasing Georgia
The Lady Gardener
The Pilgrim
Vanessa Bell

Musk Fragrance
Lichfield Angel
Malvern Hills

Roses with a Complex Mix of Different Fragrance Types
Emily Bronte
Golden Celebration
Honeymoon
Hot Cocoa
Julie Andrews
Melody Parfumee
Summer Romance Parfuma
The Pilgrim
Westerland
Yves Piaget

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Growing Roses in Containers

Growing Roses in Containers Roses are one of the most beautiful and beloved flowers you can grow. Their wide range of colours and flower forms and their fragrance have endeared them to generations of gardeners. But in today’s modern world with our ever denser cities and

Growing Roses in Containers

Roses are one of the most beautiful and beloved flowers you can grow. Their wide range of colours and flower forms and their fragrance have endeared them to generations of gardeners. But in today’s modern world with our ever denser cities and suburbs, we have less space in which to garden. People with small spaces such as small gardens or balconies often wonder if they can grow roses in containers. The short answer is yes. But there are various secrets of success.

Here are the various considerations for planting and growing a rose in a container:

1) Selecting the right size rose. While all roses can be grown in containers, planting the correct-sized rose will save you from repotting down the line. We recommend you select small to medium-sized rose bushes for container growing. The largest shrubs we recommend are ones that reach 4.5 feet high x 4 feet wide at maturity – anything larger will do best in ground unless you’re planting in a really large pot! There are also roses that have been specially bred for containers that are small size but big on flowers like the Veranda and Sunblaze series. Also, many of Brad Jalbert’s introductions have compact habits, great disease resistance, and stunning flowers making them excellent for containers.

2) Choosing the right size pot. The minimum size pot for container growing is 17 inches high and wide, though larger is always better, even for a small to medium-sized rose. For the larger shrubs, a larger container will be needed. A pot the size of a half wine barrel would be ideal allowing the roots ample space to spread. The container will also need to have adequate drainage through holes in the bottom to prevent root rot.

3) Soil requirements. Since the rose will be grown in a container versus the ground, proper soil porosity is essential to allow water to drain through the medium and air pockets to form since roots also need to breathe. To ensure proper drainage, it’s critical that the soil used for planting is chunky and not overly dense. We like to use Sea Soil Container Complete mixed with about 30% perlite and coarse bark.

4) Watering and fertilizing. Roses grown in containers will need to be watered more frequently than in ground. During the hot summer months, it is not unusual to water daily or even twice a day during a heat wave. As such, roses grown in containers will also need to be fertilized more frequently as the frequent watering will flush fertilizers out of the soil more quickly. We recommend fertilizing with 14-14-16 Perennial and Shrub slow release in spring when the foliage first begins to emerge and again at the beginning of summer. This four month slow release will provide a good baseline of macro and micronutrients through the growing season to encourage the first flush of flowers in June and subsequent bloom through the summer and fall. For even more flower power, you can apply a water soluble fertilizer with a high middle number once every week to two weeks during the flower season.

5) Winterizing. The rule of thumb is that any plant grown in a container loses a zone of hardiness. The same goes for roses. If the rose is rated for zone 5 and is now grown in a container, it is now treated as a zone 6 plant. For rosarians living in colder climates, we strongly recommend insulating the container to prevent winter damage to the roots. You can place a sheet of styrofoam under the pot and wrap the pot with bubble wrap. You could also wrap the canes with thick burlap which will reduce desiccation from cold winds. Winter damaged canes or canes with brown tips can be trimmed away in the spring.

While any rose could be grown in a container if the container is big enough, here are some beautiful roses that are particularly great for container growing:

The Kordes Veranda roses are a compact series designed specifically for containers. Clockwise from top left: Veranda Cream, Veranda Mango, Veranda White, and Veranda Lavender.

These compact David Austin roses grow well in large containers. Clockwise from top left: Darcey Bussell, Harlow Carr, Olivia Rose Austin, and Princess Alexandra of Kent.

These compact David Austin roses also grow well in large containers. Clockwise from top left: Princess Anne, Roald Dahl, The Poet’s Wife, and Vanessa Bell.

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Mini and Patio Roses for Small Spaces and Containers : Small Roses with Lots of Flower Power

Mini and Patio Roses for Small Spaces and Containers : Small Roses with Lots of Flower Power Compact patio and miniature roses offer you more options to plant roses not just in your garden but also in containers on your patio and on your balcony...

Mini and Patio Roses for Small Spaces and Containers : Small Roses with Lots of Flower Power

Compact patio and miniature roses offer you more options to plant roses not just in your garden but also in containers on your patio and on your balcony. You’ll be able to surround yourself with roses no matter where you are in your personal outdoor space. These cultivars are also wonderful for small space gardeners who can grow lots of roses in not a lot of space.

Container Gardening Tips:

If you grow these small roses in containers remember: fertilizer, fertilizer, fertilizer. Roses are heavy feeders. In a container, they depend on you for their needs. A good fertilizer regimen with slow release fertilizer and liquid feeding every one to two weeks will result in amazing performance and tons of flowers. You’ll also want a chunky mix with added bark and drainage to keep those roots healthy. Heavy compost in containers wouldn’t be a good thing. Use a good peat and perlite based mix and add about 30% large, chunky bark. Then just give them sun and water and watch them bloom!

Compact Shrub Roses

Our compact shrub roses grow to just 2-3 feet high and wide perfect for small spaces and containers. We have the neon ‘Brick House Pink’ and then the Veranda series from Kordes known for their amazing breeding which includes great flowers and fragrance and top disease resistance. The Veranda series are bred in the English style giving those who love David Austin roses wonderful options to have these romantic flowers but on smaller plants.

Rosa ‘Brick House Pink’ – Floribunda Rose
Rosa ‘Brick House Pink’ has stunning neon pink semi-double flowers on compact plants perfect for containers.

Rosa Kordes Veranda ‘Fiesta’ – Rose
Rosa Veranda ‘Fiesta’ bears a profusion of flowers in shades of yellow, cream, pink, orange, and red.

Rosa Kordes Veranda ‘Brilliant’ – Rose
Rosa Veranda ‘Brilliant’ is a compact shrub rose with bright red blooms with a spicy fragrance. Perfect for containers.

Rosa Kordes Veranda ‘Cream’ – Rose
Rosa Veranda ‘Cream’ is a compact Kordes shrub rose bearing apricot blooms with a strong fragrance perfect for containers.

Rosa Kordes Veranda ‘Lavender’ – Rose
Rosa Veranda ‘Lavender’ is a compact Kordes shrub rose bearing lavender blooms with light fragrance perfect for containers.

Rosa Kordes Veranda ‘Mango’ – Rose
Rosa Veranda ‘Mango’ is a compact Kordes shrub rose bearing copper-orange blooms with a light fragrance perfect for containers.

Rosa Kordes Veranda ‘Roxanne’ – Rose
Rosa Veranda ‘Roxanne’ is a compact Kordes shrub rose with romantic, cupped, ruffled, English style red flowers.

Rosa Meilland ‘Abbaye de Cluny’ – Rose
Rosa ‘Abbaye de Cluny’ is a Meilland shrub rose bearing apricot blooms and a spicy citrus fragrance.

Miniature Roses

The Sunblaze series comes from Meilland of France. These everblooming miniature roses will reach 1-2 feet high and wide and bloom all summer long into fall. They come in a range of colours with beautiful flower forms. They are perfect for containers, patios, and balconies.

Rosa Meilland Sunblaze ‘Amber’ – Miniature Rose
Rosa Sunblaze ‘Amber’ has bright tangerine orange flowers that age to peachy orange.

Rosa Meilland Sunblaze ‘Bridal’ – Miniature Rose
Rosa Sunblaze ‘Bridal’ has pure white to ivory white flowers with cream centres.

Rosa Meilland Sunblaze ‘Dragon Fruit’ – Miniature Rose
Rosa Sunblaze ‘Dragon Fruit’ offers glowing fuchsia flowers with wonderful geometric forms to the petals.

Rosa Meilland Sunblaze ‘Peach’ – Miniature Rose
Rosa Sunblaze ‘Peach’ offers multicoloured blooms of pink, yellow, orange, cream, and apricot.

Rosa Meilland Sunblaze ‘Pink’ – Miniature Rose
Rosa Sunblaze ‘Pink’ offers charming flowers in shades of hot pink, light pink, and cream.

Rosa Meilland Sunblaze ‘Rainbow’ – Miniature Rose
Rosa Sunblaze ‘Rainbow’ offers a bright display of yellow, orange and red flowers.

Rosa Meilland Sunblaze ‘Watermelon’ – Miniature Rose
Rosa Sunblaze ‘Watermelon’ offers vibrant fiery red flowers that age to deep pinkish red.

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New Striped Roses

New Striped Roses Striped roses are like plants with variegated foliage, they're not for everyone but those who like them, like them a lot! And even many of those who say they don't like them come around eventually. Striped roses make an intriguing and bold statement...

New Striped Roses

Striped roses are like plants with variegated foliage, they’re not for everyone but those who like them, like them a lot! And even many of those who say they don’t like them come around eventually.

