Shrub · Rosaceae
David Austin Rose
Rosa
Old-rose beauty and perfume on a shrub that blooms again and again from late spring to frost.
Full sun
Every 3–7 days
USDA 4–9
4–10 ft · 1.2–3 m
Overview
Plant a David Austin English rose and watch a garden come alive with old-fashioned glamour that refuses to quit after one show. These roses pack the full cupped and rosette flowers and rich perfume of old garden roses together with the repeat flowering and wide colors of modern ones. David Austin chased that combination in England for decades, and the payoff is a shrub that wears antique looks while flowering wave after wave instead of just once a year.
Expect vigorous deciduous shrubs that shoot up to 4 and 10 feet (1.2 to 3 m) tall, with a handful eager to scramble up a wall or fence as short climbers. Plant them in full sun with good soil and they thrive across a huge sweep of climates, all through USDA zones 4 to 9. The flowers keep rolling in flushes from late spring right up to the first frost, so the display powers on for months.
They do want a touch more attention than the toughest landscape roses, but the work moves fast and pays you back. Keep the air moving, water at the base in the morning, and prune once a year, and you stay a step ahead of the common fungal diseases. Do that and you collect months of fragrant bloom from a plant that more than earns its spot in the garden.
Care
The short version: plant them in full sun and rich, well-drained soil, water deep at the base once or twice a week in the morning, feed with a balanced fertilizer through the season, and prune hard in late winter to keep them growing strong and blooming on repeat.
Light
Give roses full sun, ideally 6 or more hours a day, and they bloom hard and shrug off disease. They take a little partial sun, but push them into shade and you get weak growth, fewer flowers, and a flood of black spot and mildew, so chase the brightest spot you have.
Water
Soak them deeply at the base 1 to 2 times a week instead of little sips, and you drive the roots down where they grow strong. Water in the morning and keep it off the leaves, since wet foliage is exactly what lets black spot and powdery mildew dig in.
Soil
Plant into fertile, humus-rich, well-drained loam and dig in loads of compost first. Aim for a slightly acidic pH of 6.0 to 6.5, and pick ground that drains fast so the roots never stew in water.
Temperature
These roses power through both heat and cold, taking roughly -20°F to 95°F (-29°C to 35°C) across zones 4 to 9. That huge range is a big reason English roses light up gardens almost everywhere.
Humidity
Skip worrying about a humidity number outdoors, because the climate sets it for you. What really moves the needle is airflow, since damp, crowded foliage is the exact playground the common fungal diseases love.
Feeding
Fuel them with a balanced granular rose fertilizer like 10-10-10 or 8-8-8, kicking off in spring once the first leaves break. Feed again after each bloom flush, then ease off about six weeks before your first frost so you are not pushing soft new growth into the cold.
Pruning
Prune in late winter to early spring: cut last season's growth back by about a third, strip out dead or unhealthy stems, and drop a few of the oldest canes to the base to fire up fresh growth. Keep deadheading spent blooms through the season and the plant just keeps cranking out flowers.
Repotting
Most English roses live in the ground and get rarely repotted, so that chore barely registers. Grow one in a pot and you bump it up a size when roots circle around or burst through the drainage holes, water runs straight through, or growth stalls.
Size & spacing
Plants rocket to 4 to 10 feet (1.2 to 3 m) tall and spread 3 to 4 feet (91 to 122 cm) wide. Give each shrub that much room so air rushes through it freely, which makes disease work a lot harder to settle in.
When to plant
Get the timing right and these roses launch into the season with real momentum. Plant while they are dormant and the soil works easily, in early spring or fall, and steer clear of ground that is frozen, waterlogged, or drought-dry, so the roots dig in before the plant takes on leaves and flowers. From there it blooms in flush after flush from late spring through frost.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Plant: early spring or fall when soil is workable and not frozen, waterlogged, or in drought
- Harvest: late spring through frost with repeat flushes
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 4–9
Temperature: down to -34°C
Troubleshooting
Most rose trouble surfaces on the leaves, and here is the great part: the big three all give way faster to prevention than to cure. Learn to catch the early signs and you can jump in before a problem races through the plant. Match what you spot below, then move while it still makes a difference.
Red shoot clusters, runaway thorniness, and deformed blooms
Bunched red shoots in a witches-broom, wildly dense thorns, and deformed buds spell rose rosette disease, a virus ferried by tiny eriophyid mites, and there is no cure once it strikes. Act fast: bag the foliage before you dig, then pull and destroy the whole plant, roots and all, and clear out any wild multiflora rose nearby that hands those mites a home.
Fix:
- Bag the foliage before digging to keep mites from scattering
- Remove and destroy the entire plant including all roots
- Remove nearby wild multiflora roses that host the mites
- Do not compost infected material
Yellow-ringed dark blotches and foliage shedding fast
Dark spots edged with yellow and leaves starting to fall flag black spot, the most common rose disease, a fungus that races along whenever foliage stays wet. It usually launches low and climbs, peeling leaves off as it goes. Jump on it: strip off the marked leaves, rake up the fallen debris, and water at the base in the morning so the foliage dries fast.
