You have likely arrived here from a product page carrying a special note from our rose experts. The varieties that feature this message are the cherished classics we wish to discuss. First and foremost, we want to say that your appreciation for these roses is shared by all of us here. They hold a special place in horticultural history, and their unique charm is undeniable.

Breeders of Exquisite Roses Since 1961

For more than sixty years, we have devoted ourselves to the art of growing and breeding roses on our family farm in Shropshire. Each plant is raised with patience, skill, and a deep respect for the traditions of rose growing.

Welcome to the season of awakening.
As the days lengthen and the garden gently stirs, new growth emerges with quiet certainty. Tender leaves unfurl, buds gather, and the first promise of bloom returns.

Each passing week brings greater abundance.
Roses stretch toward the light, gathering strength and preparing to flower once more.

Spring is not merely a change in weather, but a renewal of spirit - a moment when light, warmth, and time reveal nature’s most exquisite work.

High above the Vale of Belvoir, in the gentle folds of the Leicestershire countryside, stands Belvoir Castle, home to the Duke and Duchess of Rutland for almost a thousand years. Within its grand landscape lies one of its most cherished treasures: the Rose Garden, a place of scent, colour and timeless beauty.

Breeding a new rose is a slow and thoughtful process, blending creativity with careful observation. From the first pollination to a rose ready to be introduced, the journey takes twelve years. Each step requires patience, skill, and an eye for promise. Built on decades of experience, our breeding programme is one of the most extensive in the world.

At David Austin®, we’re here to guide you at every stage of your rose-growing journey, from choosing the right variety to helping your plants flourish. If you’re ready to buy or simply need some advice, our friendly rose experts are always happy to help.

Message Us

Cookie Policy

To make this site work properly, we sometimes place small data files called cookies on your device. Most big websites do this too.

1. What does this policy cover?

This policy covers the use of cookies and tracking pixels by David Austin Roses and our third party providers on www.davidaustinroses.co.uk.

By using www.davidaustinroses.co.uk you agree to the placement of cookies by David Austin Roses and our Third Party providers, and our access to them when you visit www.davidaustinroses.co.uk in the future.

2. What is a cookie?

A cookie is a small text file that a website saves on your computer or mobile device when you visit the site. It enables the website to remember your actions and preferences (such as login, language, font size and other display preferences) over a period of time, so you don’t have to keep re-entering them whenever you come back to the site or browse from one page to another.

For more information on cookies, in general, you can visit https://www.allaboutcookies.org/ or https://www.aboutcookies.org/.

For more information on the legal implementation of cookies please visit https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-pecr/cookies-and-similar-technologies/. If you feel we are misusing cookies or wish to discuss our use of cookies further, please email dpo@davidaustinroses.co.uk.

3.What is a tracking pixel?

A tracking pixel is a small piece of code on a webpage that transfers information about your usage of the web page, and each page you visit on our site. The tracking pixel may also include a request to create cookies. Tracking pixels help us understand our audience, track the effectiveness of our marketing and help make sure we display the most relevant adverts possible – giving you a better experience with David Austin Roses.

4. What cookies and pixels do David Austin Roses use?

Cookies. We use cookies to improve your online shopping experience. By clicking accept all or continuing to browse our website, you are agreeing to the storing of cookies on your device. 

Cookies are small text files that can be used by websites to make a user's experience more efficient.

The law states that we can store cookies on your device if they are strictly necessary for the operation of this site. For all other types of cookies we need your permission.

This site uses different types of cookies. Some cookies are placed by third party services that appear on our pages.

You can at any time change or withdraw your consent from the Cookie Declaration on our website.

Learn more about who we are, how you can contact us and how we process personal data in our Privacy Policy.

Please state your consent ID and date when you contact us regarding your consent.

Your consent applies to the following domains: www.davidaustinroses.co.uk

Cookie declaration last updated on 09/09/2024 by Cookiebot:

Necessary (17)

Necessary cookies help make a website usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website. The website cannot function properly without these cookies.

Preferences (3)

Preference cookies enable a website to remember information that changes the way the website behaves or looks, like your preferred language or the region that you are in.

Statistics (36)

Statistic cookies help website owners to understand how visitors interact with websites by collecting and reporting information anonymously.

Marketing (36)

Marketing cookies are used to track visitors across websites. The intention is to display ads that are relevant and engaging for the individual user and thereby more valuable for publishers and third party advertisers.

Unclassified (27)

Unclassified cookies are cookies that we are in the process of classifying, together with the providers of individual cookies.

5. Why does David Austin Roses use cookies and tracking pixels?

Functionality: Some aspects of the website require cookies to function, such as to remember what you add to basket, that you are logged in, the language you have chosen or your recently viewed items. Without these cookies our website could not function as expected. These cookies help give you a better experience when using our website.

Performance: In order to give you the best possible experience when using https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/ we collect anonymous information on how people use our website. For example, we use Google Analytics to understand how people arrive on our website, how they use our website and where they may be having problems using the website.

Advertising: To present highly relevant and targeted advertising on our own website and externally we use cookies. These cookies are designed to record what you view on our website so we can better understand what you would like to be presented with internally and externally of https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/.

To opt-out of targeted adverts using the Google Display Network visit https://support.google.com/ads/answer/2662922?hl=en.

To opt-out of Facebook Advertising visit https://facebook.com/ads/settings, log in if required, and amend your “Ad Settings” as desired.

6. How do I turn off or control cookies?

You can control and/or delete cookies as you wish – for details, see https://www.aboutcookies.org/how-to-control-cookies/ or https://www.allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies/. You can delete all cookies that are already on your computer and you can set most browsers to prevent them from being placed. If you do this, however, you may have to manually adjust some preferences every time you visit a site and some services and functionalities may not work.

If you wish not to use cookies and still wish to place an order, please call 01902 376300.

Set within the rolling Oxfordshire countryside, Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons is a place where beauty, gastronomy and horticulture meet with uncommon grace. Founded by Raymond Blanc OBE, now an ambassador for The King’s Foundation, the estate’s celebrated gardens embody his belief that flavour, sustainability and artistry are inseparable. It is within this landscape of purpose and poise that our David Austin rose border now finds its home.

From Schoolboy to Rose Breeder

Had he been with us today, 2026 would have marked David C.H. Austin’s 100th year, a fitting moment to reflect on a life that reshaped the world of roses. His journey began not in grand gardens or formal institutions, but in the quiet Shropshire countryside, where curiosity, patience, and vision first took root.

DELIVERY INFORMATION

The following delivery options and charges are applicable to all products sold by David Austin Roses.

Standard Delivery  £3.95

Next Day Delivery  £5.95

Saturday Delivery  £5.95

SEE FULL DELIVERY INFORMATION

Christmas is a wonderful time to give something lasting - a rose that will bring colour, fragrance and joy as the new year unfolds. Even a small garden or balcony can be transformed by the right variety, making a rose a thoughtful and personal choice. 

Last updated 14th February 2025.

1. These terms and conditions refer to the prize draw brought to you by David Austin Roses Limited, whose registered office is at Bowling Green Lane, Albrighton, Shropshire WV8 3HB ("David Austin Roses", "we", "us", "our").

2. You must be aged 18 or older to enter the prize draw and be a UK resident. Employees of David Austin Roses Ltd, or any organisation professionally involved in this promotion, or their close relatives, are not eligible to enter.

3. Instructions on how to enter the prize draw are stated in the accompanying promotional material. We will only accept one entry into the prize draw per person. The prize is a £50 David Austin Roses gift card.

4. Entry into the prize draw will commence at 2:00 PM GMT 14th February 2025 and shall continue until 11:59 PM GMT on 30th March 2025. Unless we state otherwise, the winners will be drawn at random in the week following the closing date. We will notify the winners as soon as we can after the draw has taken place. We do not accept responsibility for entries which fail to reach us before the closing date for any reason, are incomplete, illegible, or corrupted.

5. If you enter the prize draw you agree that we may use your personal details to administer and run the prize draw. If you do not consent to such use of your details, please do not enter the prize draw. If you would like to know more about our general policy on how we use personal details, please see our Privacy Notice which can be found here: https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/pages/privacy-and-security.

6. We reserve the right to change these terms and conditions and/or withdraw the prize draw at any time without notice.

7. These terms and conditions (and all non-contractual claims and disputes) are governed by English law and by entering the prize draw you agree that the courts of England shall have exclusive jurisdiction of any such claims or disputes which arise out of or in connection with this prize draw.

Last updated 7th March 2025.

1. These terms and conditions refer to the prize draw brought to you by David Austin Roses Limited, whose registered office is at Bowling Green Lane, Albrighton, Shropshire WV8 3HB ("David Austin Roses", "we", "us", "our").

2. You must be aged 18 or older to enter the prize draw and be a UK resident. Employees of David Austin Roses Ltd, or any organisation professionally involved in this promotion, or their close relatives, are not eligible to enter.

3. Instructions on how to enter the prize draw are stated in the accompanying promotional material. We will only accept one entry into the prize draw per person. The prize is two Emma Bridgewater (Ausb44a16) Potted Roses, two of our David Austin Tea in the Garden gift boxes, two gift cards for afternoon tea at the David Austin Tea Rooms.

4. Entry into the prize draw will commence at 10:00 AM GMT 10th March 2025 and shall continue until 11:59 PM GMT on 24th March 2025. Unless we state otherwise, the winners will be drawn at random in the week following the closing date. We will notify the winners as soon as we can after the draw has taken place. We do not accept responsibility for entries which fail to reach us before the closing date for any reason, are incomplete, illegible, or corrupted.

5. If you enter the prize draw you agree that we may use your personal details to administer and run the prize draw. If you do not consent to such use of your details, please do not enter the prize draw. If you would like to know more about our general policy on how we use personal details, please see our Privacy Notice which can be found here: https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/pages/privacy-and-security.

6. We reserve the right to change these terms and conditions and/or withdraw the prize draw at any time without notice.

7. These terms and conditions (and all non-contractual claims and disputes) are governed by English law and by entering the prize draw you agree that the courts of England shall have exclusive jurisdiction of any such claims or disputes which arise out of or in connection with this prize draw.

Potted roses offer a simple and flexible way to bring roses into the garden.

Carefully potted and ready to plant, they can be planted at any time of year, allowing you to shape your garden with ease. Whether you are filling a border, planting a container, or choosing a gift, they offer both immediacy and lasting beauty.

Privacy & Security

David Austin Roses are committed to our customers’ data privacy and rights, believing we have a duty to handle your data in a way that gives you confidence when shopping or communicating with us. We believe in being upfront and transparent in how we collect, handle and store your personal information.

Our core privacy principles:

• We will keep your data safe and secure.
• We will always tell you how we intend use your data.
• We will on every marketing communication give you the chance to unsubscribe.
• We will only keep your data for as long as it is needed.
• We will never sell your data to a third party.
• Your data is yours. We respect your right to request access or deletion of personal information.

By accepting the Privacy Policy, you are agreeing that you accept and understand the below Privacy Policy and how we will use your personal information. If you do not agree to the Privacy Policy below please do not submit data to us or use www.davidaustinroses.co.uk or www.davidaustinroses.com.

If any of the details below are inaccurate or you would like to enquire further please contact our us on dpo@davidaustinroses.co.uk.

1. Who are David Austin Roses?
2. How and why does David Austin Roses need to collect and process personal data?
3. What are my rights to my data?
4. Can I find out the personal data that the David Austin Roses holds about me?
5. How long does David Austin Roses keep personal information?
6. Will David Austin Roses share my personal data with anyone else?
7. Under what circumstances will David Austin Roses contact me?
8. How do I withdraw consent for receiving marketing material?
9. How do you use cookies?
10. How do I complain about how my data is being used?
11. Is there a minimum age limit for submitting data to David Austin Roses?
12. Do you transfer information outside of the European Economic Area (EEA)?
13. How secure is my data?
14. Who is responsible for the content on websites you link to?
15. What is Legitimate Interest and when does it apply?
16. How up to date is this policy?

1. Who are David Austin Roses?

This policy applies to the following companies:

• David Austin Roses Ltd. – Bowling Green Lane, Albrighton, Shropshire, West Midlands, WV7 3HB.
• David Austin Rose Nursery Ltd. – Bowling Green Lane, Albrighton, Shropshire, WV7 3HB.

This policy applies to the following website domains:

• https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk
• https://www.davidaustinroses.com

Both David Austin Roses Ltd. and David Austin Rose Nursery Ltd. are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) as Data Controllers.

Our Data Protection representatives can be contacted here:

Phone 01902 376300 or email dpo@davidaustinroses.co.uk.

2. How and why does David Austin Roses need to collect and process personal data?

The collection and storage of personal data allows us to receive your order, process your payment, deliver the goods you have ordered, contact you about your order, record your consent to marketing and provide you with a warranty. In any event, we are committed to ensuring that the information we collect and use is appropriate for this purpose, and does not constitute an invasion of your privacy.

Most of the time you choose what information you provide to us upon data entry, but we also require certain information by law, to validate your identity and for us to provide a service to you.