Striped roses make an intriguing and bold statement in the garden with their bicolour or multicoloured flowers. Every flower is different and, indeed, every petal is different. A single plant becomes an amazing study in every degree of striping from lightly striped and flecked to boldly bicoloured.

Just like variegated foliage, striped roses are best planted as a focal point where anyone visiting your garden can understand that your choice of such a crazy flower is by design and deliberate. Plant them front and centre in the middle of a border, in a large pot, symmetrically on either side of a gate, or in any location that will show them off. Be proud of your choice of a striped rose. If you don’t look confident by planting it front and centre, your gardening friends might question your sense of taste. Anything this bold should be given pride of place and look like it’s been done on purpose!

Now all you have to do is decide which variety you need for your garden!

Meet the Striped Roses

Rosa ‘Neil Diamond’ – Hybrid Tea Rose
Rosa ‘Neil Diamond’ offers large flowers in shades of rich pink to reddish pink liberally striped with white.

Rosa ‘Parade Day’ – Grandiflora Rose
Rosa ‘Parade Day’ offers rich fuchsia pink, spiralled, formal flowers variably striped and speckled with white.

Rosa ‘Pop Art’ – Rose
Rosa ‘Pop Art’ is a unique shrub rose bearing striped pink and yellow flowers with a strong fruity fragrance.

Rosa ‘Purple Tiger’ – Floribunda Rose
Rosa ‘Purple Tiger’ has incredibly unique striped, flecked, and dotted flowers in shades of purple, lavender, and white.

Rosa ‘Scentimental’ – Floribunda Rose
Rosa ‘Scentimental’ offers classic floribunda flowers in rich red liberally streaked with white. Every flower is different.

Rosa Meilland ‘Raspberry Cream Twirl’ – Climbing Rose
Rosa ‘Raspberry Cream Twirl’ is a repeat-blooming climbing rose with large, cupped, deep pink flowers with bold striping.

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The Five Different Types of Rose Fragrance

Roses are famous for their visual beauty but also their fragrance. Learn about the five different types of rose fragrance and the different cultivars that offer these intoxicating perfumes...

The Five Different Types of Rose Fragrance

by Rebecca, Phoenician and our Rose Expert

When we plant roses, we think first with our eyes when we consider the colour and form of the bloom. Certainly choosing one’s favourite colour or the perfect hue for a that magical colour combination is extremely important. Next, since we’re talking roses, we should think with our noses. Roses are famous for their visual beauty but also their fragrance. Roses can have strong, medium strong, light, or no fragrance, depending on the cultivar. But beyond the intensity of the fragrance roses also offer different types of fragrances to choose from. Let’s explore the different types of scents offered by the world of roses.

There are five distinct fragrances used to describe roses:

Old Rose is the classic scent that comes to mind when we picture a bouquet of red roses. This is the romantic scent that is beloved in perfumes, baking, and even skincare. The traditional old rose fragrance is warm with a hint of sweetness and is a special scent all on its own. This fragrance can typically be found in red or pink roses. It is the fragrance used in making rose water for which only the most strongly scented of roses are used.

Fruity fragrance is a broad term used to describe various different fruit-like rose perfumes. Fruit fragrance can include fresh apples, different sweet berries, and zesty citrus. Overall, this scent is light and can occur as a single fruity scent or be a combination of different fruits. Roses with fruity fragrance are an ideal choice for someone who does not like the traditional old rose fragrance.

Myrrh fragrance is quite unique. It is typically described as a sweet anise or black licorice scent which is warm and spicy. This fragrance is divisive in the rose community as people either love it or hate it. Myrrh is mostly found in English roses. Though some people might not love this fragrance, that aspect is often overlooked because the shapes and forms of English style roses can be so spectacular.

Tea fragrance is a mixture of fresh tea leaves with warm notes of nutmeg and violet. Apricot and yellow roses typically present tea-like fragrance. This fragrance is complex in that it can sometimes be a little fruity.

Musk fragrance is unique in that the scent does not come from the rose petals but rather from the stamens. One would have to smell the rose up close to smell its warm, sweet and spicy notes. This fragrance is typically used in perfumes because it has long, lingering notes that can remain present longer than other types of scents.

The experience of rose fragrances can be complex. Some roses might offer a combination of these five main types of perfumes. Also, what one person smells and experiences when they put their nose deep into the petals of a beautiful rose might not be the same as the next person. We also all have different olfactory capabilities in terms of the sensitivity of our noses to detect fragrance in general and then to appreciate the different nuances within them. Though experiencing fragrance can also be learned. You need to keep smelling the roses!

Tranquility
Tranquility has a strong and romantic old rose fragrance.

Darcey Bussell
The beautiful, deep crimson rosettes of Darcey Bussell have a delightful fruity fragrance.

Gentle Hermione
The beautiful, pure pink blooms of Gentle Hermione have a strong fragrance which is a mix of myrrh and old rose.

Princess Anne
The glowing magenta-pink flowers of Princess Anne fade to rich pink and lavender pink and exude a lovely perfume of tea.

Lichfield Angel
Lichfield Angel’s lovely white and yellow flowers offer a light musk perfume.

Golden Celebration
Golden Celebration is another example of a rose that mixes different fragrance types. Its glowing golden flowers offer a lovely tea fragrance mixed with the fruity notes of citrus, lychee, and strawberries!

Here is a list of the five different types of rose fragrance and different cultivars that offer these heavenly perfumes. We offer most, if not all, of these roses each year in our Great Rose Pre-Order.

Musk Fragrance
Lichfield Angel
Malvern Hills

Roses with a Complex Mix of Different Fragrance Types
Emily Bronte
Golden Celebration
Honeymoon
Hot Cocoa
Julie Andrews
Melody Parfumee
Summer Romance Parfuma
The Pilgrim
Westerland
Yves Piaget

These roses are usually rated as hardy to zones 4 or 5, depending on the cultivar. For tricks on how to grow these roses in colder zones than their official rating, read our article on “How to Grow David Austin Roses in Zone 3”.

At Phoenix Perennials we offer one of Canada’s largest selections of David Austin and other English style roses each year for Canadian gardeners plus a selection of other top rose cultivars. We launch online pre-ordering as part of our Great Rose Pre-Order every fall or winter for the following spring with options for gardeners in Richmond, Greater Vancouver and beyond in British Columbia to pick-up your roses as potted plants at our Richmond, BC nursery or for bare root mail order shipping across Canada from March to early April as weather warms up in your region. You can also shop for roses in person at Phoenix Perennials through the spring, summer and fall.

If the Great Rose Pre-Order is currently running, you’ll find it in our Pre-Order Area. To be the first to know about the launch of the Great Rose Pre-Order and to receive articles on roses, subscribe to our Rose Alert.

To learn more about the roses we carry, read our articles David Austin Roses for Canadian Gardens and English Style Roses for Canadian Gardens (other than David Austins!).

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David Austin Roses For Canadian Gardens

David Austin roses are some of the most renowned and beloved roses in the world. Since the 1950s David Austin has been working to combine the beauty and romance of old roses with the performance of modern roses. His work has lead to a stunning range of beautiful and fragrant top-performing cultivars for Canadian gardens.

David Austin Roses For Canadian Gardens

David Austin roses are some of the most renowned and beloved roses in the world. Since the 1950s David Austin has been working to combine the beauty and romance of old roses with the performance of modern roses. More specifically his goal has been to bring together the flower forms and fragrance of old roses with the wider colour range and repeat-flowering of modern roses.

You need only look at the beautiful photographs and to grow and smell your first David Austin rose to understand that these English style roses are something special in the rose world. They will quickly grow into magnificent shrubs and climbers that will transform your garden with their old world charm, fragrance, and performance.

Characteristics of David Austin Roses:

Form: David Austin roses tend to grow as shapely shrubs with a bushy mounding or arching growth habit. The climbers are strong and vigorous usually with flowering down to the base.
Flowers: A wide range of colours with unique, cupped, old fashioned, multi-petaled, and often quartered blooms that change in colour beautifully as they age.
Fragrance: Renowned for their strong and diverse fragrances including old rose, tea, myrrh, fruit, and musk.
Repeat-flowering: Cultivars will repeat flower providing a long season of interest.
Design Potential: Highly versatile for different garden styles and uses including mixed flower beds, traditional rose borders, fragrant hedges, large pots and containers, for the cutting garden, and for large landscape plantings.
Health: Bred for vigour and garden performance with great disease resistance. Every cultivar is trialled under rigorous conditions for eight years before being introduced to the gardening public.

As with all roses, these cultivars prefer full to part sun for best flowering and overall performance. Some are tolerant of and will bloom reasonably in part shade which could describe a location with 3-4 hours of sun per day, a spot with dappled light throughout the day, or a position against a north wall that is open above with bright reflected light. Tolerance of part shade is noted in each of their descriptions below. Roses also prefer rich soils with added compost and fertilizer and ample deep waterings, especially during summer dry spells.

David Austin roses are rated as hardy to zones 4 or 5, depending on the cultivar. For tricks on how to grow these roses in colder zones than their official rating, read our article on “How to Grow David Austin Roses in Zone 3”.

