Shrub · Rosaceae
David Austin Rose
Rosa
Old-rose charm and scent, plus flowers that just keep coming from late spring to frost.
Full sun
Every 3–7 days
USDA 4–9
4–10 ft · 1.2–3 m
Overview
Want a rose that looks old-fashioned but doesn't make you wait all year for blooms? That's the David Austin English rose in a nutshell. It mixes the full cupped and rosette flowers and lovely scent of old garden roses with the repeat flowering and broader colors of the modern ones. David Austin spent decades in England bringing those two worlds together, so what you get is a shrub with antique looks that keeps blooming instead of flowering just once.
Most of them are tough deciduous shrubs that land somewhere between 4 and 10 feet (1.2 to 3 m) tall, and a few will happily climb a wall or fence if you let them. Give them full sun and halfway decent soil, and they'll do fine across a big stretch of climates, all the way through USDA zones 4 to 9. The flowers show up in waves from late spring right up to the first frost, so the display sticks around for months.
Sure, they want a bit more from you than the toughest landscape roses, but it's steady work, not hard work. Keep the air moving, water at the base in the morning, and prune once a year, and you'll stay ahead of the usual fungal problems. Do that much and you'll get months of fragrant bloom out of a plant that really earns its keep.
Care
The short version: they want full sun and rich, well-drained soil, a deep base watering once or twice a week in the morning, a balanced feed through the season, and one good hard prune in late winter to keep them healthy and blooming.
Light
Roses really want full sun, ideally 6 or more hours a day, so they bloom well and stay healthy. They'll take a bit of partial sun, but shade just gives you weak growth, fewer flowers, and a whole lot more black spot and mildew, so go bright if you can.
Water
Water deeply at the base 1 to 2 times a week instead of a little splash all the time, and the roots learn to dig down. Always do it in the morning and keep the water off the leaves, because wet foliage is exactly what lets black spot and powdery mildew move in.
Soil
Plant them in fertile, humus-rich, well-drained loam and dig in plenty of compost first. A slightly acidic pH of 6.0 to 6.5 is what they like, and soil that drains freely keeps the roots from sitting in a puddle.
Temperature
These roses are tough at both ends, shrugging off roughly -20°F to 95°F (-29°C to 35°C) across zones 4 to 9. That big range is a lot of why English roses do so well in so many gardens.
Humidity
Outdoors, humidity is just whatever the weather hands you, so there's nothing to chase here. What really counts is good airflow, since damp, crowded leaves are exactly the setup the common fungal diseases love.
Feeding
Feed with a balanced granular rose fertilizer like 10-10-10 or 8-8-8, starting in spring once the first leaves show up. Feed again after each round of blooms, then ease off about six weeks before your first frost so you're not pushing soft new growth out into the cold.
Pruning
Prune in late winter to early spring: cut last season's growth back by about a third, take out anything dead or unhealthy, and remove a few of the oldest canes at the base to wake up fresh growth. Keep snipping off spent blooms through the season and the plant just keeps flowering.
Repotting
Most English roses live in the ground and are rarely repotted, so that's one less chore. If you've got one in a pot, bump it up a size when roots circle around or poke out the drainage holes, water runs straight through, or growth stalls.
Size & spacing
Plants get 4 to 10 feet (1.2 to 3 m) tall and spread 3 to 4 feet (91 to 122 cm) across. Give each shrub that much room so air can move right through it, which makes it a lot harder for disease to settle in.
When to plant
Here's the easy part: roses go in while they're dormant and the soil's workable. Plant in early spring or fall, just not into ground that's frozen, soggy, or dried out from drought, and the roots get a chance to settle in before the plant has to feed leaves and flowers. After that, it blooms in waves 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 turns up on the leaves, and here's the good news: the big three are all easier to head off than to cure. Get to know the early signs and you can step in before anything spreads through the plant. Find what matches what you're seeing below, then act while it still does some good.