The following is a list of data collection points visible to you:

The following is a list of data collection points not visible to you, that do not directly identify you and are for the most part either considered anonymised or pseudonymised:

3. What are my rights to my data?

At any point while we are in possession of or processing your personal data, you, the data subject, have the following rights:

• Right of access: you have the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you.
• Right of rectification: you have a right to correct data that we hold about you that is inaccurate or incomplete.
• Right to be forgotten: in certain circumstances you can ask for the data we hold about you to be erased from our records.
• Right to restriction of processing: where certain conditions apply to have a right to restrict the processing.
• Right of portability: you have the right to have the data we hold about you transferred to another organisation.
• Right to object : you have the right to object to certain types of processing such as direct marketing.
• Right to object to automated processing, including profiling: you also have the right to be subject to the legal effects of automated processing or profiling.
• Right to judicial review: in the event that David Austin Roses refuses your request under rights of access, we will provide you with a reason as to why. You have the right to complain.

All of the above requests will be forwarded on should there be a third party involved in the processing of your personal data.

If you wish to make one of these requests please contact us on dpo@davidaustinroses.co.uk or call us on 01902 376300.

4. Can I find out the personal data that David Austin Roses holds about me?

David Austin Roses at your request, can confirm what information we hold about you and how it is processed. If David Austin Roses does hold personal data about you, you can request the following information:

• Identity and the contact details of the person or organisation that has determined how and why to process your data. In some cases, this will be a representative in the EU.
• Contact details of the data protection officer, where applicable.
• The purpose of the processing as well as the legal basis for processing.
• If the processing is based on the legitimate interests of David Austin Roses or a third party, information about those interests.
• The categories of personal data collected, stored and processed.
• Recipient(s) or categories of recipients that the data is/will be disclosed to.
• If we intend to transfer the personal data to a third country or international organisation, information about how we ensure this is done securely. The EU has approved sending personal data to some countries because they meet a minimum standard of data protection. In other cases, we will ensure there are specific measures in place to secure your information.
• How long the data will be stored.
• Details of your rights to correct, erase, restrict or object to such processing.
• Information about your right to withdraw consent at any time.
• How to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority.
• Whether the provision of personal data is a statutory or contractual requirement, or a requirement necessary to enter into a contract, as well as whether you are obliged to provide the personal data and the possible consequences of failing to provide such data.
• The source of personal data if it wasn’t collected directly from you.
• Any details and information of automated decision making, such as profiling, and any meaningful information about the logic involved, as well as the significance and expected consequences of such processing.

5. How long does David Austin Roses keep personal information?

We do not use your personal information indefinitely, only using it for the period in which we need your data to meet our contractual obligations to you, any timeframes set by law and to enable us to give you the best customer service possible. Any data that is not needed to fulfil these obligations will be pseudonymised, and when appropriate deleted. The following are examples of what will impact how long we use or keep your data for:

• Any time limit set for meeting a claim against a warranty.
• Any time period set by law or recommended by regulatory bodies, such as financial audit logs or fraud checks.
• Your most recent engagement with our marketing activity.
• If a request for erasure or rectification has been made and your identity confirmed.
• Any relevant legal proceedings that may apply at the time.

If you would like to know more about these timeframes, please contact us on dpo@davidaustinroses.co.uk.

6. Will David Austin Roses share my personal data with anyone else?

We may pass your personal data on to third-party service providers contracted to David Austin Roses Ltd. and David Austin Rose Nursery Ltd. in the course of dealing with you. Any third parties that we may share your data with are obliged to keep your details securely, and to use them only to fulfil the service they provide you on our behalf. When they no longer need your data to fulfil this service, they will dispose of the details in line with agreed procedures.

We will never sell any of your personal data to any third party or permit any third party to keep your data indefinitely. The following are categories of companies that form an essential part of the service we provide to you:

• Personal Information may be shared between companies under the umbrella of David Austin Roses, such as David Austin Rose Nursery Ltd. and David Austin Roses Ltd.
• Companies that provide us with a service to get your purchase to you, such as a payment service provider or delivery company.
• Technical service providers such as website hosts, customer communication platforms or email marketing platforms, that enable you to purchase, talk and receive marketing material from us.
• Analytical companies using aggregated and anonymous data to provide insight on website activity and usage. When this occurs data will be anonymised and users will not be able to be identified individually.

We may in cases of fraud or illegal activity be required to share information with government bodies or law-enforcement agencies.

7. Under what circumstances will David Austin Roses contact me?

Our aim is not to be intrusive, and we undertake not to ask irrelevant or unnecessary questions. Moreover, the information you provide will be subject to rigorous measures and procedures to minimise the risk of unauthorised access or disclosure. David Austin Roses may have the right to contact you because:

• You provided consent – If you have provided us with consent to contact you we may send you e-newsletters and email marketing with offers, recommendations and advice. Consent will be requested clearly at all data collection points. To unsubscribe please follow our unsubscribe instructions here.
• We need to fulfil your order – In order for us to fulfil our contract to you we may need to contact you. Examples of this would be order confirmations, surveys, despatch notifications or a call to update you on your order.
• To maintain your warranty – David Austin Roses offer a 5 year warranty on all roses bought from www.davidaustinroses.co.uk and www.davidaustinroses.com, to maintain this warranty you must care for your roses as instructed. We may need to communicate with you to help maintain the health of your roses, provide replacements and send care instructions.
• Terms and privacy updates – If at any point there is a material change to our terms of service and privacy statement we may need to contact you. This is to ensure you are aware how your data and your rights are affected.
• Offer, product and pricing updates – Every year we provide offers to our previous customers and we updated our product catalogue and pricing. We may send you updates via post, but we ensure this not be done at a frequency that becomes a nuisance or conflicts with your right to privacy. You may unsubscribe at any time, and all our posted material will detail how. The same instructions for unsubscribing can be found here

For an explanation and list of data types processed under legitimate interest, please click here.

8. How do I withdraw consent for receiving marketing material?

Some of our communications are required as part of fulfilling our obligations to you and as part of the contract of sale between David Austin Roses and you, the customer. For an explanation and list of data types processed under legitimate interest, please click here

You can unsubscribe from our marketing communications at any time and we will act on this as soon as possible.

• Email: To unsubscribe from our email marketing communications you can do so at the bottom of every email marketing communication we send. You may also call 01902 376300, or email unsubscribe@davidaustinroses.co.uk using the address you wish to be unsubscribed from.
• Direct Mail: To unsubscribe from receiving marketing material by post you can call 01902 376300 or you may use our unsubscribe contact form, stating the address you wish to unsubscribe, the name associated with that address and your customer reference number (Printed on the marketing material).

If you feel you have received a marketing material in error, please read our privacy section on how our data is collected and what constitutes a communication under legitimate interest. If you still feel your information has been used in error, please click here to file a formal complaint with David Austin Roses.

9. How do you use cookies?

Our cookie policy explains what cookies are, how David Austin Roses use them on and how you can manage how these cookies are used. To view our cookie policy, click here.

10. How do I complain about how my data is being used?

We take complaints very seriously and will do our best to respond to data protection complaints in a timely manner. If you have a query regarding how we are using your data, the data we are holding or wish to complain about misuse, please contact:

Email: dpo@davidaustinroses.co.uk

Phone: 01902 376300

Address: Data Protection Representative, David Austin Roses, Bowling Green Lane, Albrighton, Shropshire, WV7 3HB.

If you feel we have not dealt with your complaint satisfactorily you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office via the details on the Information Commissioner’s website.

11. Is there a minimum age limit for submitting data to David Austin Roses?

We are unable to accept data from anyone under the age of 16 years old and are unable to record and maintain consent from a parent or legal guardian of anyone under 16 years old.

If at any point you learn that any child under 16 years old has submitted personal information to David Austin Roses, please let us know immediately so that we can rectify the situation.

12. Do you transfer information outside of the European Economic Area (EEA)?

David Austin Roses may transfer your personal data to countries other than the one you or David Austin Roses reside. This may, depending on the services set out in this policy, be outside of the European Economic Area (the EU member states Plus Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland).

When this is the case David Austin Roses will take steps to make sure that your personal data is transferred, stored, handled and deleted with appropriate protections and procedures in place. Depending on the provider this protection may be set out in the form of:

• A contract between the service provider and David Austin Roses detailing that the service provider is compliant with EU regulations.
• Enrolment in the E.U.-U.S. Privacy Shield and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield. This is a framework designed by the U.S. Department of Commerce, the European Commission and Swiss Administration to provide companies with a mechanism to comply with data protection requirements.

If you would like more information on the protections in place please contact dpo@davidaustinroses.co.uk.

13. How secure is my data?

David Austin Roses uses the latest industry recommendations and industry-standard tools to secure your data at www.davidaustinroses.co.uk and www.davidaustinroses.com, such as Web Application Firewalls and Transport Layer Security (TLS). Furthermore, we use strict administrative and physical safeguards to protect your data from unauthorised access.

David Austin Roses do not record, store or transmit credit card information. We use ultra-secure payment gateway providers SagePay and PayPal, who follow the strictest guidelines and procedures when it comes to handling credit card details. You can find the security information for SagePay here and PayPal here.

David Austin Roses regularly reviews the security and privacy practices we follow and implement, enhancing them where necessary in order to maintain the highest level of security for your personal data. If you feel you have spotted a security threat on www.davidaustinroses.co.uk and www.davidaustinroses.com please contact us at dpo@davidaustinroses.co.uk.

Unfortunately, there is no method of personal data transfer that is 100% secure all of the time. We strive to provide you with security beyond what is legally required but cannot guarantee absolute security. We also rely on you to make sure you are sending data securely. For example, you can help do this by making sure:

• Your device is up to date to the latest version.
• Your browser is up to date to the latest version.
• You regularly run virus and malware scans on your device.
• You carefully choose strong usernames and passwords.
• You log out of public computers and devices after use.
• You do not allow unauthorized access to your personal devices.

If you feel your data has not been handled securely and would like to complain to David Austin Roses, please contact us on dpo@davidaustinroses.co.uk or call 01902 376300.

14. Who is responsible for the privacy policy on the websites you link to?

David Austin Roses may at times link to external websites from https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/ and https://www.davidaustinroses.com/. Please note that any website visited by clicking an external link from https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/ and https://www.davidaustinroses.com/ will have its own Security and Privacy policy and we do not accept responsibility or liability for these policies. Before submitting any information please check each websites individual policies.

15. What is Legitimate Interest and when does it apply?

Legitimate interest is where we have a business, commercial or legal reason to process your personal information in order for David Austin Roses to function most effectively. When processing this data, we have to weigh our legitimate interest with your right to privacy - ensuring we use your personal information in a lawful, fair and transparent way.

Listed here are areas where we use legitimate interest to store and process your personal information:

• Providing our services – To deliver our products, or any other service, we must store and process your personal information to meet our obligation to you. We are unable deliver goods without processing your personal information.
• Manage our relationship – To make sure we can administer your account now and in the future we must store and process your personal information. This ensures quick and accurate responses from David Austin Roses to any requests, complaints or queries.
• Customer Service – When you contact us with a query we will need to store and process your personal information in order to respond to you via an appropriate method (such as post, email or telephone).
• Securing your data – We may need to process certain elements of your personal information to combat fraud, prevent security issues and to curb misuse of our services.
• Improving our services – To make sure we improve our services to you we may use your personal information in an analytical capacity or send your surveys to monitor how closely we are meeting your expectations.
• Managing your consent – In order to maintain and manage your consent to communication outside of legitimate interest we need to process your personal information to make sure it is used correctly and to your wishes.
• Legal requirements – We may be required to process your personal information in response to a request from a public authority or law enforcement, in the course of an audit or financial regulation, or to protect our legal rights.
• Service providers – To fulfil our services to you we will share your personal information with Third Party Suppliers, such as payment processors, address validation systems and couriers.
• Direct Marketing – We will send postal marketing to keep you up to date with our varieties, pricing, offers, terms and rose care advice. You may unsubscribe from postal marketing here.

For further details on legitimate interest and the points above please contact us on dpo@davidaustinroses.co.uk.

16. How up to date is this policy?

We may from time to time change our privacy policy. Any future changes to this policy will be made here. This document was last updated on 25/05/2018.

If we believe that the changes are material, we will make these changes clear on www.davidaustinroses.co.uk and www.davidaustinroses.com, and where appropriate, via another means of contact such as email.

Through our Professional Trade Services Department, we support garden designers, landscapers and horticultural professionals in bringing their planting schemes to life. 

We have compiled a list of our favourite gardens which have collections of English Roses. Find one to visit near you.

DAVID AUSTIN ROSE GARDENS

ROSE GARDENS IN THE UK

LONDON & SOUTH EAST

SOUTH WEST

MIDLANDS & WALES

NORTH & SCOTLAND

INTERNATIONAL GARDENS

IRELAND

FRANCE

MONACO

GERMANY

AUSTRIA

LUXEMBOURG

ITALY

SWEDEN

DENMARK

USA

JAPAN

AUSTRALIA

NEW ZEALAND

Visit The Cotswold Garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026. Find us in the Great Pavilion, Stand GPF075, and explore roses, fragrance and English design.

Subscribe to our emails to stay in touch and be the first to hear about our new rose, seasonal advice and exclusive offers.

