Introducing Penelope Lively®

After 12 years of meticulous breeding, this year’s RHS Hampton Court flower show sees family-owned British brand David Austin reveal the latest addition to their English rose literary collection.

Named after Penelope Lively, British writer and winner of the Booker Prize and the Carnegie Medal the show stopping new rose is the perfect addition to any outdoor space.

Penelope Lively®

(Ausb18a15)
English Shrub Rose bred by David Austin

BEST FOR HEALTH
BEST FOR FRAGRANCE
BEST FOR FLOWERING

Colour: Mid-pink
Bloom size: Medium
Flowering: Repeat flowering
Size: 4ft (125cm) x 3.5ft (110cm)

An elegant rose of great distinction, striking colour and fragrance, with an abundance of blooms. Full of character and happy to thrive in containers, against walls or fences and in shadier areas.

 

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BLOOM

Expect berry-red buds that bloom into a classic and elegant rose with mid-pink, cupped blooms in poised and open sprays. Her flowers will be medium sized with varying shades of pink petals that fade to a lavender hue over time.

FRAGRANCE

Complementing her elegant colour palette, Penelope Lively® carries a classic rose fragrance with twists of raspberry, lemon and a whisper of myrrh. A medium-strong level of scent, it is the embodiment of summertime.

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Behind the name

Like all 200 roses in the David Austin® collection, Penelope Lively® has a story behind the bloom and is the latest to join the literary-inspired varieties. 

As well as being a Booker Prize winning author whose writing spans novels and short stories enjoyed by adults and children alike, author Penelope Lively is a self-confessed gardening addict.

In her published memoir, ‘Life in the Garden’, she writes: “The two central activities in my life – alongside writing – have been reading and gardening”, and this eponymous rose is a celebration of those two passions combined. 

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