Another jolly good year for David Austin's English roses

Soft pink Wisley 2008 is reminiscent of the old Alba roses and is a good choice for both formal and informal gardens, as well as hedges.

And Princess Alexandra of Kent has unusually large pink-cupped flowers with “a glorious fragrance that changes from tea to lemon.”

Among the new introductions, two were recently heralded with international awards. At Concors Internacional de Roses in Barcelona, Wisley 2008 won Best Rose for Landscaping, while Young Lycidas was awarded the top prize for fragrance.

There’s one more reason this will be a rosy year for David Austin. He’s recently been under the weather, but now is back in fighting fit form, as they say across the pond. To that I add an enthusiastic “Hear, hear!”

PSSSST: I really, really, really wanted a Munstead Wood rose (named after Gertrude Jekyll’s own garden in Surrey.) Unfortunately, I may have to wait till next year to give it a try because according to rumors, it is already sold out.

Lynn Hunt, the Rose Whisperer, is one of nine garden writers who blog regularly at Diggin' It. She's an accredited horticultural judge and a Consulting Rosarian Emeritus for the American Rose Society. She has won dozens of awards for her writing in newspapers, magazines, and television. She grows roses and other plants in her garden on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

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