Thank you! You’ve successfully unsubscribed from post notifications.

We’re sorry to see you go, but we respect your preferences. If you change your mind, you can always resubscribe at any time.

In May 2025, Gertrude Jekyll® was named the World’s Favourite Rose by the World Federation of Rose Societies. Voted for by rose societies across 40 countries, this award celebrates the enduring appeal of a rose that continues to captivate gardeners nearly four decades after its launch.

A Landscape of Heritage and Renewal

Set within a remarkable 725-acre estate, Trentham Gardens stands among the UK’s most celebrated garden destinations. At its heart lies Sir Charles Barry’s Italianate vision of the 1830s, a design that continues to shape and guide the evolving landscape today.

Dating back to circa 1738, the circular garden at Wentworth Woodhouse is one of the estate’s most enduring features, quietly bearing witness to centuries of history. Recently restored with exceptional care, this tranquil haven now welcomes a spectacular collection of David Austin® Roses, thoughtfully chosen not only for their beauty but also for their scent and structure -  designed to create a sensory journey for visitors.

Simple guidance for choosing and caring for a rose

As Chelsea draws near once more, so too does that unmistakable sense of anticipation. Each year brings with it something new, but never something hurried. Every David Austin® rose released at Chelsea represents years of patience, often requiring more than a decade of careful breeding, observation and quiet conviction.

There are few sights more disheartening for a rose grower than watching fresh, vigorous growth suddenly falter. You’ve spent weeks monitoring a promising new shoot as it reaches for the sun. Then, almost overnight, the leaves begin to pucker. A strange, silvery dust settles over the buds like a ghostly velvet. This is Powdery Mildew.

With Sir David Beckham’s birthday this weekend, it feels like the perfect time to share the heartfelt story behind a project that has been quietly blooming at our Shropshire nursery.

While the official debut is still to come, the journey of this new variety began last year when Sir David celebrated his milestone 50th birthday. His daughter, Harper, wanted to give a truly unique gift: a rose that would reflect her father's love for the British countryside and the hours they share together in the family garden.

By following these simple steps, you will ensure your potted climbing rose gets off to the very best start, helping it settle beautifully into the ground and establish the strong, healthy framework needed for years of abundant growth and flowers.

There is a brief, suspended moment each year just before the garden fully awakens. The light begins to soften, the days stretch out, and the air carries a new weight - as though the landscape is holding its breath. Here at David Austin®, it is in the Species Garden that this tension finally breaks, and the season begins to unfold.

There is a long-standing myth that roses are high-maintenance or best reserved for the experienced gardener. In reality, roses are some of the most resilient and rewarding plants you can introduce to your garden. National Gardening Week is the perfect moment to look at them a little differently - not as a challenge to be mastered, but simply as a beautiful plant to begin with.

Planting a climbing rose in a container brings height, softness and a quiet sense of structure to the garden. With a generous pot and a little care at the beginning, your rose will settle happily and reward you with graceful growth.

Climbing roses are well suited to container life, particularly those of a more moderate height. Given space for their roots and something to climb, they will flourish.

As the days grow longer and the warmth of spring fills the air, your roses begin to come back to life. But with the change in season, you might notice some tiny visitors on your plants – aphids.

Wherever roses are grown, they are chosen not only for their beauty, but for the stories they hold. Some speak of places, others of poetry or craft, and some honour those whose influence has shaped culture in lasting ways. This St George’s Day, it feels fitting to pause among a few of these names, each one offering not only a rose, but a small reflection of English life and character.

For David Austin Roses, the RHS Chelsea Flower Show is the defining moment of our year. It represents months of preparation, horticultural precision and a shared passion for the English rose. With 29 Gold Medals to our name, the pressure to evolve is always there, but our focus remains on creating a garden that feels authentic and enduring.

Now you’ve chosen your rose, what does it need to grow at its best.

Throughout this series, we’ve considered colour, character and the part a rose might play in the garden. This final step is a quieter one. It is here, in the setting you give it, that a rose settles and begins to flourish.

Planting a rose in a pot is both versatile and deeply rewarding. It allows you to create moments of beauty wherever space allows, whether in a generous garden or a small, sunlit corner.

With a little care at the outset, your shrub rose will settle with ease and grow into a balanced, free-flowering plant.

When choosing a rose, colour and form often come first. Yet one of the most defining characteristics is something quieter. How often it flowers, and how that rhythm sits within your garden.

Some roses return again and again, offering a steady presence through the season. Others gather their energy for a single, remarkable display. Each has its place, and each creates a different atmosphere.

As April arrives and your garden begins to stir, you might find yourself wondering, Is it too late to prune my roses? Maybe winter slipped by and you didn’t get to it, or perhaps you're simply not sure when the right time is. If you're looking for a bit of reassurance, you're not alone.

A rose in a pot brings the garden closer, lifting fragrance and colour to where they can be most easily enjoyed. Whether placed beside a doorway, gathered on a balcony, or framing a quiet seating area, container-grown roses offer a simple way to create beauty, even in the smallest of spaces.

Each rose has its own natural stature. Some remain compact and neatly shaped, while others reach outward or climb upwards, filling their space with ease. Understanding this from the outset helps you choose a rose that will sit comfortably in your garden, without needing to be held back.

Climbing and rambling roses are threads that run through every garden I create, quietly shaping and reshaping the mood of a place. There is so much to admire in a rose. Its colour, the form of each flower, its fragrance, and the way it ages all come together to create what matters most to me in a garden, its atmosphere.

In any well-loved garden, the thoughtful tasks often have the most impact. Among them, mulching stands out as a simple yet powerful way to care for both your plants and the soil beneath them. Beyond its practical benefits, mulching reflects the gardener’s instinct to nurture, protect, and encourage healthy growth with every passing season.

There’s a quiet sense of momentum across the gardens as spring begins to take hold here in Albrighton. The mornings are still cool, often touched with a light frost, while the days arrive bright and clear, carrying a little more warmth with each passing week.

Spring has a way of changing how we see things. The garden feels lighter, looser, and full of possibility. For stylist and fashion-obsessed Sarah Corbett-Winder, this season is full of promise.  Known for her effortless aesthetic, Sarah trades her wardrobe for garden gloves on the Welsh Shropshire border to learn the basics of rose planting from David Austin®’s head rosarian, Liam.

Fragrance is one of the most memorable qualities a rose can offer. A single bloom can perfume a whole corner of the garden, while a path edged with scented roses can transform an ordinary walk into something quietly special. Yet not every rose smells the same, and understanding the different types of fragrance can help you choose varieties that bring the experience you are hoping for.

Mulching is one of the simplest and most beneficial tasks you can do for your roses each year. In spring, a protective layer placed around the base of the plant helps the soil retain moisture, suppresses weeds and gradually enriches the ground with nutrients as it breaks down.

Shrub roses bring generosity to the garden. Their softly cupped blooms, graceful habit and long flowering season make them natural focal points within a border. Yet, when thoughtfully paired with companion plants, they become part of something even richer: a tapestry of colour, texture and life that unfolds through the seasons.

Companion planting is not simply about filling the spaces around a rose. The right partners can extend seasonal interest, encourage beneficial insects and create a garden that feels harmonious and full of movement.

In our previous guide, “Choosing Your Rose Colour,” we explored how colour is often the first thing that draws us to a rose. Once colour has caught the eye, the next detail many gardeners begin to notice is the shape and size of the flower itself.

Royal Mail has unveiled a new collection of stamps celebrating the rose, featuring ten botanical watercolour illustrations created by the acclaimed artist Marie Burke.

The collection captures a range of roses, from delicate wild species to well-loved garden varieties. Among them is Rosa Constance Spry, the first English Rose bred by our founder, David C. H. Austin.

Caring for English Roses is as much about understanding their needs as it is about admiring their beauty. With the right nourishment at the right time, roses grow with greater strength, produce more abundant blooms, and remain resilient through the changing seasons.

When choosing a rose, colour is often the first thing that captures our attention. Long before we notice fragrance or the form of the bloom, it is usually the colour that quietly draws us in.

In early spring the garden begins to feel quietly alive again. The rose bushes, which only weeks ago stood still and bare, begin to show the first gentle signs that the new season is underway.

In our previous article, we began with a simple but important question: where will your rose live? Once you have considered the space available, whether a border, a container, or a wall, the next step is just as helpful.

Chosen for the cover of the Handbook of Roses 2026, Bathsheba® (Auschimbley) is a climbing rose distinguished by warmth, balance, and quiet refinement. The blooms appear in generous clusters, each flower a soft interplay of apricot and gentle yellow. Petals are arranged with relaxed elegance, creating a display that feels both abundant and composed. The fragrance is rich and characteristic, a classic myrrh scent with delicate notes of honey and tea.

Choosing a rose is one of the quiet pleasures of gardening. In this first article of a short series, we look at some of the simple things to consider when choosing the perfect spot for a rose in your garden.

As winter fades, the garden stirs. Buds swell, leaves emerge, and spring unfolds. 

The transition between seasons is rarely abrupt. Light changes first. It lingers in the afternoon and carries a different warmth, subtle yet unmistakable. The air, once sharp and spare, begins to soften. Even before visible growth, the atmosphere of the garden feels altered. This is the beginning of renewal.

In the days following the centenary of David C. H. Austin’s birth on 16 February, it feels fitting to reflect more deeply on how he worked and why his influence endures.

David approached rose breeding as a long and thoughtful process. From the first cross to final introduction, a single rose could take ten years or more. Each season brought new seedlings, most of which would be quietly set aside. He watched closely, learning how a rose opened, how it aged, how fragrance developed, and how a plant behaved over time. Often, he could be found walking the trial fields, pausing over a seedling, noting its character and potential.

There is a distinct charm in allowing a climbing rose to do more than simply cover a surface. A wall awash with bloom is undeniably lovely, yet when a rose is thoughtfully guided into a deliberate form, such as a sweeping arc, a relaxed swag, or a flowing wave, the effect becomes something altogether more expressive. The plant is not constrained, merely encouraged, its natural grace quietly emphasised.

Today, 16th February, marks what would have been one hundred years since the birth of David C. H. Austin, whose vision transformed the modern garden and reimagined what a rose could be.

Soft, luminous whites are taking centre stage in 2026, inspired by Cloud Dancer, the Colour of the Year from Pantone. Chosen for its gentle warmth and airy elegance, this subtle shade reflects a growing desire for calm, light, and restorative spaces. In the garden, Cloud Dancer finds its most natural expression in the moon garden, also known as a lunar garden, where pale blooms are chosen specifically to glow in evening light.

The moors shaped Emily Brontë long before she shaped words. Wind, wide skies, and the steady presence of nature formed the rhythm of her days, and that rhythm lives on in everything she wrote. Emily Brontë did not observe the landscape from a distance. She belonged to it.

Roses naturally put most of their energy into the tips of their stems, which can lead to flowers mainly at the top of the plant. With the right pruning and shaping, you can encourage fresh growth and blooms all the way from the base up.

A garden is never simply planted. It is designed with intention, shaped by light, season, and colour. Every bloom plays a role, and together they form a living canvas that changes from morning to evening and from spring to autumn. Colour is one of the most powerful tools a gardener has. It influences how large a space feels, where the eye travels, and even how relaxed or energised we feel when we step outside. When understood and used thoughtfully, colour transforms a collection of plants into a harmonious, expressive garden.

Every February, Valentine’s Day arrives with flowers in shop windows, handwritten cards, and small moments of thoughtfulness shared between people who care about one another. Yet behind the modern traditions lies a long and fascinating story. Many people find themselves curious about the history of Valentine’s Day, wondering how a single date became so closely linked with love, romance and, of course, roses.

Standard Tree Roses bring a particular elegance to the garden. Their blooms are held aloft, turning borders and containers into something more structured and refined. Because the flowering head sits high above the ground, its outline becomes part of the garden’s architecture, which makes pruning especially important.

Imagine a garden where the air is filled with the gentle perfume of roses and every corner seems to invite a pause, a quiet moment of reflection. English shrub roses, with their soft, cupped blooms and delicate fragrances, have long been linked with the elegance and charm of period dramas. These gardens are more than a collection of plants. Each rose adds to the story, creating a sense of romance and timeless beauty.

Valentine’s Day has always been a day of gesture, but it has never truly been about the gesture alone.

At its heart, it’s about choosing a way to express what matters, and doing so with care. That might be a few well-chosen words. A note left somewhere it will be found. A gift that feels considered, not hurried. The most enduring expressions of love rarely shout for attention. They simply remain.

Pruning is one of the most rewarding jobs you can do for your roses. It brings shape and structure to the plant, refreshes it for the season ahead, and helps encourage a generous display of flowers.

Some roses feel made for sheltered borders and warm, soft summers. Rosa spinosissima feels different. It belongs to tougher places, where wind shapes the plants as much as the gardener ever could.

An English Rose in a container is one of the garden’s greatest luxuries. Whether placed beside a front door, on a terrace, or nestled into a paved courtyard, a potted rose brings perfume and flower close at hand, not at a distance, but right where it can be enjoyed daily.

Climbing and rambling roses are among the most rewarding roses to grow. Given a support and a little guidance, they quickly become generous plants, covering walls, arches and structures with leafy growth and repeat flowers across the season.