And if you love the form and fragrance of these roses, remember that David Austin is certainly the most famous breeder of English style roses, but he is not the only one. Other breeders such as Kordes, Meilland, and Weeks have bred amazing English style roses with incredible forms, colours, and fragrance that very much deserve to rub shoulders with David Austin roses in your garden!

At Phoenix Perennials we offer one of Canada’s largest selections of David Austin roses with 50 or more cultivars each year for Canadian gardeners. We launch online pre-ordering as part of our Great Rose Pre-Order every fall or winter for the following spring with options for gardeners in Richmond, Greater Vancouver and beyond in British Columbia to pick-up your roses as potted plants at our Richmond, BC nursery or for bare root mail order shipping across Canada from March to early April as weather warms up in your region. You can also shop for roses in person at Phoenix Perennials through the spring, summer and fall.

Have fun perusing the many cultivars of David Austin roses that we carry and selecting the perfect plants for your garden. Not all will be available each year but we’ll have most of them!

Thomas À Becket

Fragrant, informal rosettes combine with natural, shrubby growth

Light red, informal rosettes. Old rose fragrance with a distinct scent of lemon zest. Natural, shrubby growth. Particularly reliable and healthy. Very quick to repeat flower. Good disease resistance. Highly fragrant.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Color: Crimson red
Fragrance Strength: Medium Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Excellent
Size: 5ftx4ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 63 petals

Tess of the D’Urbervilles

A beautiful, red climbing rose with lovely old rose fragrance hardy to zone 4

Large, bright crimson blooms with beautiful old world charm. Good old rose fragrance. Flowers freely from early in the season until fall.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Climbing Rose
Sub Type: English Old Rose Hybrid
Color: Crimson red
Fragrance Strength: Medium Old Rose Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Average
Size: 6ft or allow to grow as a climber to 8-10ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 4-11
Petal Count: 110 petals

Darcey Bussell

A compact shrub which flowers freely with excellent continuity

Beautiful, deep crimson rosettes with a delightful fruity fragrance. An exceptional variety which flowers freely and repeats well. Very healthy. Compact, bushy growth. Repeat flowering. Ideal for pots and containers. Ideal for hedging.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: Shrub Rose
Color: Light red
Fragrance Strength: Light Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Good
Size: 4x3ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 80 petals

Munstead Wood

Luscious deep velvety crimson flowers with strong old rose and fruity fragrance

Light crimson buds gradually open to reveal very deep velvety crimson blooms. The flowers are large cups at first, becoming shallowly cupped with time. There is a strong Old Rose fragrance with warm, fruity notes of blackberry, blueberry and damson. The bushy, spreading growth forms a broad shrub.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Color: Deep velvety crimson
Fragrance Strength: Strong, Old Rose/fruity
Flowering Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Good
Size: 3×3.5ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 74 petals

Othello

Deep crimson flowers with a strong old rose fragrance

Othello is the classic English Rose with large, rich, deep crimson flowers with a strong Old Rose fragrance. The velvety crimson blooms of this well-known variety are produced in clusters and age to purple as they mature and are held atop upright stems, accompanied by dark-green foliage on bushy growth.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Color: Deep crimson
Fragrance Strength: Strong, Old Rose
Flowering Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Good
Size: 4×3.5ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 40+ petals

Gabriel Oak

Stunning deep pink to magenta red flowers with strong fruity fragrance, hardy to zone 4

Deep pink to magenta red blooms with strong fruity fragrance. The flowers are packed with 125 petals and can open to nearly four inches wide. This reblooming shrub has semi-glossy, medium green, leathery foliage. Hardy to zone 4.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Color: Deep pink to magenta red
Fragrance Strength: Strong Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Excellent
Size: 4ftx4ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 4-11
Petal Count: 125 petals

Sir John Betjeman

An amazing floral display of crimson red blooms packed with petals and light fragrance

Crimson red blooms with light fragrance that put on an amazing floral display. The striking rosetted flowers are packed with 130 petals. The flowers form in small clusters against dark green, leathery foliage.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Color: Crimson red
Fragrance Strength: Light fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Very Good
Size: 4ftx4ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 130 petals

Sophy’s Rose

Classic old-fashioned English style elegance with two-tone flowers offering a light tea fragrance

A bold and beautiful reblooming cultivar with flowers opening to reddish pink aging to deep, glowing pink which creates a two-tone effect as these beautiful shrubs bloom and rebloom through the season. The flowers have a classic old-fashioned English style shape with masses of small petals at the centre gradually becoming larger towards the outer edges. Light tea fragrance.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Color: Reddish pink to glowing deep pink
Fragrance Strength: Light fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Very Good
Size: 4ftx4ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 80 petals

James L. Austin

A rose of great beauty, with large rosette blooms

Bears large, many petalled, deep pink rosettes, each with a button eye. There is a light-medium strength fruity fragrance. It forms a neat and tidy shrub with a bushy, upright habit. Named for the son of David Austin Senior and brother of David Austin Junior.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Color: Deep pink
Fragrance Strength: Light to Medium Fruity Fragrance
Flowering Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Excellent
Size: 4×3ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: High

Princess Anne

Multicolour, fragrant pink flowers change as they age, hardy to zone 4

Young flowers open glowing magenta-pink fading to rich pink and lavender pink. The petals are narrow with a substantial constitution and a hint of yellow on the undersides. Flowers are held in large, fragrant clusters produced liberally all season long. Excellent disease resistance with glossy, thick foliage.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Color: Rich pink
Fragrance Strength: Medium Tea Fragrance
Flowering Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Excellent
Size: 4×4ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 4-11
Petal Count: 85 petals

Boscobel

Perfectly formed, beautifully fragrant, upward-facing blooms

Perfectly formed, rich salmon rosettes. A beautifully complex myrrh fragrance. Very healthy, with vigorous, upright, bushy growth. Good for disease resistance. Repeat flowering. Exceptional fragrance.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Color: Rich salmon
Fragrance Strength: Strong Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Excellent
Size: 4x4ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 78 petals

Benjamin Britten

A variety of unusual colouring with an intensely fruity fragrance and hardiness to zone 4

Glowing, deep red-pink rosette-shaped blooms. Lovely, intensely fruity fragrance with hints of wine and pear drops. Very healthy with vigorous, bushy growth. Repeat flowering. Highly fragrant. Ideal for pots and containers.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Color: Red pink
Fragrance Strength: Medium Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Good
Size: 4.5×2.5ft or allow to grow as a climber to 8-10ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 4-11
Petal Count: 60 petals

Brother Cadfael

Clear pink globular flowers with strong old rose fragrance

Lovely clear pink blooms with a rounded, shape and lightly ruffled petals offering a strong old rose fragrance. It has deeply cupped flowers packed with 40 or more petals. This shrub rose is popular for its large, peony-like blooms and amazing fragrance.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Color: Pink
Fragrance Strength: Strong Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Good
Size: 5ftx4ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 45 petals

Gertrude Jekyll

Twice voted England’s favourite rose with beautiful flowers and hardiness to zone 4

Beautiful, rich pink rosettes with the quintessential Old Rose fragrance: superb, strong and perfectly balanced. Very healthy and reliable. Repeat flowering. Exceptional fragrance. Voted England’s favourite rose by BBC Gardener’s World viewers.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: Shrub or Climbing Rose
Color: Rich pink
Fragrance Strength: Strong Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Good
Size: 5×3.5ft or allow to grow as a climber to 8-10ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 4-11
Petal Count: 80 petals

Mary Rose

An old favourite amongst David Austin cultivars with ruffled, loose flowers with old rose fragrance, hardy to zone 4

Beautiful mid pink flowers open into lovely cups filled with ruffly petals. As the flowers age, the cups open more and the flowers become more ruffly for a more relaxed look in the garden. Delicious fragrance of old rose with hints of honey and almond blossom. Nice foliage.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Color: Mid pink
Fragrance Strength: Medium to Strong Old rose Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Good
Size: 4x4ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 4-11
Petal Count: 60 petals

Harlow Carr

A tough little rose with strongly fragrant rosette blooms and hardiness to zone 4

Perfectly formed, pure pink rosette blooms, which are produced very freely and have a strong Old Rose fragrance. Attractive, bushy growth. Exceptionally healthy. Good for disease resistance. Repeat flowering. Exceptional fragrance.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Color: Rose pink
Fragrance Strength: Strong Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Excellent
Size: 4x3ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 4-11
Petal Count: 120 petals

Princess Alexandra of Kent

Magnificent blooms with a delicious award-winning fragrance hardy to zone 4

A magnificent rose with large, deeply cupped blooms of warm, glowing pink. There is delicious fresh tea fragrance with aspects of lemon and blackcurrants. Very healthy and disease resistant. Repeat flowering. Highly fragrant. Ideal for pots and containers.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Sub Type: English Old Rose Hybrid
Color: Warm pink
Fragrance Strength: Strong Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Good
Size: 5x4ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 4-11
Petal Count: 130 petals

Olivia Rose Austin

An all around excellent cultivar with fragrant rosette blooms, hardy to zone 4

Shallowly cupped, soft pink rosettes. Strong, pleasing, fruity fragrance. Vigorous growth and repeat flowers well. Exceptionally healthy with good disease resistance. Repeat flowering. Highly fragrant.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Sub Type: English Leander Hybrid
Color: Mid pink
Fragrance Strength: Light to Medium Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Excellent
Size: 6×5ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 4-11
Petal Count: 90 petals

A Shropshire Lad

A gorgeous climbing rose with lovely tea scent.