Fix:
- Remove and destroy infected leaves and fallen debris
- Improve air circulation and avoid overhead watering
- Water at the base in the morning so foliage dries quickly
- Apply a labeled fungicide such as chlorothalonil, copper, or myclobutanil on a preventive schedule
Powdery white dust coating shoots and warping fresh growth
A dusty white coating on the leaves and shoots calls out powdery mildew, which grabs hold in crowded, shaded, humid spots. The young growth curls and warps as the fungus feeds on it. Open the plant up with a brisk prune, dial back the nitrogen that pumps out soft growth, and hit it with a labeled fungicide if it keeps charging ahead.
Fix:
- Prune to open the canopy and improve airflow
- Remove severely affected shoots
- Avoid excess nitrogen that pushes soft growth
- Apply a labeled fungicide such as triforine, propiconazole, or myclobutanil
Toxicity
Pet owners and parents can breathe easy here: true roses are non-toxic to cats, dogs, and horses, and the petals and hips are even edible. The one thing to respect is the thorns, which scratch and puncture, so handle the canes with care and pull on gloves before you prune.
Safe for
People · Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Cats Safe
Roses are non-toxic to cats, so a nibbled leaf or petal will not poison one. The thorns are the real catch, since they can scratch a curious cat or snag a paw.
Dogs Safe
A dog can chew the foliage with zero risk of poisoning. Keep your eyes on the canes instead, because the thorns scratch noses and paws, and a big helping of leaves might trigger a passing bout of mild stomach upset.
Horses Safe
Horses graze roses with no toxic effect, and the petals and hips make a harmless treat. Their main job is steering clear of the thorny stems.
Rabbits Safe
Rabbits chow down on rose leaves, petals, and stems safely, and many keepers serve them up as forage. The thorns are the only thing to strip off first.
Livestock Safe
Cattle, goats, and sheep browse roses without harm. The prickly canes rate as a nuisance more than a danger.
Birds Safe
Birds shrug off roses entirely, and many feast on the hips through autumn and winter. Nothing on the plant needs to be kept away from them.
People Safe
Here's a happy note for the gardener: petals are fair game in the kitchen, hips too, and rose hips even deliver vitamin C, a role they've filled for generations. Thorns are the only catch, so grab gloves and cover those arms before diving into the pruning.
Wear gloves and long sleeves when pruning or handling; thorns can scratch or puncture skin and pets.
Varieties
David Austin rolled out hundreds of English roses over the years, so the hunt for a favorite is half the fun. These four rank among the best known, and together they flaunt the range of color, form, and scent that makes the whole group such a joy to grow.
Gertrude Jekyll
Gertrude Jekyll charges ahead as a vigorous grower, loading up strongly fragrant rich pink rosettes packed with 50 to 80 petals, and you can run it as a shrub or train it up as a short climber.
Heritage
Heritage, which David Austin launched in 1984, throws out soft light pink cupped rosettes on stems that stay almost free of thorns.
Abraham Darby
Abraham Darby flaunts big cupped blooms that sweep from apricot pink to peach and pump out a strong fruity scent.
Winchester Cathedral
Winchester Cathedral, a white-flowered sport of the pink Mary Rose, keeps right on with the same generous repeat-blooming habit.
How to propagate
Roses open up a few exciting ways to make more plants, from the budding nurseries rely on to easy methods that pay off in a backyard. Which one to grab really depends on how much skill and patience you feel like throwing at it.
GraftingDemanding
Summer (June T-budding) onto an established rootstock · One growing season
Grafting builds nearly every rose you buy. A grower buds a single dormant bud onto a wild rose rootstock in summer, working in June, and the new plant fills out over the following growing season. Budding runs faster and cheaper than other graft methods, but it demands a steady hand, so most home gardeners gladly hand it off to the nursery.
Stem cuttingsModerate
Softwood cuttings late spring to mid-summer; hardwood cuttings November through February · Several weeks to a few months to root
Cuttings hand you a plant identical to the parent and sit well within reach at home. Take softwood cuttings from late spring through midsummer, or hardwood cuttings from November into February, grabbing pieces with one to three nodes. Dip the base in rooting hormone, keep them under intermittent mist, and they root over several weeks to a few months.
LayeringModerate
Spring through summer · One growing season
Layering wins as the easiest route the moment a rose offers a long, supple cane near the ground. Bend a low cane down in spring or summer and pin it to the soil so it roots while still attached to the parent. After a full growing season it owns its own roots, and you can cut it free to plant on.
Myths
David Austin's English roses are genuine old garden roses that survive from an earlier age.
They pull off the antique look brilliantly, but these are modern shrub roses, bred by David Austin from the 1960s on. He crossed the full many-petaled cupped and rosette flowers and rich scent of old garden roses with the repeat flowering and wider colors of modern ones, so you score that heirloom look without getting stuck with one bloom a year.
Roses are poisonous to cats and dogs.
Toss that worry out, because true roses in the genus Rosa land on the ASPCA list as non-toxic to cats, dogs, and horses. The real danger is the thorns, which scratch and puncture, not a thing in the petals or leaves. Just keep them straight from so-called desert rose or moss rose, unrelated plants that really do carry toxins.