In winter, the garden shows its bones. Beds are quieter, borders are pared back, and shrubs stand in their true shape. Roses too reveal themselves at this time of year, and although it may seem as though little is happening, the plant is already preparing for the season to come.

Gifting a rose is a thoughtful and much-loved gesture. Even in winter, when the garden rests and the days grow quieter, a rose carries the promise of colour and new life in the year ahead. Often, though, roses are bought well before they are given. If yours needs to be kept for a short while before it can be planted, caring for it is wonderfully simple. Roses are far more patient than they appear and will remain at their best with just a little attention.

Roses bring a quiet happiness to a garden. Their beauty feels effortless once they are settled, and even a new gardener can grow them with success. With sunlight, sound soil, and a little seasonal care, roses will flower generously and become dependable companions through the year.

Roses guide the pace of the garden year. Their summer display is shaped by a series of small, thoughtful tasks that unfold long before the first bloom appears. Each season offers its own moment to step in and help your roses flourish.

Winter is often mistaken for an ending. Beds are bare, borders are quiet, and the garden appears to have paused. Yet for roses, winter is not an absence of growth but the moment when everything important begins. Beneath the soil and within each stem, the foundations of the coming year are already being laid.

There are years when the garden feels especially alive and full of stories. In 2025, at David Austin®, we saw moments that reminded us why we spend our days among stems and buds. Beginnings that feel full of promise, flowers that arrive ahead of expectation, and new roses introduced on some of the most celebrated stages in gardening.

The winter solstice arrives quietly, the shortest day slipping in with little ceremony. In the garden, everything feels suspended. Frost holds the edges of fallen leaves, the soil settles into its long exhale and even the familiar shapes of roses seem to rest. This stillness is not an ending but a pause, a moment when the year hesitates before turning back toward the light.

Roses and Christmas may seem unlikely companions, yet the flower has held a place in midwinter traditions for centuries. At a time of year when daylight is brief and the garden lies still, the rose has often stood for continuity, memory and the promise of renewal. Its presence, whether symbolic, preserved or coaxed into late bloom, has long brought a touch of grace to the festive season.

A winter walk often reveals more than you expect, especially when you start gathering what the season gives you. For generations, people have stepped out into the darker months to collect what the hedgerows have to offer: evergreens, seedheads, berries and, of course, rose hips. A wreath made from these finds feels honest and seasonal, shaped by the garden and the landscape rather than by anything store-bought. It is a small way of bringing winter’s character indoors.

In the stillness of December, when frost feathers the garden and bare branches trace strong silhouettes against pale skies, it is easy to think of another age. A Dickensian Christmas feels close at hand: lantern light on cobbled streets, mist in the air, and behind brick walls and wrought-iron gates, old roses resting through the cold. Though they are bare now, many of the varieties we grow today were already cherished in Victorian times, rooted in gardens that knew the same cold, the same darkness, and the same deep anticipation of return.

Winter draws a different map across the garden. Borders lose their summer softness, the air grows crisp, and each plant stands in its true form. Roses, perhaps more than anything else, reveal their strength now. Their branches hold the memory of last season’s bloom, and beneath the soil they gather themselves for the next. Looking after them at this time of year becomes less a checklist of jobs and more a steady, reassuring conversation with the season ahead.

Winter has a way of showing roses as they really are. With the leaves down and the flowers long gone, the plants stand in their most open, honest form. This is when the hips become noticeable. On wild species roses, these fruits are not just a seasonal leftover. They are small clues about the landscapes that shaped each plant. If you look closely, they reveal far more than you might expect.

As autumn settles and the days take on a crisp, silvery light, the garden begins to quieten. Blooms fade, leaves fall, and roses offer their final gesture of the year. Their hips, glowing in reds and soft oranges, brighten bare stems like small lanterns and bring warmth to the stillness of the season. These fruits have long carried a nostalgic charm, recalling winter walks, simple festive gatherings and the comforting traditions of Christmas. Rose hips are easy to collect. Choose firm, brightly coloured hips and snip them with a short length of stem attached. A gentle rinse is enough to prepare them for craft or cookery.

As the garden rests and daylight draws in, Christmas becomes a lovely moment to surprise the gardener in your life with something thoughtful. The right gift can brighten the quieter months and carry the promise of beauty when spring returns and the roses wake again.

When we speak of “shade” in the garden, it is important to be precise. Few roses will prosper in deep shadow, but many are perfectly happy with four or five hours of sunlight a day. Think of those north-facing walls or quiet spots that bask in morning or evening light. These are not wasted spaces; with the right roses, they can become some of the most enchanting areas of the garden.

A living wall has a way of transforming a space, turning a simple surface into a quiet theatre of petals, scent and shifting light. When English Roses form the foundation, the display becomes generous and enduring. Their repeat blooms, soft colours and naturally graceful habit bring depth and character to any vertical space, whether it is a boundary fence, a warm house wall or a tucked-away corner that needs a little life.

There is a sense of calm purpose to Highgrove. The private residence of His Majesty The King is also home to one of Britain’s most admired organic gardens, a living expression of harmony between beauty and sustainability. Every plant is part of a greater whole. Every decision is made with the long view in mind.

Bare root climbing roses bring vertical grace and fragrance to patios, terraces and courtyards, creating structure and height where space is limited. When planted carefully in a large container, they will flourish and flower generously, rewarding you with arching stems covered in blooms from early summer through to autumn.

Soft light spills across a quiet garden, where the hum of bees threads through the still air and petals tremble with the morning dew. There is a hush here, a sense that time itself slows, inviting the senses to wander and the spirit to rest. In these moments, the perfume of roses becomes more than a fragrance. It is at once familiar and fleeting, a memory, a mood, a gentle companion to the day, recalling childhood gardens, evening walks and the warmth of the sun. Among our English Roses, some are distinguished not only by their beauty but by the generosity of their perfume.

When it comes to creating an interesting and harmonious garden, the way you arrange your plants can make all the difference. English roses, with their exquisite forms and captivating fragrances, are the perfect example. Planting them in clusters of three, five or more, particularly when you choose the same variety, is one of the simplest and most effective ways to bring both balance and character to your outdoor space.

Standard roses, also known as tree roses, bring structure, height and a sense of grace to the garden. Their blooms are carried high on slender stems, creating a striking focal point among lower planting. Whether standing proudly in a border or adding formality beside a doorway, they bring charm and refinement to any setting.

For many gardeners, the first sight of a bare root rose can be a surprise. Without its leaves or blooms, it arrives looking rather modest: a handful of roots, a few sturdy canes, and a curious little swelling where the two meet. Yet within this unassuming bundle lies everything needed to grow a strong, healthy rose that will flower for years to come.

Our breeding team shares what this special season means to them, as the hips ripen in the glasshouses and the next generation of roses begins its journey.

The story of David C. H. Austin’s bare root roses begins not in grand gardens or greenhouses, but in the heart of a family home - at the kitchen table of Bowling Green House in Shropshire. It was here that a young man, captivated by the beauty of Old Roses, began to imagine something new: roses that would combine the grace and fragrance of the past with the reliable flowering of modern varieties.

Bare root shrub roses are a perfect choice for growing in containers, offering beautiful, bushy growth and abundant, fragrant blooms throughout the summer and into autumn. Planting them in a pot allows gardeners without a garden bed to enjoy the elegance of English Roses, while giving the plant the freedom to establish strong roots in a controlled environment. By following a few careful steps, your rose will settle naturally and flourish for years to come.

Planting a bare root rose is a gesture of quiet confidence, a small act of faith in the turning of the seasons. It asks the gardener to trust in time, in patience, and in the rose’s own ancient rhythm. Long before plastic pots and glossy labels, this was how roses were grown and shared. Lifted carefully from the fields in autumn, their roots bare and bundled, they travelled lightly, ready to settle into new gardens and new soil.

Bare root climbing and rambling roses bring both structure and romance to the garden, offering a traditional and sustainable way to cover walls, fences, and arches with abundant blooms. Planted between autumn and early spring, these roses establish naturally through the cooler months, ready to send out vigorous new shoots when warmth returns. With a little preparation and care, they will reward you for many years with graceful growth and exquisite fragrance.

As World Mental Health Day reminds us, the way we care for our minds can be as natural and nourishing as tending a garden. Among plants, soil, and sky, we find a space that allows both body and spirit to rest and renew. Few experiences embody this better than the simple act of planting a rose. It asks for patience, attentiveness, and trust in the rhythm of life, and it rewards us with beauty that feels deeply earned.

Bare root shrub roses are a gardener’s delight, offering a traditional, sustainable, and rewarding way to add colour and fragrance to your garden. Delivered simply as stems and roots, they are designed to work in harmony with the seasons. Planted in autumn through to spring, they settle naturally into the soil over the colder months, ready to burst into life and reward you with blooms the following year. Easy to handle, they are a dependable choice for both new and experienced gardeners.

Autumn drifts into the garden with a soft, golden light. The air is cooler, leaves are turning, and the days feel slower. It’s tempting to think the gardening year is over, but for rose lovers, this is the moment to start preparing for the months ahead.

As the last blooms of summer fade and the rose garden shifts into autumn, English Roses begin their preparation for winter. The days grow shorter, the air cooler, and the garden takes on a warm, golden light. This is the ideal moment to support your roses, helping them stay healthy, nourished, and ready for the coming season.

By the end of September, the rose garden is changing. The exuberance of summer is fading, and the rhythm of the season is slowing. Many English Roses are setting hips now, their once-constant flowers giving way to clusters of glowing fruits. Yet the borders need not feel diminished. With the right companions, roses can be framed and supported so that the garden still sings with colour, texture and grace well into autumn.

Gardens high on hills, offer breathtaking views, but the combination of wind, cold winters, and shorter growing seasons can make growing roses a challenge. With careful selection and planting, even these exposed gardens can thrive with elegant, fragrant blooms.

Each summer the Proms bring music, tradition and joy to the Royal Albert Hall. From the first shimmering notes to the final chorus, audiences are carried into a world where sound becomes memory. At David Austin®, we mark this festival in our own way, with roses that are themselves named after music and musicians who have moved us. These varieties hold within them the same qualities of rhythm, harmony and timeless beauty.

At David Austin Roses, the greenhouses are alive with energy as thousands of young plants grow and develop. This is the stage where the next generation of roses begins to take shape, starting with the formation of rose hips, the small fruits that hold the seeds of future blooms.

Some roses seem to hold a story in their petals, and Rosa Penelope Lively is one of them. Named for the much-loved writer, this English Shrub Rose carries both elegance and quiet depth, a living tribute to a voice that has shaped contemporary literature.

Once-flowering roses carry an air of tradition, a reminder of old gardens where their brief but magnificent display was the highlight of summer. They bloom on wood made the year before, so pruning them is a matter of patience and respect for their natural rhythm.

Guest blog by Helen Cross - Author, Journalist, Presenter, and School Gardening Champion. At the start of every gardening session with a new group of children, I always ask them what flower, fruit, or vegetable they would like to grow in their school garden. You might be surprised, but over the last five years, three or four out of every ten children have told me they want to grow roses.

Roses climbing up a trellis or rambling across a wall are some of the most romantic sights in any garden. While both climbing and rambling roses can transform a space with their graceful growth and blooms, understanding the difference between them and how to care for each is essential.

Roses sometimes show signs of illness that can be easy to mistake for one another. Two common problems are downy mildew and blackspot. Both affect foliage and can weaken the plant, yet they present differently and thrive under distinct conditions. Recognising these differences allows gardeners to respond appropriately and preserve the health and beauty of their roses.

David Austin® Roses are loved for their beauty and character, yet they serve two very different purposes. Our garden roses are created to live and flourish outdoors, returning year after year with timeless colour, fragrance and charm. Our Wedding Roses by contrast, are grown exclusively for the floral industry, crafted to create exquisite bouquets and floral arrangements for life’s most memorable moments.

When we picture allotments, most of us think of tidy rows of beans and brassicas, the glint of fruit cages, and perhaps a weathered shed with a kettle always warm. Roses are seldom part of that picture. Yet they deserve a place in such spaces, bringing scent, colour and gentle structure in ways that support both the eye and the ecosystem.

The Gertrude Jekyll® rose is known and loved for its rich, classic fragrance and those beautifully shaped old-fashioned blooms. Though it began in England, gardeners in very different parts of the world have welcomed it into their gardens with equal affection. To celebrate this special rose, we reached out to growers in Japan, Italy and the United States to hear how Gertrude Jekyll® grows and blooms in their own climates and garden styles.

In the quiet town of Woodbury, Connecticut, sits the Old Glebe House Museum, an 18th-century parsonage with a remarkable story to tell. Within its grounds lies something truly special: one of only three gardens in the United States designed by the legendary British plants woman, Gertrude Jekyll. It is also the only one fully realised according to her original plan.

Gertrude Jekyll. For many today, the name belongs to a rose - rich pink, deeply fragrant, always dependable. But long before it was attached to one of David Austin’s finest creations, it belonged to a woman whose influence shaped the English garden itself. She was not flamboyant, not loud, but she left an imprint that endures quietly in the folds of herbaceous borders and the soft haze of summer blooms.