Large, cupped, light peach-pink rosettes, with a fruity tea scent. Vigorous, with plentiful dark green foliage.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Color: Pale pink
Fragrance Strength: Strong, Old Rose
Flowering Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Good
Size: 5×4ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 140 petals

Queen of Sweden

A large shrub rose with apricot buds opening to soft pink flowers with a lovely myrrh fragrance, hardy to zone 4

Delicate apricot-pink buds open to pale pink flowers with apricot centres all becoming soft pink over time in wide, shallow, upward-facing cups with a beautiful old rose formality. Lovely myrrh fragrance.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Color: Light pink with apricot
Fragrance Strength: Medium Myrrh Fragrance
Flowering Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Very Good
Size: 5×3ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 4-11
Petal Count: 140 petals

Strawberry Hill

An award-winning climbing rose bearing fragrant rosettes of superb quality with hardiness to zone 4

Beautiful at all stages; bearing pure rose pink, cupped rosettes of superb quality. Strong and delicious myrrh fragrance. Extremely healthy with vigorous, informal growth. Good for disease resistance. Repeat flowering. Exceptional fragrance.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Climbing Rose
Sub Type: English Leander Hybrid
Color: Rose pink with apricot
Fragrance Strength: Strong Fragrance
Flowering Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Excellent
Size: 4×4ft or allow to grow as a climber to 8-10ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 4-11
Petal Count: 120 petals

Englantyne

Incredibly beautiful with strong, old rose fragrance

One of the most beautiful David Austin roses. Perfectly formed, soft pink blooms with a charming, sweet Old Rose fragrance. An exceptionally healthy and reliable garden rose.

Gentle Hermione

Perfect old rose blooms with a classic fragrance hardy to zone 4

Beautiful, pure pink blooms. Particularly resistant to rain. There is a strong, classic, Old Rose scent. Attractive, healthy growth. Good for disease resistance. Repeat flowering. Exceptional fragrance.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: Shrub Rose
Color: Pink
Fragrance Strength: Strong Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Excellent
Size: 4x3ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 90 petals

Heritage

Demure and beautiful pink flowers with a lovely myrrh fragrance

Bears soft pink, cupped blooms of delicate, shell-like beauty with a wonderful myrrh scent with overtones of fruit, honey and carnation. Well-rounded, bushy shrub.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: Shrub Rose
Color: Soft pink
Fragrance Strength: Good Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Good
Size: 5x4ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 70 petals

James Galway

A beautiful, nearly thornless, shade tolerant, climbing rose with romantic old world style and hardiness to zone 4

A strikingly beautiful climbing rose with warm pink rosettes packed with many, perfectly arranged petals. Delicious Old Rose fragrance. Very healthy and reliable. Almost thornless. Good for disease resistance. Repeat flowering. Ideal for shade.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: Climbing Rose
Color: Warm pink
Fragrance Strength: Light-medium
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Excellent
Size: 5×3.5ft or allow to grow as a climber to 12ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 4-11
Petal Count: 130 petals

Silas Marner

Mid pink blooms packed with petals and old rose fragrance, tolerant of part shade, hardy to zone 4

Mid pink blooms that fade to white at the petal edges with medium-strong old rose fragrance with hints of fruity lemon, green banana, and apricot. The flowers have a button eye and are packed with up to 100 petals. This repeat blooming shrub is rated as very disease resistant, part shade tolerant, and hardy to zone 4.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Color: Pink
Fragrance Strength: Medium-strong fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Very Good
Size: 4ftx5ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 4-11
Petal Count: 100 petals

Sceptr’d Isle

Pretty, fragrant flowers produced freely and almost continuously and hardy to zone 4

This pretty rose bears numerous, soft pink, cup-shaped flowers with clusters of yellow stamens. Powerful myrrh fragrance. Very healthy. Good for disease resistance. Repeat flowering. Highly fragrant.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: Shrub Rose
Sub Type: English Musk Hybrid
Color: Soft pink
Fragrance Strength: Strong Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Excellent
Size: 5x4ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 4-11
Petal Count: 45 petals

The Generous Gardener

A beautiful bush or climbing rose with highly fragrant light pink flowers and hardy to zone 4

This pretty rose bears numerous, soft pink, cup-shaped flowers with clusters of yellow stamens. Powerful myrrh fragrance. Very healthy. Good for disease resistance. Repeat flowering. Highly fragrant.

The Albrighton Rambler

A lovely compact rambling rose to 10 feet with lightly fragrant cupped, multi-petaled pale pink flowers

A rambling rose with dense blush pink rosettes and light fragrance. ‘The Albrighton Rambler’ blooms are packed with 85 petals and considered a short rambler that can reach up to 10 feet high, so a fence or wall will be ideal for support. Tolerant of shadier sites.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Color: Light pink
Fragrance Strength: Light fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Very Good
Size: 10ftx5ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 85 petals

Emily Bronte

Extremely beautiful with distinctive, strongly fragrant blooms

An exceptionally beautiful rose with distinctive neat, flat blooms. Each bloom is a lovely soft pink, the smaller central petals deepening to rich apricot and surrounding deep-set stamens. The strong Tea scent becomes more Old Rose, with delicious hints of lemon and grapefruit. It forms a bushy shrub with strong, healthy, upright growth. Named for the Brontë Society to celebrate the bicentenary of the novelist’s birth.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: Shrub Rose
Color: Soft pink and apricot
Fragrance Strength: Strong Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Excellent
Size: 4×3.5ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 4-11
Petal Count: 106 petals

Eustacia Vye

Lovely bicolour mid pink and apricot blooms, tolerant of part shade, hardy to zone 4

Mid pink and apricot blooms with a strong fruity fragrance. The romantic old fashioned flowers are packed with 90 or more petals and are held in small clusters. Each beautifully rosetted flower opens up to 3.5 inches wide against medium green, leathery foliage. One of the few roses that can tolerate part shade and hardy to zone 4.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Color: Pink, apricot
Fragrance Strength: Strong Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Excellent
Size: 4ftx3ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 4-11
Petal Count: 90 or more petals

The Alnwick Rose

Soft pink and apricot blooms form beautiful, fragrant cups of Old World beauty, hardy to zone 4

Dark red to dark pink buds open to gorgeous rich pink cups that soften to light pink filled with ruffles of apricot-pink petals. Medium to strong old rose fragrance with a hint of raspberry. Bushy and upright habit.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Color: Light pink with apricot
Fragrance Strength: Medium to Strong Old Rose Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Very Good
Size: 4×3ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 4-11
Petal Count: 120 petals

Jubilee Celebration

Unique coral-pink blooms are large with a strong, fruity fragrance

A gorgeous coral-pink rose with large, pink cups surrounding heavily ruffled centres in coral and apricot with hints of gold on the petal undersides. Strong, fruity fragrance with hints of fresh lemon and raspberry. One of the most fragrant cultivars.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: Shrub Rose
Color: Coral pink
Fragrance Strength: Strong, Fruity Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Excellent
Size: 4×4ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 90 petals

Abraham Darby

Large, deeply cupped blooms with a rich fruity fragrance

Large, deeply cupped blooms in shades of pink, apricot and yellow. Rich, fruity fragrance has a refreshing sharpness. Repeats well.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: Shrub Rose
Color: Apricot
Fragrance Strength: Strong Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Average. Performs best in hot sunny spots or climates.
Size: 5x5ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 70 Petals

Evelyn

Gorgeous apricot flowers with a strong, fruity fragrance

‘Evelyn’ is better suited to the warmer climates or warm, sunny microclimates in the garden. The blooms are particularly large and most attractive, the petals being beautifully arranged. The color is a glorious soft apricot, sometimes tinged with soft pink. It has few thorns. It has a wonderful fragrance, which is similar in style to an Old Rose, but with a sumptuous fruity note reminiscent of fresh peaches and apricot.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Color: Apricot pink
Fragrance Strength: Strong, Fruity
Flowering Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Good
Height: 5×3ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 100 petals

Grace

An outstanding garden plant bearing neat and fragrant rosettes

Glorious, neatly formed rosettes of a lovely apricot-orange with a strong, fruity fragrance. A well-rounded, slightly arching growth. Repeat flowering. Highly fragrant. Ideal for shade.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: Shrub Rose
Color: Apricot
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Excellent
Size: 4x4ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 80 petals

Port Sunlight

An excellent, reliable rose with very fragrant rosette blooms

A charming rose with deep apricot, rosette-shaped blooms. There is a strong rich tea fragrance. An excellent and reliable variety. Repeat flowering. Highly fragrant. Ideal for pots and containers.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: Shrub Rose
Sub Type: English Musk Hybrid
Color: Rich apricot
Fragrance Strength: Light-medium
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Excellent
Size: 5x4ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 90 petals

Bathsheba

Large, many petalled apricot blooms. Superb myrrh fragrance with floral and honey character

