English Roses you should grow in your garden.
You should know right away that this is not an unbiased post on what english roses you should grow in your garden. In my ten years spent as a florist, bride after bride would bring a torn page from Martha Stewart magazine of a bouquet featuring english roses (mind you, these were the days before Pinterest when magazines were our best resource.... does that make me old?... I'm not that old... I feel old sometimes when I talk about things like magazines). Anyway. I had to break it to the hopeful and ambitious bride that english roses were not commercially available (at least from our suppliers) and that they would have to settle for a different flower that we could include.
Since that time, long before my garden, I saw english roses as a sort of fairytale. Something magical that was unattainable by the masses... preserved in it's beautiful and elusive to the demands of modern life. English roses are a secret treasure, often reserved only for the gardener and her visitors.
I wanted them. I wanted all of them.
English roses you should grow in your garden | The Elliott Homestead
Despite my love, I didn't plant my first english roses until three years ago. Until that point, we'd bounced around the country for work and lived in four different rental houses. It was far from the right time to plant roses (though, looking back, isn't it always the right time to plant roses?).
(I'll cling to the defense that I was already convincing my husband to move cows, sheep, chickens, and children from house to house so maybe roses would've tipped him over the edge).
Anyway. Here we are. Here are the english roses you should grow in your garden. Why? Because I've grown them and they're all fabulous.
You'll notice I'm unashamedlypromoting David Austin roses. An English rose breeder, David Austin has long been the leading name in cottage roses. I feel head over heals with his roses a dozen years ago and have never lifted my eyes to another. Call me loyal. I'm in love.You can order your roses here.(For what it's worth, I am not affiliated with David Austin what-so-ever so you know what I speak is truth.)
Beautiful David Austin English Roses to Plant | The Elliott Homestead
English roses you should grow in your garden.
Information directly from David Austin's website.
Malvern Hills: This is a pale yellow, vigorously flowering rose I have trained over an arbor by the greenhouse.
A repeat-flowering rambler bearing fragrant, fully double flowers. A rarity in the ramblers – a variety that repeat flowers reliably. Small, fully double soft yellow blooms, held in clusters. There is a delightful musky fragrance. Exceptionally healthy.
Good for disease resistance
Repeat Flowering
Ideal for poor soil
Highly Recommended by David Austin Roses
Bred by David Austin
Suitable for zones 5 to 11
Teasing Georgia: I had to order this soft yellow rose after I saw the name for my daughter Georgia. We have it climbing up the side of our chicken coop.
A 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
Repeat Flowering
Highly Fragrant
Highly Recommended by David Austin Roses
RHS Award of Garden Merit
Bred by David Austin
Suitable for zones 5 to 11
Strawberry Hill: This is another I have trained over an arbor, only this time, it waves in pale pink blooms. I grow one on each side and they meet in the middle.
An award-winning rose bearing fragrant rosettes of superb qualityBeautiful 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
Highly Recommended by David Austin Roses
RHS Award of Garden Merit
Bred by David Austin
Suitable for zones 4 to 11
Gertrude Jekyll: Perhaps my most vigorous bloomer to date, I have gentle pink Gertrude Jekyll roses all around the greenhouse. They are a constant source of summer flowers!
Twice voted the nation's favourite roseBeautiful, 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
Highly Recommended by David Austin Roses
RHS Award of Garden Merit
Bred by David Austin
Suitable for zones 4 to 11
Jude the Obscure: The softest, most beautiful apricot colored roses I've ever seen!
Large, chalice-shaped blooms with an award-winning fruity scentMagnificent, soft yellow, chalice-shaped blooms. Outstanding fruity fragrance. Very free-flowering.
Bred by David Austin
Suitable for zones 5 to 11
Geoff Hamilton: So romantic! So pink! So fragrant!
A strong growing variety bearing lightly fragrant rosettesWarm, soft pink rosettes. Light Old Rose fragrance with a hint of apple. Strong-growing, healthy and exceptionally disease resistant.
Bred by David Austin
Suitable for zones 5 to 11
Sweet Juliet: Another namesake for another daughter, I have very pale pink Sweet Juliet roses sprinkled throughout the potager garden.
Neatly formed rosettes with a strong, fresh tea rose scentGlowing apricot, neatly formed rosettes. Fresh and strong tea rose fragrance. Reliable and disease resistant.
Bred by David Austin
Suitable for zones 5 to 11
The Albrighton Rambler: This is a new one for me, so I've only ever seen a few pale-pink/white blooms, but it dazzles.
A repeat-flowering rambler bearing sprays of small, cupped flowersA charming repeat-flowering rambler. Small, cup-shaped flowers of softest pink held in large sprays. Light musky scent. Exceptionally healthy.
Repeat Flowering
Ideal for a rose arch
Ideal for walls or fences
Highly Recommended by David Austin Roses
Bred by David Austin
Suitable for zones 5 to 11
Falstaff: A bold burgandy (and a bold choice) for my garden, the depth of this rose captives me. It smells and looks rich.
Large, shallowly cupped blooms with a powerful fragranceRich, dark crimson blooms in the form of large, shallow cups filled with many petals. Powerful Old Rose fragrance.
Bred by David Austin
Suitable for zones 5 to 11
Benjamin Britten: I fell so painfully in love with the scent of this rose, I planted it beneath my bedroom window so that I could smell it while I slept during the summer. It's bold and punchy and beautiful.
A variety of unusual colouring with an intensely fruity fragranceGlowing, 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
Highly Recommended by David Austin Roses
Bred by David Austin
Suitable for zones 4 to 11
Lady of Shallot: A beautiful way to incorporate orangey-hues into your garden without going too far overboard, this is a soft and romantic rose that still carries wonderful saturation.
A striking rose, as well as one of our hardiest and most reliableStriking apricot-yellow, chalice-shaped blooms. Healthy with vigorous, bushy growth. Ideal for inexperienced gardeners.
Good for disease resistance
Repeat Flowering
Ideal for poor soil
Highly Recommended by David Austin Roses
RHS Award of Garden Merit
Bred by David Austin
Suitable for zones 4 to 11
English Roses in the Cottage Garden | The Elliott Homestead
These roses are designed and bred to be beautifully fragranced (has anyone else been sorely disappointed by burying their hopeful nose into a rose only to find the fragrance has been bred out?) and true to their nature. This means that some english roses bloom multiple times a year - other varieties only bloom once. Some sprawl. Some climb. Some are a bush variety.
There's something for everyone.
If you need more information on how to grow roses because you're lacking in confidence because maybe this is your first english rose and you really don't want to screw up it up because how sad would you be if that happened because, after all, you did spent $28.50 on this beautiful rose... (gasping for breath before continuing sentence)...then make sure to visit this fabulous page on David Austin's website that outlines how to care for roses, plant roses, prune roses, train roses, and troubleshoot roses because they know a lot more than you and can teach you their wonderful ways.
(Passes out from lack of oxygen from the longest run on sentence ever).
English Roses to Plant | The Elliott Homestead
My seven year old once told me that if I got old and had to move away from our cottage, and then I died, he would make sure to come back to the farm to dig up all my roses before planting them at his house. He promised to take care of them so that I could "live on" and "so could my english roses, because he knows how important they are to me."
So ya. I guess you could say they're pretty wonderful.
May your english roses, and your garden, be blessed.