It’s something that catches gardeners out time and again. A rose you’ve grown before, chosen for its particular shade, opens in a colour that seems unfamiliar. Maybe it’s paler. Maybe there’s a flush of pink where there wasn’t one before. Maybe the whole bloom looks like it belongs to another plant altogether.

Few roses are held in such regard as Gertrude Jekyll® (Ausbord). Valued for its rich, mid-pink blooms and one of the strongest Old Rose fragrances in cultivation, it has become a familiar name among gardeners. Yet it is not only the scent that secures its place. This is a rose with structure, presence and the ability to draw planting together. It offers more than a single season’s beauty. It gives shape to the garden and settles easily among other plants, whether used in formal arrangements or in looser, more naturalistic schemes.

Growing a rose in a pot brings beauty right to the doorstep. Whether nestled against a garden bench, standing proudly on a sun-drenched terrace or softening the edge of a courtyard, container roses offer a graceful solution for smaller spaces. With the right care, they will flourish for many years to come.

There are roses one grows for colour, for form, for habit. And then there are those chosen simply for how they make the air feel. Rosa Gertrude Jekyll® (Ausbord) is one of the latter. Not merely scented, but steeped in scent. Fragrance is its character, its memory, its presence in the garden long after the blooms are gone.

If you grow roses, you’ve likely heard about blackspot, that pesky fungal troublemaker that loves to spoil even the most beautiful bushes. It’s one of the most common problems gardeners face, and while it doesn’t kill your roses outright, it can really take the wind out of their sails if left unchecked.

This rose is not fussy. It grows well in many conditions but does best with at least four hours of sunlight a day. It tolerates some shade and suits almost any garden aspect - north, south, east, or west - so long as the soil allows roots to breathe and doesn’t stay soggy. To support healthy growth, mixing in some compost or well-rotted manure at planting helps enrich the soil and improve its texture.

As the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival drew to a close recently, reflections linger on days steeped in sunshine, heavy with scent, and warmed not only by the blazing summer heat but also by the shared joy of gardening.

In May 2025, Rosa Gertrude Jekyll® (Ausbord) was named the “World’s Favourite Rose” by the World Federation of Rose Societies, a distinction awarded through a global vote involving rose lovers from 40 countries. This accolade celebrates a rose that has quietly yet firmly held a place in the hearts of gardeners for almost forty years.

From the kitchen window of Bowling Green House, the view is quiet but alive. Beyond the old glass panes, a narrow canal runs still beneath the branches of the weeping ash, its surface shifting with light and the soft wake of ducks. Native reeds and waterlilies fringe the banks, creating a scene that feels more discovered than designed. David C. H. Austin had it dug after admiring something similar in a friend’s garden. Here, it became the garden’s steady centre, a reflective ribbon running through the planting, anchoring moments of calm.

Roses offer their beauty in graceful waves. Most repeat-flowering varieties bloom in two or sometimes three distinct flushes throughout the growing season. The first flush typically emerges in early summer, producing the garden’s most abundant and dramatic display. After this, the rose takes a quiet pause to replenish energy, during which flower production slows or nearly stops.

Deadheading roses can feel a bit like clearing up after something quietly wonderful. One flower fades, its colours softening and edges curling, while another is just beginning to open, full of promise. Suddenly your hands are full of petals - soft, warm from the sun, and still carrying that unmistakable, subtle scent of the garden. It’s easy to let them drop back to the soil, returning to where they came from. But sometimes they feel too lovely to leave behind, as though they’ve still got more to offer.

Walking through a rose garden and suddenly catching a beautiful scent can feel like a quiet moment of magic. Some roses seem to fill the air with perfume, while others remain nearly scentless. This difference is part of what makes rose fragrance so fascinating.

It begins quietly. You’re walking the garden in the early morning, coffee in hand, admiring the swell of buds after a warm spell. Everything looks as it should, until your eye catches one that seems reluctant to open. The petals are puckered, almost as if they’ve been pinched, and their edges are tinged with a strange brown. A day or two later, another bud does the same. Then a third.

Summers no longer behave as they once did. The balance of sun and rain that shaped our gardens for generations is slipping, replaced by longer dry spells and more intense heat. The soil hardens, moisture disappears quickly, and even the most established plants begin to show signs of stress. Roses, for all their grace and vigour, are no exception. But while the weather is changing, so too can we adapt our approach, caring for our plants with greater awareness and intention.

Each June, as the nation gathers to mark Trooping the Colour, a ceremony full of history and pageantry, there is another way to celebrate. Not on the parade ground but in the garden, where beauty grows with care and purpose.

Suckers are one of those quirks of rose growing that tend to invite a good deal of confusion. They appear out of nowhere, usually low down on the plant or even from the soil nearby, and it’s not always easy to know what to do about them. Are they a sign of strength or something to worry about?

Now that the show gardens have been dismantled and the last petals settle, we take a quiet moment to reflect on this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Chelsea is far more than an event; it is a meeting of minds and a celebration of beauty, carefully tended and thoughtfully shared.

The story behind The King’s Rose™ began with a simple moment of connection. At the Chelsea Flower Show in the 1990s, David J.C. Austin met His Majesty The King, then The Prince of Wales. During their conversation, they discovered they had both grown Ferdinand Pichard, a distinctive, striped old rose, as the first rose in their gardens. It was a small but meaningful exchange that stayed with David.

The garden at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show was designed to feel like a retreat. It was calm, immersive, and deeply personal, built around the idea of a secret sanctuary. While the space itself was large, the principles behind the design can be applied at any scale. Here’s how to recreate that atmosphere in your own garden.

This year at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, we’ve created something truly special - a garden that feels like a quiet retreat. Inspired by the idea of a hidden sanctuary, our Secret Garden is calm, immersive, and filled with roses that each tell part of the story. At 16m x 16m, it’s our most ambitious stand yet, but also our most personal.

The King’s Rose® is unlike anything we’ve bred before. With its soft stripes, gentle fragrance and natural charm, it marks a distinctive new direction for the David Austin® collection. Created in support of The King’s Foundation, this rose brings together beauty, purpose and a quiet nod to tradition.

Deadheading is the removal of finished blooms to encourage further blooms and improve the appearance and shape of the rose. You should deadhead repeat-flowering shrub roses and once-flowering shrub roses that don’t produce hips.

A new English rose, over a decade in the making, is ready to make its debut in the Great Pavilion at the Chelsea Flower Show. After years of careful cultivation, it will finally share its beauty with the world in full bloom, for the very first time.

When the warm weather arrives it is important to keep your roses well hydrated. Our article on watering roses is a guide to keeping your roses healthy and blooming over the summer months.

David C. H. Austin, known for his deep love of dogs, was rarely seen without his Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Bertie. Whether wandering through the rose gardens, riding on his gator, or enjoying quiet moments in the restaurant, their bond was unmistakable. 

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is a celebration of horticultural excellence, and this year, we are pleased to share an important milestone from the Grand Pavilion. David Austin® Roses has been recognised by the RHS as a peat-free champion, reflecting a long-standing commitment to protecting vital ecosystems and reducing environmental impact.

As Chelsea approaches, there’s a familiar feeling of anticipation, one we’ve come to know well over the years. Each rose we release carries with it over a decade of care, dedication and trust in the process. This year, we’re preparing to introduce a rose we hold especially close, our most prestigious yet, and we can’t wait to share it with you.

As April arrives and gardens begin to stir into life, one flower stands out not only for its vivid beauty but for its rich connection to history, healing, and literature. Rosa gallica officinalis, known as the Apothecary’s Rose, is more than an ornamental bloom. It carries with it centuries of meaning and a deep-rooted place in both horticulture and the poetic imagination.

With the spring sunshine finally reaching the garden, now is the perfect time to check in on your newly planted bare root roses. They're just beginning to settle in, and the care you give them over the next few weeks will make all the difference to how well they grow and bloom this summer.

We asked Harry Hoblyn, Head Gardener at Charleston, to share his insights into the remarkable garden that surrounds this historic home. Deeply intertwined with the artistic legacy of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, the gardens at Charleston are a living expression of their creativity.

Cortisol, the body’s primary stress hormone, is essential for managing the body’s fight or flight response. However, the pressures of modern life have led to persistently high cortisol levels for many, contributing to exhaustion, anxiety, and burnout. The increasing pressures of modern life – work demands, digital overload, and rising living costs - have left many searching for ways to bring calm into their daily routines.

Some roses feel like they have always belonged, nodding gently in the breeze, filling the air with soft fragrance, and settling into a garden as if they were always meant to be there. Rosa Emma Bridgewater is one of them.

Mother’s Day is a time to reflect on the women who have shaped our lives - our mothers, grandmothers, or any maternal figure who has left an imprint on our hearts. While we may not always be physically close to those we love, there is something enduring and quiet that keeps us connected: the beauty of a garden and the plants within it.

Some things stay with you - the scent of a rose in the evening air, the feel of a book well-read, the quiet wisdom passed down from one pair of hands to another. Gertrude Jekyll and Constance Spry understood this. They knew that gardens, like stories, are not just about beauty; they are about memory, feeling, and the simple joy of making something your own.

Olivia Rose Austin® (Ausmixture) is a rose that gently captures the heart with her soft, romantic blooms, fragrant petals, and timeless elegance. Versatile in every sense, she adapts effortlessly to a variety of garden styles, from the charmingly rustic to the sleekly modern and the gracefully formal. Whether you’re creating a welcoming cottage garden, a refined modern space, or an elegant formal retreat, Olivia Rose Austin® (Ausmixture) is the perfect rose to tie it all together. Here’s how to integrate her into three distinct garden styles.

There is an elegance in simplicity, an honesty in working with nature rather than against it. Planting bare root roses is a return to this way of gardening, a method that has stood the test of time. Before plastic pots, before garden centres lined their shelves with ready-made plants, this was how roses were grown: lifted from the field in winter, their roots exposed to the air, then carefully wrapped and sent to gardeners who knew the best things take time.

Moving an English Rose is straightforward, and with the right care, it will quickly adapt and thrive in its new home. Let our rose experts guide you through each step for a smooth and successful transition.

In the world of gardening, few plants embody romance and charm like rambling roses. Their cascading blooms, winding tendrils, and ability to transform spaces make them a true delight. Yet for many gardeners, choosing the right rambler can be a little challenging. Which variety will flourish where? How do you pair them with other plants? And most importantly, how can you make them work for your garden, whatever its size or style?

Training a climbing or rambling rose is one of the most rewarding tasks in the garden. With a little early guidance, those long, searching stems can be encouraged exactly where you want them, turning walls, arches, fences, and pillars into living tapestries of bloom. Left entirely to themselves, roses will still grow, but thoughtful training brings balance, structure, and a far richer display of flowers.

In the quiet garden of history, roses have always been the unsung narrators of love and symbols of passion, loss, devotion, and yearning. In the first part of our Love Letter to Roses series, we explored the deep roots of these timeless flowers, their symbolic role in the language of love. Now, we turn to the roses themselves, each a character in its own right, bearing the essence of some of the most unforgettable love stories ever told.

For centuries, roses have been nature’s quiet confidants in the art of love, their petals carrying whispers of affection, longing, and devotion. These remarkable blooms have transcended cultures and eras, weaving their way into poetry, mythology, and cherished traditions. As we reflect on their history, we uncover a story as layered and evocative as the flowers themselves - a tale of beauty, meaning, and connection that has stood the test of time.

For David C.H. Austin, roses were his passion and life's work, each one telling a story of beauty, resilience, and romance. While he is celebrated for creating the English Rose, renowned for its timeless beauty and exceptional fragrance, his extraordinary legacy began with a quiet, serendipitous discovery: ‘Stanwell Perpetual’. 

At David Austin roses, we've crafted four beautiful rose collections, each picked to offer a unique selection of our much loved English Roses. These new collections highlight roses that bring both beauty and fragrance to your garden, with choices for every style and space. Whether you're just starting to incorporate  roses into garden or looking to add something special, there's a perfect fit waiting for you.

As winter settles in, many gardens may seem like they’re taking a well-deserved rest, but there’s still plenty of life and beauty to be found in the colder months. English roses, with their exquisite blooms and rich fragrances, are known for brightening gardens from early summer through autumn, but their allure doesn’t have to fade when winter arrives. By pairing your roses with thoughtful companion plants, you can maintain visual interest and add seasonal charm that will make your garden a delight to behold all year long.

As Christmas approaches and we decorate our homes and gardens with festive cheer, it’s a good time to think about the plants that add beauty and history to our outdoor spaces. One rose that stands out is Thomas à Becket® (Auswinston), a variety that brings a touch of tradition and elegance to any garden.

Roses are a staple in many gardens, bringing both beauty and fragrance. At David Austin® Roses, we know how these versatile blooms can change the feel of your outdoor space. Choosing the right roses can enhance any garden, whether you're working on a traditional design, adding life to a shaded corner, or just enjoying the vibrant colours and scents they provide.