A vigorous repeat-flowering short climber, bearing many petalled rosettes. The blooms are a beautiful blend of colours, giving the overall impression of rich apricot. They have a superb myrrh fragrance – floral and warm in character, with hints of honey.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: Climbing Rose
Sub Type: English Leander Hybrid
Color: Rich apricot
Fragrance Strength: Strong Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Excellent
Size: 10ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 170 petals

The Lady Gardener

Large, luscious apricot-orange and deep apricot-yellow flowers with lovely tea fragrance

Large, old world flowers forming four inch cups each divided inside the cups into four quarters of ruffled beauty. The flowers are apricot-orange to apricot-yellow with the outer petals paling at the edges to white. Lovely tea fragrance with hints of cedar wood and vanilla.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: Climbing Rose
Sub Type: English Leander Hybrid
Color: Apricot and yellow
Fragrance Strength: Medium Tea Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Excellent
Size: 4.5×4ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 65 petals

Carding Mill

Large, deeply cupped blooms with a rich fruity fragrance

Large blooms in shades of pink, apricot and yellow. Strong, beautiful myrrh fragrance. Repeats well.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: Shrub Rose
Sub Type: English Leander Hybrid
Color: Apricot
Fragrance Strength: Medium Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Good
Size: 4×3.5ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 80 petals

Summer Song

A unique colour among the David Austin cultivars with burnt orange flowers and strong tea fragrance

Striking orange-red blooms with strong tea fragrance. The burnt orange tones of the flowers packed with 80 petals against dark green foliage and the wonderful fragrance make this a show-stopper.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Color: Burnt orange
Fragrance Strength: Strong fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Very Good
Size: 4ftx4ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 80 petals

Lady of Shallot

A striking rose, as well as one of our hardiest and most reliable to zone 4

Striking apricot-yellow, chalice-shaped blooms. Healthy with vigorous, bushy growth. Ideal for inexperienced gardeners. Repeat flowering. Good disease resistance. Ideal for poor soil. Grow as a shrub or a short climber.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Sub Type: English Leander Hybrid
Color: Orange yellow aging to outer pink petals
Fragrance Strength: Medium Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Excellent
Size: 5×4ft or allow to grow as a climber to 8ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 4-11
Petal Count: 60 petals

Roald Dahl

Lovely peach and apricot blooms from red buds with tea fragrance, part shade tolerant

Peachy, apricot blooms with medium tea fragrance. The beautiful cupped flowers emerge from red buds and are packed with 40 or more petals. This repeat blooming shrub is rated very disease resistant and can be shade tolerant to boot.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Color: Peach
Fragrance Strength: Medium fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Very Good
Size: 3ftx4ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 40 petals

William Morris

A short climber with apricot-pink flowers and a strong tea and fruity fragrance

Cupped, loose petalled, rosette-shaped flowers in a lovely glowing shade of apricot-pink, paling slightly on the outside of the petals. Strong fragrance with elements of tea and fruit and good repeat flowering on vigorous plants. Reliable with good disease resistance. Nearly thornless.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose or Short Climber
Color: Apricot pink
Fragrance Strength: Strong, Fruity/tea
Flowering Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Good
Height: 5×4ft or grow as a climber to 8ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 40+ petals

Crocus Rose (syn. Emanuel)

A beautiful cultivar with ever changing colours of lightest apricot, cream, and yellow

Very free-flowering with large flowers that emerge with creamy yellow centres and pale apricot outer petals providing a blushed pink look in the garden. The apricot slowly fades to creamy white as the yellow deepens and then lightens with age, the show having now changed to a show of white and yellow. Blooms held in large clusters on elegant, arching stems. Bushy, well-rounded shrub.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Color: Apricot aging to creamy white around yellow centres
Fragrance Strength: Light Tea Fragrance
Flowering Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Good
Height: 4×4ft or grow as a climber to 8ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 110 petals

Golden Celebration

Stunning golden yellow flowers are some of the largest of any English style rose

Very large, rich golden yellow blooms form giant cups with a strong tea fragrance with notes of Sauterne dessert wine, citrus, lychee, and strawberries. Lush foliage. Elegant arching stems hold the flowers perfectly poised. One of the finest English style roses.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Color: Golden yellow
Fragrance Strength: Strong Tea/Fruity Fragrance
Flowering Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Good
Height: 5×5ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 55-75 petals

Molineux

A multi award winner, flowering with exceptional continuity

A healthy variety, which produces rich yellow blooms with exceptional freedom and continuity. There is a delicious musky tea rose scent. Good disease resistance. Ideal for poor soil.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Sub Type: English Musk Hybrid
Color: Rich yellow
Fragrance Strength: Light to Medium Fragrance
Flowering Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Excellent
Height: 6×5ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 120 petals

Crown Princess Margareta

Neatly arranged rosettes with a strong fruity fragrance

Glorious, neatly formed rosettes of a lovely apricot-orange with a strong, fruity fragrance. A well-rounded, slightly arching growth. Repeat flowering. Highly fragrant. Ideal for shade.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: Climbing Rose
Sub Type: English Leander Hybrid
Color: Apricot
Fragrance Strength: Medium Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Good
Height: 9-12ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 120 petals

Graham Thomas

A spectacular climbing rose voted the World’s Favourite Rose

An award-winning climbing rose with cupped blooms in an unusually rich shade of yellow. Lovely fresh tea fragrance with hints of violets. Upright, bushy and vigorous growth. Repeat flowering. Highly fragrant.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: Climbing Rose
Color: Yellow
Fragrance Strength: Light Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Good
Height: 12ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11

Teasing Georgia

A climbing rose of great beauty with delicious tea fragrance

A climbing rose of great beauty with rich yellow, rosette-shaped blooms. Lovely, strong tea fragrance. Very reliable, extremely healthy and easy to grow. Repeat flowers well. Good for disease resistance. Highly fragrant.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: Shrub or Climbing Rose
Color: Deep yellow
Fragrance Strength: Strong Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Excellent
Height: 4×3.5ft or allow to grow as a climber to 12ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 110 petals

Charlotte

One of the most beautiful yellow English Roses

One of our most beautiful yellow roses with exquisite cup-shaped flowers. Pleasant tea fragrance. Attractive bushy growth. Excellent repeat-flowering. Good for disease resistance. Repeat flowering. Highly fragrant.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: Shrub Rose
Sub Type: English Musk Hybrid
Color: Rich yellow
Fragrance Strength: Light to Medium Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Excellent
Height: 4x3ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 100 petals

The Poet’s Wife

Cheerful glowing yellow flowers with white outer petals and a strong, fruity fragrance, hardy to zone 4

A beautiful rich lemon yellow rose with informal cups of pale petals surrounding ruffled yellow centres. Wonderfully strong, fruity fragrance with hints of lemon that becomes sweeter and stronger as the flowers age. Nice bushy rounded shrubs with shiny foliage on arching branches.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Color: Rich yellow
Fragrance Strength: Strong, Fruity Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Good
Height: 4x4ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 4-11
Petal Count: 77 petals

Charles Darwin

Large, cupped blooms with a strong, delicious fragrance

Large, yellow, cupped blooms with a strong and delicious fragrance. Attractive, bushy growth. Vigorous and disease resistant. Repeat flowering. Exceptional fragrance.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: Shrub Rose
Sub Type: English Leander Hybrid
Color: Rich lemon yellow
Fragrance Strength: Strong Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Excellent
Height: 4.5x5ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 140 petals

The Pilgrim

A beautiful bush or short climber with a strong, delicious fragrance

Large, perfectly formed, soft yellow rosettes produced freely. Delicious mixed fragrance of tea rose and myrrh. Very healthy and reliable with attractive, bushy growth. Repeat flowering. Highly fragrant. Ideal for shade.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Climbing Rose
Sub Type: English Musk Hybrid
Color: Soft yellow
Fragrance Strength: Medium Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Good
Height: 4x3ft or grow as a climber to 8-12ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 140 petals

Vanessa Bell

A beautiful bush or short climber with a strong, delicious fragrance

Pink-tinged buds open to medium-sized cups held in large clusters. Pale yellow, paling to white at the edges; each with a rich yellow eye. The fragrance is similar to green tea with aspects of lemon and honey. It forms a bushy, upright shrub. Named for the artist, designer and founding member of the Bloomsbury Group and the sister of the writer, Virginia Woolf.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Sub Type: English Musk Hybrid
Color: Pale yellow
Fragrance Strength: Medium to Strong Tea Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Good
Height: 4x3ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: Medium

Imogen

Relaxed, informal flowers in pale yellow with a fruity fragrance

Pale yellow blooms with light to medium fruity fragrance. It has loosely packed flowers with 25-40 ruffled petals. The flowers form in large clusters with a button eye of darker yellow on glossy green foliage.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Color: Pale yellow
Fragrance Strength: Light to medium fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Good
Size: 3ftx3ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 40 petals

Malvern Hills

Masses of creamy white and pale yellow flowers climbing up to 15 feet

A rambling rose bearing creamy white and pale yellow flowers with medium musk fragrance. Blooms are packed with 40 petals and can climb up to 15 feet high. Provide strong support such as a wall or large arch to support this vigorous rose. It is also tolerant of a shadier spot and boasts medium musky fragrance.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Rambling Rose
Color: Pale yellow, white
Fragrance Strength: Medium fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Good
Size: 15ftx6ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 40 petals

