David Austin’s most perfumed English roses
Our unmistakable fragrant roses are quintessentially English and stay in the memory long after the blooms have faded. So, are your roses doing their bit in the scent stakes? If not, that’s a poor show.
Luckily, expert rose breeder David Austin has picked out six of their best highly fragrant English roses, all repeat flowering, ready to order now as bare root plants for November delivery, or as container plants. Plant them next to a door, in areas of heavy traffic or where you sit to get the best from their unbeatable fragrance. Try these favourite thornless roses and a review of the Eustacia Vye and Gabriel Oak varieties.
Strawberry Hill
An RHS Award of Garden Merit shrub rose with vigorous, informal growth. Pure rose pink, cupped rosettes with a strong myrrh fragrance.
Fragrant roses – Harlow Carr
This shrub rose is named after the RHS’s lovely North Yorkshire garden. It’s tough, bushy and exceptionally healthy, very good for disease resistance. The pure pink rosette blooms have a strong Old Rose fragrance.
Bathsheba
A vigorous short climber with large, many-petalled blooms. Superb myrrh fragrance with warm floral and honey notes. The rosette flowers are a beautiful blend of colours, giving the overall impression of rich apricot.
Fragrant roses – Wollerton Old Hall
Another climber with bushy, upright, very healthy growth. Rounded flowers of soft apricot fading to cream with a particularly strong fragrance.
The Generous Gardener
Climbing, disease-resistant rose with large but delicate, cup-shaped flowers in the palest pink. Strong fragrance.
Fragrant roses – Gertrude Jekyll
Healthy, reliable shrub rose twice voted the nation’s favourite rose by Gardener’s World viewers. Rich pink rosettes with an Old Rose fragrance.
Bare-root plants are available from November, and potted plants are for sale all year. For more information and prices, visit www.davidaustinroses.co.uk. Read about a trio of scented roses introduced by David Austin Roses.