Standard roses are loved for their elegant, sculpted appearance and classic rose blooms perched atop long, sturdy stems. Often used as focal points in gardens, they bring a sense of structure, height, and timeless beauty. If you’re thinking about adding these unique roses to your garden, here are three inspiring ways to incorporate standard roses to create a lush, dynamic, and charming outdoor space.

The David Austin Mycorrhizal Fungi pouches support the enhancement of root growth naturally when planting roses. When these helpful organisms are sprinkled onto the roots of roses in the planting stage,  they are present in the soil to exchange essential nutrients and water for the sugars produced by the plants through photosynthesis.

At David Austin®, sustainability is at the heart of everything we do. Through our BLOOM initiative, we are committed to caring for the environment while ensuring our beautiful roses thrive. One of the key ways we achieve this is through our water recycling scheme.

Bare root roses arrive simply, as stems and roots, quietly waiting for the garden to bring them to life. With care, they can transform into lush, flowering plants, filling a garden with colour, fragrance, and presence. Affordable, easy to handle, and a traditional favourite among gardeners, they offer both charm and reward.

Our annual Summer in Bloom photography competition attracted a global wave of entries this year, as enthusiasts from around the country submitted images showcasing the alluring beauty of garden roses.

We have installed photovoltaic solar panels on the roofs of our production facility, offices, and cold stores to reduce our environmental footprint and adopt cleaner energy sources. These solar panels are crucial in our efforts to achieve greater sustainability. 

Potted roses can be planted all year round. The only time we recommend that you don't plant is when the ground is frozen, waterlogged or in drought conditions.

We understand that your garden space is at a premium and finding a spot for a new rose can be tricky. Planting a short climbing or rambling rose in a pot is a great way to use space on a patio or create colour and scent up a bare brick wall. 

Following these simple steps will ensure your potted standard rose gets off to the best possible start. Potted standard tree roses can be planted all year round. The only time we recommend that you don't plant is when the ground is frozen, waterlogged or in drought conditions.

Surround Your Garden Bench with Fragrant English Roses

Brighten Your Garden with Uplifting Yellow English Roses

Planting White English Roses: A Simple, Elegant Choice for Any Garden Style

Transform Your Garden with Pink English Roses: Endless Styles from Soft Pastels to Bold Jewel Tones

Creating Striking Red Colour Schemes: Bold, Dramatic English Roses for an Impactful Garden

Transform Your Garden with English Roses on Arches, Pergolas, and Obelisks

By training a fabulous, fragrant climbing or rambling rose up a wall or or fence, you can convert a dull, even unsightly area into one of the most stunning features in your garden. It draws the eye up from the ground, providing colour and blooms at eye level. Similarly, placing a rose behind a border on a wall or fence will increase the impact and visual depth of the bed.

Roses offer wonderful impact and privacy when planted in hedgerows. Regardless of area size, plant a single variety along a well defined line to create a simple colour block effect. Why not give a small urban garden an edge, frame the perimeter of a grand property, or scale a large boundary fence with a rose hedge? It's a simple and easy-to-maintain way to bring linear style and privacy to your garden and add protection all year round.

Planting a fragrant, colourful rose next to a doorway makes for an enticing entrance. Plant pots either side of the doorstep for a formal look or why not train a climber up the wall for real impact.

Container Gardening with English Roses: Transform Any Space into a Floral Haven

How to Plant Rambling Roses Up Trees

Create a Cottage Style Garden with English roses

How to Plant Roses onto Large Structures

Companion Plants for English Roses - Planting for Continuous Colour

Brightening Your Garden with Roses: Creating a Beautiful Mixed Border with English Roses

Allowing the right amount of space between roses is one of the quiet secrets of a well-balanced garden. When shrub roses are planted too closely together, the border can quickly feel crowded as the plants mature. Planted too far apart, however, and the planting may appear sparse, with bare patches of soil between each rose.

Roses are invaluable in a mixed border; I love using them in every garden I create. Roses bring height, form, structure, and, most importantly, they bring romance and magic. The sheer beauty and presence of their blooms is so striking that their charm stays in the memory long after their blooms have faded and gone. 

We’ve implemented an Integrated Pest Management system across all six of our themed gardens and our nursery- home to the breeding of our world-renowned roses. 

A thousand visitors got to explore the private sanctuary on the family farm where the company is based in Albrighton, Shropshire, on Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th of June.

We were delighted to be included in the show gardens at this year’s BBC Gardeners’ World Live. The event celebrates the joys of summer gardening with a line-up of Gardeners’ World TV presenters and leading experts, alongside inspiring show gardens, a vibrant floral marquee, and a wide array of plants, shopping, and entertainment.

Every appearance at this prestigious event is many months in the planning, from selecting the theme and designing the stand, to meticulously preparing the selected roses and bringing it all together for one magical week each year. 

At this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show on 20th May 2024, David Austin ^® has revealed its new rose of the year in honour of iconic British potter Emma Bridgewater. A beguiling pink English shrub rose, her rosette form opens up to a crescendo of colours ranging from apricot and coral to mauve and lilac, nodding to the painterly nature of Emma Bridgewater’s collectible pottery, which have stolen the nation’s heart for decades

The theme for the Royal Horticultural Society’s (RHS) National Gardening Week in 2024 is 'Knowledge is Flower', which aims to demystify the wonderful world of gardening. The perfect time to dispel some myths and unveil the ease of growing our typically British, David Austin blooms.

English Roses are tolerant and healthy by nature, and will cope with wintry weather without fuss. Our advice and videos on rose care over the winter will provide you with everything you need to ensure your roses continue to thrive when the warmer weather arrives.

To get 2024 off to a positive start, David Austin^® has announced it has joined hands with iconic British pottery brand, Emma Bridgewater to design a mug honouring its joyful Bring Me Sunshine^® (Ausernie) English rose. 

I once had one of my gardens described as a firework display in slow motion.  A visual that struck a chord. The idea of a slowmoving theatrical performance is something that is always in my mind when I’m plotting out a garden. Gardens aren’t static, so you always must think dynamically when you design them.

Breeding a new rose is a unique mix of art and science requiring patience and dedication, from pollination to sale, the entire process of creating a new English Rose takes 12 around years.

Approximately 60,000 petals from over 20 varieties of English roses, including those from the new rose we revealed at the show, Penelope Lively^®, will now become sustainable, biodegradable confetti sold on to benefit various UK cancer charities.

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.

Handsomely named ‘Dannahue’, a nod to Danny’s full forename, the apricot-hued English shrub rose is noted for its beauty, excellent health, and fragrance. After 12 years of meticulous breeding, David Austin^® Roses is delighted to launch a new English shrub rose named after Danny Clarke – The Black Gardener, with £10,000 from the proceeds donated to not-for-profit Grow2Know.

Here at David Austin Roses, we are passionate about the ways in which we can support charities and organisations that positively impact the mental and physical wellbeing for all. 

David Austin Roses were invited to Bedwellty House in Tredegar, Wales to commemorate their newest rose which is named after Nye Bevan, founder of the NHS.

We are delighted to enter the season of giving by donating £100,000 between our chosen health-based charities: NHS Charities Together, National Garden Scheme & Alexandra Rose Charity.

On December 15th 1920 Ralph Vaughn Williams' classical piece 'The Lark Ascending' premiered for the first time in Shirehampton Public Hall. 100 years on it is being performed once more in the same venue.

Susan Williams-Ellis was the renowned designer and founder behind the iconic Portmeirion Pottery. Known for it's British style, many of the designs are inspired by nature with a number of pieces featuring roses including the English Rose Scarborough Fair.

First bred by David Austin over 30 years ago, this rose was named after the influential garden designer and horticulturist Gertrude Jekyll.

There are few sights more disheartening for a rose grower than watching fresh, vigorous growth suddenly falter. You’ve spent weeks monitoring a promising new shoot as it reaches for the sun. Then, almost overnight, the leaves begin to pucker. A strange, silvery dust settles over the buds like a ghostly velvet. This is Powdery Mildew.

By following these simple steps, you will ensure your potted climbing rose gets off to the very best start, helping it settle beautifully into the ground and establish the strong, healthy framework needed for years of abundant growth and flowers.

Planting a climbing rose in a container brings height, softness and a quiet sense of structure to the garden. With a generous pot and a little care at the beginning, your rose will settle happily and reward you with graceful growth.

Climbing roses are well suited to container life, particularly those of a more moderate height. Given space for their roots and something to climb, they will flourish.

As the days grow longer and the warmth of spring fills the air, your roses begin to come back to life. But with the change in season, you might notice some tiny visitors on your plants – aphids.

Planting a rose in a pot is both versatile and deeply rewarding. It allows you to create moments of beauty wherever space allows, whether in a generous garden or a small, sunlit corner.

With a little care at the outset, your shrub rose will settle with ease and grow into a balanced, free-flowering plant.

As April arrives and your garden begins to stir, you might find yourself wondering, Is it too late to prune my roses? Maybe winter slipped by and you didn’t get to it, or perhaps you're simply not sure when the right time is. If you're looking for a bit of reassurance, you're not alone.

In any well-loved garden, the thoughtful tasks often have the most impact. Among them, mulching stands out as a simple yet powerful way to care for both your plants and the soil beneath them. Beyond its practical benefits, mulching reflects the gardener’s instinct to nurture, protect, and encourage healthy growth with every passing season.

Caring for English Roses is as much about understanding their needs as it is about admiring their beauty. With the right nourishment at the right time, roses grow with greater strength, produce more abundant blooms, and remain resilient through the changing seasons.

There is a distinct charm in allowing a climbing rose to do more than simply cover a surface. A wall awash with bloom is undeniably lovely, yet when a rose is thoughtfully guided into a deliberate form, such as a sweeping arc, a relaxed swag, or a flowing wave, the effect becomes something altogether more expressive. The plant is not constrained, merely encouraged, its natural grace quietly emphasised.

Roses naturally put most of their energy into the tips of their stems, which can lead to flowers mainly at the top of the plant. With the right pruning and shaping, you can encourage fresh growth and blooms all the way from the base up.

Standard Tree Roses bring a particular elegance to the garden. Their blooms are held aloft, turning borders and containers into something more structured and refined. Because the flowering head sits high above the ground, its outline becomes part of the garden’s architecture, which makes pruning especially important.

Pruning is one of the most rewarding jobs you can do for your roses. It brings shape and structure to the plant, refreshes it for the season ahead, and helps encourage a generous display of flowers.

An English Rose in a container is one of the garden’s greatest luxuries. Whether placed beside a front door, on a terrace, or nestled into a paved courtyard, a potted rose brings perfume and flower close at hand, not at a distance, but right where it can be enjoyed daily.

Climbing and rambling roses are among the most rewarding roses to grow. Given a support and a little guidance, they quickly become generous plants, covering walls, arches and structures with leafy growth and repeat flowers across the season.

In winter, the garden shows its bones. Beds are quieter, borders are pared back, and shrubs stand in their true shape. Roses too reveal themselves at this time of year, and although it may seem as though little is happening, the plant is already preparing for the season to come.

Gifting a rose is a thoughtful and much-loved gesture. Even in winter, when the garden rests and the days grow quieter, a rose carries the promise of colour and new life in the year ahead. Often, though, roses are bought well before they are given. If yours needs to be kept for a short while before it can be planted, caring for it is wonderfully simple. Roses are far more patient than they appear and will remain at their best with just a little attention.

Roses bring a quiet happiness to a garden. Their beauty feels effortless once they are settled, and even a new gardener can grow them with success. With sunlight, sound soil, and a little seasonal care, roses will flower generously and become dependable companions through the year.

Roses guide the pace of the garden year. Their summer display is shaped by a series of small, thoughtful tasks that unfold long before the first bloom appears. Each season offers its own moment to step in and help your roses flourish.

Winter is often mistaken for an ending. Beds are bare, borders are quiet, and the garden appears to have paused. Yet for roses, winter is not an absence of growth but the moment when everything important begins. Beneath the soil and within each stem, the foundations of the coming year are already being laid.

Winter draws a different map across the garden. Borders lose their summer softness, the air grows crisp, and each plant stands in its true form. Roses, perhaps more than anything else, reveal their strength now. Their branches hold the memory of last season’s bloom, and beneath the soil they gather themselves for the next. Looking after them at this time of year becomes less a checklist of jobs and more a steady, reassuring conversation with the season ahead.

Bare root climbing roses bring vertical grace and fragrance to patios, terraces and courtyards, creating structure and height where space is limited. When planted carefully in a large container, they will flourish and flower generously, rewarding you with arching stems covered in blooms from early summer through to autumn.

Standard roses, also known as tree roses, bring structure, height and a sense of grace to the garden. Their blooms are carried high on slender stems, creating a striking focal point among lower planting. Whether standing proudly in a border or adding formality beside a doorway, they bring charm and refinement to any setting.

Bare root shrub roses are a perfect choice for growing in containers, offering beautiful, bushy growth and abundant, fragrant blooms throughout the summer and into autumn. Planting them in a pot allows gardeners without a garden bed to enjoy the elegance of English Roses, while giving the plant the freedom to establish strong roots in a controlled environment. By following a few careful steps, your rose will settle naturally and flourish for years to come.