Fair Bianca

A compact beauty with cupped, ivory white, strongly scented blooms

Romantic, cupped, double blooms in elegant white with a warm cream centre exude a strong old rose myrrh fragrance. The compact habit makes it great in containers. An early David Austin introduction, disease resistance is not as good as later cultivars but the the compact size, great fragrance, and large, repeat blooms make it worthwhile, especially in small spaces with heat, sun and good air circulation.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: Compact Shrub
Color: White
Fragrance Strength: Strong Fragrance
Flowering: Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Average
Height: 2.5×2.5ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11, possibly hardy to zone 4
Petal Count: 60 petals

Lichfield Angel

Pale peachy buds open to cream flowers hardy to zone 4

Pale peachy pink buds gradually open to form neatly cupped, cream rosettes. Each bloom has a perfect ring of waxy petals enclosing numerous smaller petals. Eventually the petals turn back to form a large, domed flower. It forms a vigorous, rounded, almost thornless shrub, its blooms nodding attractively on the branch.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Color: Cream
Fragrance Strength: Light, Musk
Flowering Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Good
Size: 5×5ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 4-11
Petal Count: 100 petals

Rose-Marie

Gorgeous, cupped, strongly fragrant double roses on nearly thornless stems

This is a white sport of ‘Heritage’ with cupped, double blooms of white to cream sometimes with a touch of pink at the centre produced repeatedly through the season with a beautiful, strong, myrrh fragrance with overtones of fruit, honey and carnation.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Color: White to Cream
Fragrance Strength: Very Fragrant
Flowering Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Good
Size: 4-5×3-4ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 60+ petals

Tranquility

Yellow-tinged buds open to pure white, cupped, rounded flowers

Beautifully rounded flowers, with neatly placed petals making up perfect rosettes. The buds are lightly tinged with yellow but as the flowers open they become pure white. A vigorous shrub; its growth is bushy and upright, clothed in light green foliage, curving outwards in a most attractive manner. With its pure white flowers, this rose lives up to its name.

Claire Austin

A gorgeous, strongly fragrant bush or climbing rose

Bears large, cupped, creamy white blooms with a strong fragrance of myrrh, meadowsweet and vanilla. Vigorous and particularly healthy with elegant arching growth. Good disease resistance. Repeat flowering. Highly fragrant.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Climbing Rose
Sub Type: English Musk Hybrid
Color: Creamy white
Fragrance Strength: Strong Fragrance
Flowering Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Excellent
Size: 4.5×4ft or allow to grow as a climber to 8-12 ft.
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 120 petals

Desdemona

Exquisitely beautiful flowers and fragrance with an exceptionally long flowering season

Pretty peachy pink buds open to reveal beautiful, pure white blooms, with an attractive hint of pink at the earliest stage of flowering.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Sub Type: English Musk Hybrid
Color: White with palest pink
Fragrance Strength: Strong Old Rose Fragrance
Flowering Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Excellent
Size: 4×3ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 52 petals

Winchester Cathedral

Produces masses of fragrant blooms throughout the summer, hardy to zone 4

Attractive, loose-petalled, white flowers. Delicious Old Rose fragrance with hints of honey and almond blossom. Very free-flowering.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Shrub Rose
Sub Type: English Old Rose Hybrid
Color: White with a touch of pink and palest yellow
Fragrance Strength: Medium Old Rose Fragrance
Flowering Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Average
Size: 4×4ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 60 petals

Wollerton Old Hall

A beautiful climbing rose with rounded soft apricot petals fading to cream and strong fragrance

Beautiful, very rounded flowers of soft apricot fading to cream. Particularly strong fragrance. Bushy, upright growth. Extremely healthy. Repeat flowering. Exceptional fragrance. Ideal for an obelisk, fence or pergola.

ROSE CHARACTERISTICS
Growth Type: English Climbing Rose
Sub Type: English Musk Hybrid
Color: Soft apricot fading to blush white
Fragrance Strength: Strong Fragrance
Flowering Repeat Flowering
Disease Resistance: Good
Size: 12ft
Suitable for zones: Zones 5-11
Petal Count: 45 petals

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English Style Roses for Canadian Gardens (Other than David Austins!)

The English style rose was made famous by the pioneering work of David Austin combining the beauty, fragrance, and romance of old roses with the colour range and performance of modern roses. While David Austin is the most famous breeder of English style roses, he is not the only one!

English Style Roses For Canadian Gardens
(Other than David Austins!)

The English style rose was made famous by the pioneering work of David Austin in England who, since the 1950s, worked to combine the beauty and romance of the cupped, multi-petaled forms and fragrance of old roses with the characteristics and performance of modern roses including a wider colour range, repeat-flowering, and disease resistance. While David Austin is the most famous breeder of English style roses, he is not the only one. Other breeders such as Kordes from Germany, Meilland from France, Weeks from the USA, and our own Brad Jalbert from Canada have bred amazing English style roses with incredible forms, colours, and fragrance that very much deserve to rub shoulders with David Austin roses in your garden!

You need only look at the beautiful photographs and to grow and smell your first English style rose to understand that these, like David Austins, are also something special in the rose world. They will quickly grow into magnificent shrubs and climbers that will transform your garden with their old world charm, fragrance, and performance.

And sometimes other breeders offer colours and forms that you can’t find from David Austin. For instance, David Austin didn’t like true red as a colour for his roses but Kordes offers the magnificent climber Florentina as well as the unique lavender coloured Quicksilver, a shade you also won’t find from David Austin. Kordes also offers the extremely heat tolerant Sunbelt series with peach Crazy Love and lavender Plum Perfect and the dwarf Veranda Cream and Veranda Lavender perfect for container growing.

From Meilland you get one of the most popular of all English style climbers: Eden often also referred to as Eden Rose and Eden Climber. It has beautiful bicolour white and pink flowers and is one of our best sellers of all time. Its siblings are Eden Red, another true red, as well as a gorgeous pink in Eden Pretty in Pink, and pure white in Eden White. Sweet Mademoiselle with its deep pink outer petals and apricot pink centres will wow anyone who loves David Austin’s Boscobel. Princesse Charlene de Monaco, Moonlight Romantica, and Yves Piaget are also stunners. And these are just some of Kordes’ many English style offerings.

Weeks Roses offers the glowing pink All Dressed Up and the very unique State of Grace with apricot gold centres and pink outer petals. Brad Jalbert has bred the amazing and distinctive peachy orange tones of Double Ambre and Peach Glory and the delicate pale pink Dylan Rose which might not be exactly in the English style but its lovely ruffles will delight anyone who loves these romantic old world forms. Brad’s roses will also perform remarkably in our West Coast climate and other cool summer climates offering great disease resistance and health.

Characteristics of English Roses:

Form: English style roses tend to grow as shapely shrubs with a bushy mounding or arching growth habit. The climbers are strong and vigorous usually with flowering down to the base.
Flowers: A wide range of colours with unique, cupped, old fashioned, multi-petaled, and often quartered blooms that change in colour beautifully as they age.
Fragrance: Renowned for their strong and diverse fragrances including old rose, tea, myrrh, fruit, and musk.
Repeat-flowering: Cultivars will repeat flower providing a long season of interest.
Design Potential: Highly versatile for different garden styles and uses including mixed flower beds, traditional rose borders, fragrant hedges, large pots and containers, for the cutting garden, and for large landscape plantings.
Health: All of these breeders also focus on vigour and garden performance with great disease resistance.

As with all roses, English style cultivars prefer full to part sun for best flowering and overall performance. Some are tolerant of and will bloom reasonably in part shade which could describe a location with 3-4 hours of sun per day, a spot with dappled light throughout the day, or a position against a north wall that is open above with bright reflected light. Tolerance of part shade is noted in each of their descriptions below. Roses also prefer rich soils with added compost and fertilizer and ample deep waterings, especially during summer dry spells.

English style roses are usually rated as hardy to zones 4 or 5, depending on the cultivar. For tricks on how to grow these roses in colder zones than their official rating, read our article on “How to Grow David Austin Roses in Zone 3”.

At Phoenix Perennials we offer one of Canada’s largest selections of David Austin and other English style roses each year for Canadian gardeners. We launch online pre-ordering as part of our Great Rose Pre-Order every fall or winter for the following spring with options for gardeners in Richmond, Greater Vancouver and beyond in British Columbia to pick-up your roses as potted plants at our Richmond, BC nursery or for bare root mail order shipping across Canada from March to early April as weather warms up in your region. You can also shop for roses in person at Phoenix Perennials through the spring, summer and fall.

Have fun perusing the many cultivars of non-Austin English style roses that we carry and selecting the perfect plants for your garden. Not all will be available each year but we’ll have most of them! (And to explore our David Austin selection, read our article on David Austin Roses for Canadian Gardens.)

English Style Roses by Kordes, Meilland, Weeks, and Jalbert

David Austin is the most famous breeder of English style roses but other top international breeders also produce roses in the English style. These roses are just as beautiful, fragrant, and disease resistant as David Austins. Also, some cultivars offer colours and habits not found in the David Austin cultivars. These roses are all magnificent.