Clusters of red shoots, dense thorns, and warped flowers
Bunched-up red shoots in a witches-broom, weirdly thick thorns, and twisted buds? That points to rose rosette disease, a virus carried by tiny eriophyid mites, and there's no cure once a plant's got it. Bag the foliage before you dig, then pull out and destroy the whole plant, roots and all, and clear away any wild multiflora rose nearby that's giving 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
Black spots ringed with yellow, and leaves dropping
See dark spots edged with yellow, then leaves starting to drop? That's black spot, the most common rose disease, a fungus that spreads whenever the foliage stays wet. It usually kicks off down low and works its way up, dropping leaves as it climbs. Pick off the marked leaves, rake up whatever's fallen, and water at the base in the morning so the foliage dries off 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
White powdery film on leaves and twisted new growth
A dusty white coating on the leaves and shoots? That's powdery mildew, and it loves crowded, shady, humid corners. You'll notice the young growth curling and warping as the fungus feeds on it. Open the plant up with a good prune, ease off the nitrogen that's pushing soft growth, and reach for a labeled fungicide if it keeps spreading.
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
Good news if you've got pets or kids around: true roses are non-toxic to cats, dogs, and horses, and the petals and hips are actually edible. The only thing to really watch is the thorns, which scratch and poke, so handle the canes with a little care and pop on some gloves before you prune.
Safe for
People · Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Cats Safe
Roses won't poison a cat, so a nibbled leaf or petal is no big deal. It's the thorns you've got to watch, since they can scratch a curious cat or catch a paw.
Dogs Safe
A dog can chew the leaves with zero risk of poisoning. Keep an eye on the canes though, because the thorns scratch noses and paws, and a big mouthful of leaves might bring on a passing bit of mild stomach upset.
Horses Safe
Horses graze roses with no toxic effect at all, and the petals and hips make a harmless little treat. Mostly they just need to steer around the thorny stems.
Rabbits Safe
Rabbits can eat rose leaves, petals, and stems with no problem, and plenty of keepers hand them over as forage. The thorns are the only thing you'll want to strip off first.
Livestock Safe
Cattle, goats, and sheep browse roses without any harm. Those prickly canes are more of a nuisance to them than an actual danger.
Birds Safe
Birds aren't poisoned by roses either, and lots of them feed on the hips through autumn and winter. There's nothing on the plant you need to keep away from them.
People Safe
Rose petals and hips are edible and safe to eat, and the hips have long been a go-to source of vitamin C. The thorns are the only hazard, so wear gloves and long sleeves when you prune.
Wear gloves and long sleeves when pruning or handling; thorns can scratch or puncture skin and pets.
Varieties
David Austin put out hundreds of English roses over the years, so there's no shortage to choose from. These four are some of the best known, and between them they show off the range of color, shape, and scent the whole group is loved for.
Gertrude Jekyll
Gertrude Jekyll is a vigorous one with strongly fragrant rich pink rosettes packed with 50 to 80 petals, and you can keep it as a shrub or train it up as a short climber.
Heritage
Heritage, which David Austin brought out in 1984, gives you soft light pink cupped rosettes on stems that stay almost free of thorns.
Abraham Darby
Abraham Darby has big cupped blooms that drift from apricot pink to peach, with a strong fruity scent you can't miss.
Winchester Cathedral
Winchester Cathedral is a white-flowered sport of the pink Mary Rose, and it keeps that same generous repeat-blooming habit.
How to propagate
There's more than one way to make more roses, from the careful budding the nurseries swear by to simpler tricks that work just fine in a backyard. Which one's right for you? It really comes down to how much skill and patience you feel like putting in.
GraftingDemanding
Summer (June T-budding) onto an established rootstock · One growing season
Grafting is how nearly every rose you buy gets made, believe it or not. 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's faster and cheaper than other graft methods, but it takes a steady hand, so most home gardeners just leave it 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 give you a plant that's identical to the parent, and they're totally doable at home. Take softwood cuttings from late spring through midsummer, or hardwood ones from November into February, using pieces with one to three nodes. Dip the base in rooting hormone and keep them under intermittent mist, and they'll root over several weeks to a few months.
LayeringModerate
Spring through summer · One growing season
Layering's the easiest route when a rose has a long, bendy cane down near the ground. Just bend a low cane down in spring or summer and pin it to the soil so it roots while it's still attached to the parent. After a full growing season it's got its own roots, and you can cut it loose.
Myths
David Austin English roses are antique heirloom roses.
They sure look the part, 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 get that antique look without being stuck with just one bloom a year.
Roses are poisonous to cats and dogs.
You can let that worry go, because true roses in the genus Rosa are listed by the ASPCA as non-toxic to cats, dogs, and horses. The real danger is the thorns, which scratch and poke, not anything tucked in the petals or leaves. Just don't mix them up with so-called desert rose or moss rose, which aren't related and do carry toxins.