Bare root climbing and rambling roses bring both structure and romance to the garden, offering a traditional and sustainable way to cover walls, fences, and arches with abundant blooms. Planted between autumn and early spring, these roses establish naturally through the cooler months, ready to send out vigorous new shoots when warmth returns. With a little preparation and care, they will reward you for many years with graceful growth and exquisite fragrance.

Bare root roses arrive simply, as stems and roots, quietly waiting for the garden to bring them to life. With care, they can transform into lush, flowering plants, filling a garden with colour, fragrance, and presence. Affordable, easy to handle, and a traditional favourite among gardeners, they offer both charm and reward.

Bare root shrub roses are a gardener’s delight, offering a traditional, sustainable, and rewarding way to add colour and fragrance to your garden. Delivered simply as stems and roots, they are designed to work in harmony with the seasons. Planted in autumn through to spring, they settle naturally into the soil over the colder months, ready to burst into life and reward you with blooms the following year. Easy to handle, they are a dependable choice for both new and experienced gardeners.

As the last blooms of summer fade and the rose garden shifts into autumn, English Roses begin their preparation for winter. The days grow shorter, the air cooler, and the garden takes on a warm, golden light. This is the ideal moment to support your roses, helping them stay healthy, nourished, and ready for the coming season.

Gardens high on hills, offer breathtaking views, but the combination of wind, cold winters, and shorter growing seasons can make growing roses a challenge. With careful selection and planting, even these exposed gardens can thrive with elegant, fragrant blooms.

Once-flowering roses carry an air of tradition, a reminder of old gardens where their brief but magnificent display was the highlight of summer. They bloom on wood made the year before, so pruning them is a matter of patience and respect for their natural rhythm.

Roses climbing up a trellis or rambling across a wall are some of the most romantic sights in any garden. While both climbing and rambling roses can transform a space with their graceful growth and blooms, understanding the difference between them and how to care for each is essential.

Roses sometimes show signs of illness that can be easy to mistake for one another. Two common problems are downy mildew and blackspot. Both affect foliage and can weaken the plant, yet they present differently and thrive under distinct conditions. Recognising these differences allows gardeners to respond appropriately and preserve the health and beauty of their roses.

It’s something that catches gardeners out time and again. A rose you’ve grown before, chosen for its particular shade, opens in a colour that seems unfamiliar. Maybe it’s paler. Maybe there’s a flush of pink where there wasn’t one before. Maybe the whole bloom looks like it belongs to another plant altogether.

Growing a rose in a pot brings beauty right to the doorstep. Whether nestled against a garden bench, standing proudly on a sun-drenched terrace or softening the edge of a courtyard, container roses offer a graceful solution for smaller spaces. With the right care, they will flourish for many years to come.

If you grow roses, you’ve likely heard about blackspot, that pesky fungal troublemaker that loves to spoil even the most beautiful bushes. It’s one of the most common problems gardeners face, and while it doesn’t kill your roses outright, it can really take the wind out of their sails if left unchecked.

This rose is not fussy. It grows well in many conditions but does best with at least four hours of sunlight a day. It tolerates some shade and suits almost any garden aspect - north, south, east, or west - so long as the soil allows roots to breathe and doesn’t stay soggy. To support healthy growth, mixing in some compost or well-rotted manure at planting helps enrich the soil and improve its texture.

It begins quietly. You’re walking the garden in the early morning, coffee in hand, admiring the swell of buds after a warm spell. Everything looks as it should, until your eye catches one that seems reluctant to open. The petals are puckered, almost as if they’ve been pinched, and their edges are tinged with a strange brown. A day or two later, another bud does the same. Then a third.

Summers no longer behave as they once did. The balance of sun and rain that shaped our gardens for generations is slipping, replaced by longer dry spells and more intense heat. The soil hardens, moisture disappears quickly, and even the most established plants begin to show signs of stress. Roses, for all their grace and vigour, are no exception. But while the weather is changing, so too can we adapt our approach, caring for our plants with greater awareness and intention.

Suckers are one of those quirks of rose growing that tend to invite a good deal of confusion. They appear out of nowhere, usually low down on the plant or even from the soil nearby, and it’s not always easy to know what to do about them. Are they a sign of strength or something to worry about?

When the warm weather arrives it is important to keep your roses well hydrated. Our article on watering roses is a guide to keeping your roses healthy and blooming over the summer months.

In recent years, many gardeners have begun to rethink the compost they use to protect Britain's ancient peatlands. At David Austin®, we have been working with peat-free compost for over fifteen years, and we now grow every rose in a 100% peat-free medium. With a few simple adjustments, you can do the same at home.

Deadheading is the removal of finished blooms to encourage further blooms and improve the appearance and shape of the rose. You should deadhead repeat-flowering shrub roses and once-flowering shrub roses that don’t produce hips.

With the spring sunshine finally reaching the garden, now is the perfect time to check in on your newly planted bare root roses. They're just beginning to settle in, and the care you give them over the next few weeks will make all the difference to how well they grow and bloom this summer.

Moving an English Rose is straightforward, and with the right care, it will quickly adapt and thrive in its new home. Let our rose experts guide you through each step for a smooth and successful transition.

Training a climbing or rambling rose is one of the most rewarding tasks in the garden. With a little early guidance, those long, searching stems can be encouraged exactly where you want them, turning walls, arches, fences, and pillars into living tapestries of bloom. Left entirely to themselves, roses will still grow, but thoughtful training brings balance, structure, and a far richer display of flowers.

Growing roses in pots is a fantastic way to enjoy their beauty, even if you're short on garden space. Whether you have a balcony, terrace, or just a small area in your garden, potted roses can add a touch of elegance and charm. You can create a stunning rose display that enhances your outdoor space with the proper care and a suitably sized pot.

Planting a climbing or rambling rose in a pot is one of the most effective ways to introduce height, fragrance and structure to smaller gardens, courtyards and terraces. Whether used to frame a doorway, create a flowering screen along a wall or soften the lines of an obelisk, these roses offer a remarkable display when given the right conditions. Though the approach demands a little more upkeep than planting in open ground, the rewards are considerable: abundant blooms, repeat flowering, and a sense of movement and beauty that elevates even the most compact of spaces.

Following these simple steps will ensure your potted standard rose gets off to the best possible start. Potted standard tree roses can be planted all year round. The only time we recommend that you don't plant is when the ground is frozen, waterlogged or in drought conditions.

Potted roses can be planted all year round. The only time we recommend that you don't plant is when the ground is frozen, waterlogged or in drought conditions.

Allowing the right amount of space between roses is one of the quiet secrets of a well-balanced garden. When shrub roses are planted too closely together, the border can quickly feel crowded as the plants mature. Planted too far apart, however, and the planting may appear sparse, with bare patches of soil between each rose.

English Roses are tolerant and healthy by nature, and will cope with wintry weather without fuss. Our advice and videos on rose care over the winter will provide you with everything you need to ensure your roses continue to thrive when the warmer weather arrives.

As Chelsea draws near once more, so too does that unmistakable sense of anticipation. Each year brings with it something new, but never something hurried. Every David Austin® rose released at Chelsea represents years of patience, often requiring more than a decade of careful breeding, observation and quiet conviction.

There is a long-standing myth that roses are high-maintenance or best reserved for the experienced gardener. In reality, roses are some of the most resilient and rewarding plants you can introduce to your garden. National Gardening Week is the perfect moment to look at them a little differently - not as a challenge to be mastered, but simply as a beautiful plant to begin with.

Wherever roses are grown, they are chosen not only for their beauty, but for the stories they hold. Some speak of places, others of poetry or craft, and some honour those whose influence has shaped culture in lasting ways. This St George’s Day, it feels fitting to pause among a few of these names, each one offering not only a rose, but a small reflection of English life and character.

Now you’ve chosen your rose, what does it need to grow at its best.

Throughout this series, we’ve considered colour, character and the part a rose might play in the garden. This final step is a quieter one. It is here, in the setting you give it, that a rose settles and begins to flourish.

When choosing a rose, colour and form often come first. Yet one of the most defining characteristics is something quieter. How often it flowers, and how that rhythm sits within your garden.

Some roses return again and again, offering a steady presence through the season. Others gather their energy for a single, remarkable display. Each has its place, and each creates a different atmosphere.

A rose in a pot brings the garden closer, lifting fragrance and colour to where they can be most easily enjoyed. Whether placed beside a doorway, gathered on a balcony, or framing a quiet seating area, container-grown roses offer a simple way to create beauty, even in the smallest of spaces.

Each rose has its own natural stature. Some remain compact and neatly shaped, while others reach outward or climb upwards, filling their space with ease. Understanding this from the outset helps you choose a rose that will sit comfortably in your garden, without needing to be held back.

Climbing and rambling roses are threads that run through every garden I create, quietly shaping and reshaping the mood of a place. There is so much to admire in a rose. Its colour, the form of each flower, its fragrance, and the way it ages all come together to create what matters most to me in a garden, its atmosphere.

Spring has a way of changing how we see things. The garden feels lighter, looser, and full of possibility. For stylist and fashion-obsessed Sarah Corbett-Winder, this season is full of promise.  Known for her effortless aesthetic, Sarah trades her wardrobe for garden gloves on the Welsh Shropshire border to learn the basics of rose planting from David Austin®’s head rosarian, Liam.

Fragrance is one of the most memorable qualities a rose can offer. A single bloom can perfume a whole corner of the garden, while a path edged with scented roses can transform an ordinary walk into something quietly special. Yet not every rose smells the same, and understanding the different types of fragrance can help you choose varieties that bring the experience you are hoping for.

Shrub roses bring generosity to the garden. Their softly cupped blooms, graceful habit and long flowering season make them natural focal points within a border. Yet, when thoughtfully paired with companion plants, they become part of something even richer: a tapestry of colour, texture and life that unfolds through the seasons.

Companion planting is not simply about filling the spaces around a rose. The right partners can extend seasonal interest, encourage beneficial insects and create a garden that feels harmonious and full of movement.

In our previous guide, “Choosing Your Rose Colour,” we explored how colour is often the first thing that draws us to a rose. Once colour has caught the eye, the next detail many gardeners begin to notice is the shape and size of the flower itself.

When choosing a rose, colour is often the first thing that captures our attention. Long before we notice fragrance or the form of the bloom, it is usually the colour that quietly draws us in.

In early spring the garden begins to feel quietly alive again. The rose bushes, which only weeks ago stood still and bare, begin to show the first gentle signs that the new season is underway.

In our previous article, we began with a simple but important question: where will your rose live? Once you have considered the space available, whether a border, a container, or a wall, the next step is just as helpful.

Chosen for the cover of the Handbook of Roses 2026, Bathsheba® (Auschimbley) is a climbing rose distinguished by warmth, balance, and quiet refinement. The blooms appear in generous clusters, each flower a soft interplay of apricot and gentle yellow. Petals are arranged with relaxed elegance, creating a display that feels both abundant and composed. The fragrance is rich and characteristic, a classic myrrh scent with delicate notes of honey and tea.

Choosing a rose is one of the quiet pleasures of gardening. Over the coming weeks, we will be sharing a series of articles looking at some of the simple things that can help when choosing the right rose for your garden.

As winter fades, the garden stirs. Buds swell, leaves emerge, and spring unfolds.

The transition between seasons is rarely abrupt. Light changes first. It lingers in the afternoon and carries a different warmth, subtle yet unmistakable. The air, once sharp and spare, begins to soften. Even before visible growth, the atmosphere of the garden feels altered. This is the beginning of renewal.

There is a distinct charm in allowing a climbing rose to do more than simply cover a surface. A wall awash with bloom is undeniably lovely, yet when a rose is thoughtfully guided into a deliberate form, such as a sweeping arc, a relaxed swag, or a flowing wave, the effect becomes something altogether more expressive. The plant is not constrained, merely encouraged, its natural grace quietly emphasised.

Soft, luminous whites are taking centre stage in 2026, inspired by Cloud Dancer, the Colour of the Year from Pantone. Chosen for its gentle warmth and airy elegance, this subtle shade reflects a growing desire for calm, light, and restorative spaces. In the garden, Cloud Dancer finds its most natural expression in the moon garden, also known as a lunar garden, where pale blooms are chosen specifically to glow in evening light.

The moors shaped Emily Brontë long before she shaped words. Wind, wide skies, and the steady presence of nature formed the rhythm of her days, and that rhythm lives on in everything she wrote. Emily Brontë did not observe the landscape from a distance. She belonged to it.

A garden is never simply planted. It is designed with intention, shaped by light, season, and colour. Every bloom plays a role, and together they form a living canvas that changes from morning to evening and from spring to autumn. Colour is one of the most powerful tools a gardener has. It influences how large a space feels, where the eye travels, and even how relaxed or energised we feel when we step outside. When understood and used thoughtfully, colour transforms a collection of plants into a harmonious, expressive garden.

Every February, Valentine’s Day arrives with flowers in shop windows, handwritten cards, and small moments of thoughtfulness shared between people who care about one another. Yet behind the modern traditions lies a long and fascinating story. Many people find themselves curious about the history of Valentine’s Day, wondering how a single date became so closely linked with love, romance and, of course, roses.