Florentina – Climber
Brad says this is the best red climber on the market. ‘Florentina’ is a very robust climber with old-fashioned, cupped, bright-red flowers in clusters with a moderate scent bred by Kordes. If you love the classic shape of David Austin roses but want a true red, this is the rose for you. This climber blooms over a long season with disease resistant, dark green, glossy foliage. Compact in size, but a terrific impact on any fence or wall. 7 ft.

Bordeaux – Shrub
Bordeaux is a stunning English style, compact shrub rose from Kordes Roses with wine red double flowers. Plants are extremely floriferous with good repeat bloom and great heat and disease resistance. The fragrance is light. Zones 4-9. Great for containers and small spaces. 3×2.5ft.

Eden Red – Climber
Rosa ‘Eden Red’ is a popular Meilland climbing rose with dark red blooms and light fragrance. Part of the Eden Climber series, ‘Eden Red’ features rich, dark red, cupped blooms averaging 100-110 petals in each flower. These English style roses will enchant anyone who loves David Austin roses. Like its popular sister Eden, this climbing rose can reach 12 feet high. Plant it on a wall, arbour, pergola, or fence. Meilland roses are bred in France and trusted by gardeners around the world for their health, vigour, floriferousness and disease resistance.

Celestial Night – Floribunda
Celestial Night has unique plum purply red tones to its old-fashioned, quartered, English-style blooms. Moderately fragrant with repeat to continuous bloom. Excellent disease resistance. Extra hardy and a strong landscape rose. Zones 4-9. 4-5×3-4ft.

Yves Piaget – Shrub
Rosa ‘Yves Piaget’ is a popular reblooming Meilland rose with deep pink blooms and a strong fragrance. Its large blooms are packed with 80 petals in a cupped and ruffled English style like a David Austin rose. This romantic rose is popular as a cut flower for its unique ruffled petals. Meilland roses are bred in France and are trusted by gardeners for their health, vigour, disease resistance, and reblooming nature.

Sweet Mademoiselle – Hybrid Tea
Sweet Mademoiselle has very fragrant flowers with a strong, sweet perfume. The flowers are large, fully, double, and English style with colours that can change with the temperatures when they open. In warm temperatures they are a lighter salmon pink. In cooler temperatures they are a deeper, vibrant pink with deep salmony centres. If you love David Austin’s Boscobel, you will love Sweet Mademoiselle. Excellent disease resistance. Zones 5-9. 5x3ft.

All Dressed Up – Shrub
Rosa ‘All Dressed Up’ is a Weeks shrub rose bearing fully double mid pink blooms with a fresh apple fragrance. The petals are held in a romantic cupped shape with inner ruffles in the English style like a David Austin Rose. It also offers glossy green foliage and can grow up to 6 feet high. A must have in any rose collectors garden, this rose is a healthy, repeat blooming and disease-resistant shrub.

Dee-Lish – Hybrid Tea
Dee-Lish is classed as a hybrid tea rose. The flower buds begin to open with the classic, elegant shape of a hybrid tea but as the flowers age they become more cupped with a full, ruffled centre like and English style roses. The flowers begin deep, rich pink lightening towards mid pink but are considered “non-fading” as they do not lighten any further. The fragrance is strong with notes of verbena and citrus. Zones 5-9. 6.5x3ft.

Eden Pretty in Pink – Climber
Rosa ‘Eden Pretty In Pink’ is a popular Meilland climbing rose with deep pink blooms and light fragrance. Part of the Eden Climber series, ‘Eden Pretty in Pink’ features deep pink blooms in the English style. Like its popular sister ‘Eden’, this climbing rose can reach 12 feet high with cupped, double blooms averaging 70-80 petals in each flower. Plant it on a wall, arbour, pergola, or fence. Meilland roses are bred in France and trusted by gardeners around the world for their health, vigour, floriferousness and disease resistance.

Leonardo da Vinci – Shrub
Rosa ‘Leonardo da Vinci’ is a Meilland shrub rose with deep pink blooms and mild tea fragrance. It forms large clusters of cupped, quartered, English style flowers packed with petals. It can 4-5 feet tall and bears dark green, glossy, disease-resistant foliage. Meilland roses are bred in France and trusted by gardeners around the world for their health, vigour, floriferousness and disease resistance.

Kiss Me Kate – Climber
Kiss Me Kate is an extremely fragrant climbing rose with gorgeous, mid pink, cupped blooms. It is vigorous with dark green, excellently disease resistant foliage. The flowers have a great stem length perfect for cutting. Zones 5-9. 10 ft.

Summer Romance Parfuma – Floribunda
Summer Romance Parfuma is a beautiful floribunda rose from Kordes Roses with an English style flower. It forms beautiful ruffled cups of intensely fragrant, mid pink blooms which smell of anise, apple, rose, and spice. Blooms in flushes throughout the season. Very good disease resistance. Bushy, compact habit. Zones 5-9. 4x3ft.

Eden – Climber
One of the world’s most popular roses with an abundance of large, old-fashioned, cupped, white, light pink and carmine pink blooms with a moderate fragrance and excellent repeat bloom. Strong climber. Glossy, dark green foliage. The flower shape resembles the style of David Austin roses. 6-10 ft.

Earth Angel Parfuma – Floribunda/Short Climber
An exquisite old-fashioned, English style, peony-type rose with white cups holding a multitude of delicate pink petals. Incredible fragrance of sweet rose, citrus, and raspberry. Very healthy with outstanding, clean, disease resistant foliage. Train as a short climber to 6 feet or prune to maintain as a bush. Very few thorns. Bred by Kordes.

Cinderella Fairy Tale – Shrub
Cinderella Fairy Tale is an elegant English style rose from Kordes Roses with old-fashioned, cupped and ruffled flowers in delicate pink with lighter outer petals. Very cold hardy and easy to grow with a strong fragrance. Zones 4-9. 4-5×3-4ft.

Princesse Charlene de Monaco – Hybrid Tea
Princesse Charlene de Monaco is an absolute stunner. The heavily ruffled cupped flowers are shell pink with light apricot interiors. The flowers are also very fragrant with a lovely sweet, perfume overlaid with fresh fruit. Zones 5-9. 5.5-2-3ft.

Bliss Parfuma – Shrub
Bliss Parfuma is a gorgeous English style, compact shrub rose from Kordes Roses with peach pink buds opening to cupped, heavily ruffled flowers with peach pink centres and creamy white edges. Over time the flowers lighten to palest pink and white. Blooms in flushes throughout the season with exceptional disease resistance. Light fragrance. Zones 5-9. Great for containers and small spaces. 3x2ft.

Colette – Climber
Rosa ‘Colette’ is a Meilland climbing rose with romantic pink and apricot blooms with a strong tea fragrance. The cupped flowers are packed with 140 petals in the English style. If you love David Austin roses, you will love this one. It can grow up to 10 feet high with lush, dense foliage. Plant it on a wall, arbour, pergola, or fence. Meilland roses are bred in France and trusted by gardeners around the world for their health, vigour, floriferousness and disease resistance.

Moonlight in Paris – Floribunda
Moonlight in Paris is an elegant and romantic, old fashioned, compact, English style shrub rose with cupped flowers that open from pink buds into apricot tones and age to a light, buff pink, sometimes almost white, with a glow of yellow at the centres. Moderately fragrant with nice fruity and spiciness. Repeat blooming. Rich, glossy foliage. Zones 5-9. 3-4×3-4ft.

Honeymoon – Shrub
Rosa Arborose ‘Honeymoon’ is a compact Kordes climbing rose bearing fragrant, creamy white flowers with a blush of pink and yellow at the centre. The fragrance is a mix of fruity and old rose. It is a short climber to seven feet high perfect for small gardens, fences, obelisks, and trellises. Or keep it pruned to grow as a shrub. The beautiful flowers form in large clusters and are packed with petals in the English style. If you love David Austin roses, you will love this cultivar and the rest of the Arborose series. The flowers look great in the garden and as cut flowers in a vase. Kordes roses are bred in Germany and are highly sought after by rose collectors for the beauty of their flowers, their generous rebloom, and their excellent disease resistance.

Veranda Cream – Dwarf Shrub
Rosa Veranda ‘Cream’ is a compact Kordes shrub rose bearing apricot blooms with a strong fragrance. The cupped, ruffled flowers have 40 or more petals in the English style. The Veranda series offers compact plants that grow to just 2.5 feet tall and 2 feet wide perfect for containers on a patio or balcony and in small gardens or for mass plantings in larger landscapes. Kordes roses are bred in Germany and are highly sought after by rose collectors for the beauty of their flowers, their generous rebloom, and their excellent disease resistance.

State of Grace – Shrub
Rosa ‘State of Grace’ is a compact Weeks shrub rose bearing clusters of English style apricot-gold and pink blooms with a lovely fruity fragrance. The golden centres are packed with 45 petals surrounded by the lovely pink outer petals and are reminiscent of ‘Distant Drums’. It is a compact plant and can be grown in a container and in small spaces. A must-have in any rose collector’s garden, this rose is a healthy, repeat blooming, and disease resistant shrub.

Peach Glory – Shrub
Rosa ‘Peach Glory’ is a Jalbert shrub rose with orange to deep apricot blooms and a light fruity fragrance. The flowers are in the classic English style with cupped, ruffled petals reminiscent of David Austin roses. It makes an excellent cut flower with its long stems and will rebloom throughout the season. This shrub boasts deep bronze autumn foliage which is a final bonus to the season. A superb specimen with excellent disease resistance and easy care, it is a must-have garden rose. Introduced in Canada by Select Roses, Brad Jalbert’s unique roses are known to be highly disease resistant and extremely healthy.

Double Ambre – Shrub
Rosa ‘Double Ambre’ is a Jalbert shrub rose bearing glowing shades of amber orange and peach with fruity fragrance and a classic English style form reminiscent of David Austin roses. It will rebloom throughout the season on a dense shrub with glossy green foliage making it ideal for container growing. The fragrance bears notes of green apple. Introduced in Canada by Select Roses, Brad Jalbert’s unique roses are known to be highly disease resistant and extremely healthy.

Forever Amber – Shrub
Rosa ‘Forever Amber’ is a Weeks shrub rose bearing apricot blooms with a lovely English style form reminiscent of David Austin roses and strong fruity fragrance. It is an excellent compact rose for container growing or hedges with gorgeous dark green glossy foliage. A must have in any rose collector’s garden, this rose is a healthy, repeat blooming, and disease-resistant shrub.

Sunbelt Crazy Love – Shrub
Rosa Sunbelt ‘Crazy Love’ is a Kordes shrub rose bearing large, uniquely-coloured, copper and yellow blooms with a medium fragrance. The cupped English style flowers each boast 125 petals and offer romance as well as an intriguing show of colours with copper yellow centres surrounded by pale pink outer layers. The Sunbelt series offer compact shrub roses that are good in large containers, are tolerant of heat, and offer large, non-fading flowers with continuous blooming. Kordes roses are bred in Germany and are highly sought after by rose collectors for their vigour, disease resistance, and their gorgeous blooms that rebloom throughout the season.

Moonlight Romantica – Hybrid Tea
Moonlight Romantica produces gorgeous deep yellow buds highlighted with orange opening to light to mid yellow, cupped, ruffled flowers that lighten towards the outer petals and with age. It has a beautiful, strong fragrance, great vigour, and excellent disease resistance. Zones 5-9. 6.5x4ft.

Kosmos Fairytale – Shrub
Rosa ‘Kosmos Fairy Tale’ is a reblooming Kordes shrub rose with creamy ivory blooms with a yellow glow at the centres and a medium fragrance. The flowers are packed with 40 or more petals and form small clusters with ruffled petals that are often cupped like a David Austin rose. Kordes roses are bred in Germany and are highly sought after by rose collectors for their vigour, disease resistance, and their gorgeous blooms that rebloom throughout the season.

Bolero – Floribunda
Bolero is a gorgeous, compact, ivory white rose with English-style flowers bred in France by Meilland Roses. If you love David Austin roses, you’ll love Bolero. It has a fantastic, strong fragrance of old rose mixed with spice and tropical fruit. The centres of young flowers can be subtly blushed with peachy pink. Great disease resistance and gorgeous foliage. Amazing for containers and small gardens. 3-4 feet high by 2-3 feet wide.

Eden White – Climber
White Eden is the sister to Eden, one of the world’s most popular climbing roses, with the exact same growth habit, vigour, disease resistance, and repeat flowering. The difference is just in the flower colour. White Eden has old fashioned, English style, icy white flowers sometimes with a hint of pink or cream at the centres and a light fragrance. Zones 5-9. 6-10ft.

Top Cream – Shrub
Rosa ‘Top Cream’ is a Meilland shrub rose with large, old-fashioned, English style white blooms and strong fruity fragrance. Also known as ‘Camille Claudel’, its cupped, creamy white flowers are packed with 100 petals sometimes with light pink centres. For those who love the ‘Eden’ and ‘Eden White’ climbing roses, ‘Top Cream’ will offer similar gorgeous flowers. This blooms make for excellent cut flowers. Meilland roses are bred in France and trusted by gardeners around the world for their health, vigour, floriferousness and disease resistance.

Poseidon – Floribunda
Finally, a truly healthy, easy to grow and highly disease resistant rose in that beautiful lavender blue colour that gardeners love. It took the master rose breeders, Kordes of Germany, to bring us this new wonder rose. Another step forward in the quest for easy care yet beautiful roses. Test plants at Select Roses were disease free with no spraying and produced the most beautiful bouquets of roses! This is a must have rose. Strong and upright growing to around 3 feet.

Veranda Lavender – Dwarf Shrub
Rosa Veranda ‘Lavender’ is a compact Kordes shrub rose bearing lavender blooms with a light fragrance. The cupped, ruffled flowers have 40 or more petals in the English style. The Veranda series offers compact plants that grow to just 3 feet tall and 2.5 feet wide perfect for containers on a patio or balcony and in small gardens or for mass plantings in larger landscapes. Kordes roses are bred in Germany and are highly sought after by rose collectors for the beauty of their flowers, their generous rebloom, and their excellent disease resistance.

Quicksilver – Climber
Quicksilver is a stunning, lightly fragrant, climbing rose with old-fashioned, lavender, English style flowers from lavender-pink buds blooming throughout the summer and fall. Keep in mind that lavender roses can bloom more pink in hot weather and more lavender in cool weather. Very good disease resistance. From Kordes Roses of Germany. Zones 5-9. 7x4ft.

Sunbelt Plum Perfect – Floribunda
‘Plum Perfect’ offers luscious deep plum purple buds opening to ruffly lavender flowers that are full and multi-petaled in the English Style. It is lightly fragrant with hints of raspberry and blackberry. The foliage is healthy and shiny performing well in heat, humidity, and our West Coast climate. Zones 5-9. 3-4×2-3 ft.

Lavender Crush – Climber
A gorgeous lavender climbing rose, the petals with lighter reverses, blooming early on young plants and growing to 6-8 feet tall. The flowers have a strong, lemony fragrance and the attractive bluish foliage is very clean and disease resistant. Flowers can be lavender-pink in hot summer climates but bloom lavender like the photo in our cool West Coast summers. Lucky us!

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How to Grow David Austin Roses in Zone 3

David Austin roses are some of the most renowned and beloved roses in the world. Though they are usually listed as hardy to zone 4 or 5, here are a few strategies to grow them in zone 3 in some of the coldest parts of Canada!

How to Grow David Austin Roses in Zone 3

David Austin roses are some of the most renowned and beloved roses in the world. Since the 1950s David Austin has been working to combine the beauty and romance of old roses with the performance of modern roses. More specifically his goal has been to bring together the flower forms and fragrance of old roses with the wider colour range and repeat-flowering of modern roses.

You need only look at the photographs and to grow your first David Austin rose to understand that these English roses are unique in the rose world. They will quickly grow into magnificent shrubs and climbers that will transform your garden with their old world charm, fragrance, and performance.

David Austin roses are usually listed as hardy to zone 4 or 5, depending on the cultivar. However, that is not the full story of their hardiness when it comes to cold climates. If you’re willing to employ a few strategies, David Austin roses can be hardy for gardeners even in the cold of zone 3 which includes much of the Canadian prairies, northern Ontario, and parts of northern BC and Quebec!

At Phoenix Perennials we benefit from having an experienced cold climate gardener on staff. Our production manager, Terry, used to live and garden in Winnipeg, firmly and proudly located in zone 3. She learned how to grow David Austins in Manitoba’s capital city from her friend Zeena who in turn learned her tricks from an experienced Manitoban rosarian. Here are their tips on how to successfully grow David Austin roses in zone 3:

Bury the rose deeply. The crown of the plant should be 6-12 inches below the surface. New shoots may not appear until June but the crown will be protected below ground from the worst of the wind and cold. If suckers come up from the root stock, dig down and remove at their base. They can usually be identified right away due to a difference in the leaves. If you don’t notice a sucker from the leaves, you’ll certainly notice it when it flowers!
Choose a protected spot. Your rose should be protected from wind especially from the north and northwest. But don’t plant against a warm building. You want your rose to be evenly cold on all sides.
Mulch heavily in autumn with 1-2 feet of fallen leaves, flax straw, or other organic matter that is tough and breaks down slowly. Cover with burlap and hold down with pegs or stones if there is a risk that the leaves might blow away. An organic mulch will insulate the root zone and stems from extreme cold but also slow down the rate of freeze in the fall to avoid the possible shock from a quick drop in temperature.
Pile on the snow. Over the winter when you’re shovelling snow from your driveway, patio, stairs, and pathways, shovel it onto your rose creating a mound 2 feet wide and as high as you can go. Snow is insulating because it contains lots of air between its crystals. Think of igloos. Snow not only protects your rose from extreme cold, it insulates your rose from swings in temperature and freeze/thaw cycles which can also cause damage.
If you grow in pots, bury the pots in the ground covering the crown and follow the steps above.

Every year we launch a pre-order for David Austin roses in July for pick-up or shipping the following March/April. If you are reading this article between July and March you can place a pre-order. Or you can sign up for our E-Newsletter for updates from the nursery so you know when the pre-order launches. Extra roses are available for shopping at the nursery after pre-orders are filled. However, many to most roses sell out in advance so it is best to pre-order.
Visit our pre-order area.

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