Imagine a garden where the air is filled with the gentle perfume of roses and every corner seems to invite a pause, a quiet moment of reflection. English shrub roses, with their soft, cupped blooms and delicate fragrances, have long been linked with the elegance and charm of period dramas. These gardens are more than a collection of plants. Each rose adds to the story, creating a sense of romance and timeless beauty.

Valentine’s Day has always been a day of gesture, but it has never truly been about the gesture alone.

At its heart, it’s about choosing a way to express what matters, and doing so with care. That might be a few well-chosen words. A note left somewhere it will be found. A gift that feels considered, not hurried. The most enduring expressions of love rarely shout for attention. They simply remain.

Roses guide the pace of the garden year. Their summer display is shaped by a series of small, thoughtful tasks that unfold long before the first bloom appears. Each season offers its own moment to step in and help your roses flourish.

The winter solstice arrives quietly, the shortest day slipping in with little ceremony. In the garden, everything feels suspended. Frost holds the edges of fallen leaves, the soil settles into its long exhale and even the familiar shapes of roses seem to rest. This stillness is not an ending but a pause, a moment when the year hesitates before turning back toward the light.

Roses and Christmas may seem unlikely companions, yet the flower has held a place in midwinter traditions for centuries. At a time of year when daylight is brief and the garden lies still, the rose has often stood for continuity, memory and the promise of renewal. Its presence, whether symbolic, preserved or coaxed into late bloom, has long brought a touch of grace to the festive season.

A winter walk often reveals more than you expect, especially when you start gathering what the season gives you. For generations, people have stepped out into the darker months to collect what the hedgerows have to offer: evergreens, seedheads, berries and, of course, rose hips. A wreath made from these finds feels honest and seasonal, shaped by the garden and the landscape rather than by anything store-bought. It is a small way of bringing winter’s character indoors.

In the stillness of December, when frost feathers the garden and bare branches trace strong silhouettes against pale skies, it is easy to think of another age. A Dickensian Christmas feels close at hand: lantern light on cobbled streets, mist in the air, and behind brick walls and wrought-iron gates, old roses resting through the cold. Though they are bare now, many of the varieties we grow today were already cherished in Victorian times, rooted in gardens that knew the same cold, the same darkness, and the same deep anticipation of return.

Winter has a way of showing roses as they really are. With the leaves down and the flowers long gone, the plants stand in their most open, honest form. This is when the hips become noticeable. On wild species roses, these fruits are not just a seasonal leftover. They are small clues about the landscapes that shaped each plant. If you look closely, they reveal far more than you might expect.

As autumn settles and the days take on a crisp, silvery light, the garden begins to quieten. Blooms fade, leaves fall, and roses offer their final gesture of the year. Their hips, glowing in reds and soft oranges, brighten bare stems like small lanterns and bring warmth to the stillness of the season. These fruits have long carried a nostalgic charm, recalling winter walks, simple festive gatherings and the comforting traditions of Christmas. Rose hips are easy to collect. Choose firm, brightly coloured hips and snip them with a short length of stem attached. A gentle rinse is enough to prepare them for craft or cookery.

As the garden rests and daylight draws in, Christmas becomes a lovely moment to surprise the gardener in your life with something thoughtful. The right gift can brighten the quieter months and carry the promise of beauty when spring returns and the roses wake again.

When we speak of “shade” in the garden, it is important to be precise. Few roses will prosper in deep shadow, but many are perfectly happy with four or five hours of sunlight a day. Think of those north-facing walls or quiet spots that bask in morning or evening light. These are not wasted spaces; with the right roses, they can become some of the most enchanting areas of the garden.

A living wall has a way of transforming a space, turning a simple surface into a quiet theatre of petals, scent and shifting light. When English Roses form the foundation, the display becomes generous and enduring. Their repeat blooms, soft colours and naturally graceful habit bring depth and character to any vertical space, whether it is a boundary fence, a warm house wall or a tucked-away corner that needs a little life.

Soft light spills across a quiet garden, where the hum of bees threads through the still air and petals tremble with the morning dew. There is a hush here, a sense that time itself slows, inviting the senses to wander and the spirit to rest. In these moments, the perfume of roses becomes more than a fragrance. It is at once familiar and fleeting, a memory, a mood, a gentle companion to the day, recalling childhood gardens, evening walks and the warmth of the sun. Among our English Roses, some are distinguished not only by their beauty but by the generosity of their perfume.

When it comes to creating an interesting and harmonious garden, the way you arrange your plants can make all the difference. English roses, with their exquisite forms and captivating fragrances, are the perfect example. Planting them in clusters of three, five or more, particularly when you choose the same variety, is one of the simplest and most effective ways to bring both balance and character to your outdoor space.

For many gardeners, the first sight of a bare root rose can be a surprise. Without its leaves or blooms, it arrives looking rather modest: a handful of roots, a few sturdy canes, and a curious little swelling where the two meet. Yet within this unassuming bundle lies everything needed to grow a strong, healthy rose that will flower for years to come.

Planting a bare root rose is a gesture of quiet confidence, a small act of faith in the turning of the seasons. It asks the gardener to trust in time, in patience, and in the rose’s own ancient rhythm. Long before plastic pots and glossy labels, this was how roses were grown and shared. Lifted carefully from the fields in autumn, their roots bare and bundled, they travelled lightly, ready to settle into new gardens and new soil.

As World Mental Health Day reminds us, the way we care for our minds can be as natural and nourishing as tending a garden. Among plants, soil, and sky, we find a space that allows both body and spirit to rest and renew. Few experiences embody this better than the simple act of planting a rose. It asks for patience, attentiveness, and trust in the rhythm of life, and it rewards us with beauty that feels deeply earned.

Autumn drifts into the garden with a soft, golden light. The air is cooler, leaves are turning, and the days feel slower. It’s tempting to think the gardening year is over, but for rose lovers, this is the moment to start preparing for the months ahead.

By the end of September, the rose garden is changing. The exuberance of summer is fading, and the rhythm of the season is slowing. Many English Roses are setting hips now, their once-constant flowers giving way to clusters of glowing fruits. Yet the borders need not feel diminished. With the right companions, roses can be framed and supported so that the garden still sings with colour, texture and grace well into autumn.

Each summer the Proms bring music, tradition and joy to the Royal Albert Hall. From the first shimmering notes to the final chorus, audiences are carried into a world where sound becomes memory. At David Austin®, we mark this festival in our own way, with roses that are themselves named after music and musicians who have moved us. These varieties hold within them the same qualities of rhythm, harmony and timeless beauty.

Some roses seem to hold a story in their petals, and Rosa Penelope Lively is one of them. Named for the much-loved writer, this English Shrub Rose carries both elegance and quiet depth, a living tribute to a voice that has shaped contemporary literature.

Guest blog by Helen Cross - Author, Journalist, Presenter, and School Gardening Champion. At the start of every gardening session with a new group of children, I always ask them what flower, fruit, or vegetable they would like to grow in their school garden. You might be surprised, but over the last five years, three or four out of every ten children have told me they want to grow roses.

David Austin® Roses are loved for their beauty and character, yet they serve two very different purposes. Our garden roses are created to live and flourish outdoors, returning year after year with timeless colour, fragrance and charm. Our Wedding Roses by contrast, are grown exclusively for the floral industry, crafted to create exquisite bouquets and floral arrangements for life’s most memorable moments.

When we picture allotments, most of us think of tidy rows of beans and brassicas, the glint of fruit cages, and perhaps a weathered shed with a kettle always warm. Roses are seldom part of that picture. Yet they deserve a place in such spaces, bringing scent, colour and gentle structure in ways that support both the eye and the ecosystem.

Few roses are held in such regard as Gertrude Jekyll® (Ausbord). Valued for its rich, mid-pink blooms and one of the strongest Old Rose fragrances in cultivation, it has become a familiar name among gardeners. Yet it is not only the scent that secures its place. This is a rose with structure, presence and the ability to draw planting together. It offers more than a single season’s beauty. It gives shape to the garden and settles easily among other plants, whether used in formal arrangements or in looser, more naturalistic schemes.

From the kitchen window of Bowling Green House, the view is quiet but alive. Beyond the old glass panes, a narrow canal runs still beneath the branches of the weeping ash, its surface shifting with light and the soft wake of ducks. Native reeds and waterlilies fringe the banks, creating a scene that feels more discovered than designed. David C. H. Austin had it dug after admiring something similar in a friend’s garden. Here, it became the garden’s steady centre, a reflective ribbon running through the planting, anchoring moments of calm.

Roses offer their beauty in graceful waves. Most repeat-flowering varieties bloom in two or sometimes three distinct flushes throughout the growing season. The first flush typically emerges in early summer, producing the garden’s most abundant and dramatic display. After this, the rose takes a quiet pause to replenish energy, during which flower production slows or nearly stops.

Deadheading roses can feel a bit like clearing up after something quietly wonderful. One flower fades, its colours softening and edges curling, while another is just beginning to open, full of promise. Suddenly your hands are full of petals - soft, warm from the sun, and still carrying that unmistakable, subtle scent of the garden. It’s easy to let them drop back to the soil, returning to where they came from. But sometimes they feel too lovely to leave behind, as though they’ve still got more to offer.

The King’s Rose® is unlike anything we’ve bred before. With its soft stripes, gentle fragrance and natural charm, it marks a distinctive new direction for the David Austin® collection. Created in support of The King’s Foundation, this rose brings together beauty, purpose and a quiet nod to tradition.

David C. H. Austin, known for his deep love of dogs, was rarely seen without his Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Bertie. Whether wandering through the rose gardens, riding on his gator, or enjoying quiet moments in the restaurant, their bond was unmistakable.

As April arrives and gardens begin to stir into life, one flower stands out not only for its vivid beauty but for its rich connection to history, healing, and literature. Rosa gallica officinalis, known as the Apothecary’s Rose, is more than an ornamental bloom. It carries with it centuries of meaning and a deep-rooted place in both horticulture and the poetic imagination.

We asked Harry Hoblyn, Head Gardener at Charleston, to share his insights into the remarkable garden that surrounds this historic home. Deeply intertwined with the artistic legacy of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, the gardens at Charleston are a living expression of their creativity.

Mother’s Day is a time to reflect on the women who have shaped our lives - our mothers, grandmothers, or any maternal figure who has left an imprint on our hearts. While we may not always be physically close to those we love, there is something enduring and quiet that keeps us connected: the beauty of a garden and the plants within it.

In the world of gardening, few plants embody romance and charm like rambling roses. Their cascading blooms, winding tendrils, and ability to transform spaces make them a true delight. Yet for many gardeners, choosing the right rambler can be a little challenginge. Which variety will flourish where? How do you pair them with other plants? And most importantly, how can you make them work for your garden, whatever its size or style?

In the quiet garden of history, roses have always been the unsung narrators of love and symbols of passion, loss, devotion, and yearning. In the first part of our Love Letter to Roses series, we explored the deep roots of these timeless flowers, their symbolic role in the language of love. Now, we turn to the roses themselves, each a character in its own right, bearing the essence of some of the most unforgettable love stories ever told.

For centuries, roses have been nature’s quiet confidants in the art of love, their petals carrying whispers of affection, longing, and devotion. These remarkable blooms have transcended cultures and eras, weaving their way into poetry, mythology, and cherished traditions. As we reflect on their history, we uncover a story as layered and evocative as the flowers themselves - a tale of beauty, meaning, and connection that has stood the test of time.

For David C.H. Austin, roses were his passion and life's work, each one telling a story of beauty, resilience, and romance. While he is celebrated for creating the English Rose, renowned for its timeless beauty and exceptional fragrance, his extraordinary legacy began with a quiet, serendipitous discovery: ‘Stanwell Perpetual’. 

At David Austin roses, we've crafted four beautiful rose collections, each picked to offer a unique selection of our much loved English Roses. These new collections highlight roses that bring both beauty and fragrance to your garden, with choices for every style and space. Whether you're just starting to incorporate  roses into garden or looking to add something special, there's a perfect fit waiting for you.

Growing roses in pots is a fantastic way to enjoy their beauty, even if you're short on garden space. Whether you have a balcony, terrace, or just a small area in your garden, potted roses can add a touch of elegance and charm. You can create a stunning rose display that enhances your outdoor space with the proper care and a suitably sized pot.

A charming variety with deeply cupped rosette blooms in a rich sunset orange-yellow that softens to a delicate apricot hue, excluding a medium-strong Myrrh fragrance. This versatile rose is available as both a shrub and climbing rose, making it perfect for various garden settings.

Brightening Your Garden with Roses: Creating a Beautiful Mixed Border with English Roses

Surround Your Garden Bench with Fragrant English Roses

Brighten Your Garden with Uplifting Yellow English Roses

Planting White English Roses: A Simple, Elegant Choice for Any Garden Style

Transform Your Garden with Pink English Roses: Endless Styles from Soft Pastels to Bold Jewel Tones

Creating Striking Red Colour Schemes: Bold, Dramatic English Roses for an Impactful Garden

Need space for more roses? Arches, pergolas and obelisks are the best way to create an abundance of blooms in gardens and small outdoor spaces. By bringing the blooms up and over, you can walk under them, fully immersing yourself within the roses.

By training a fabulous, fragrant climbing or rambling rose up a wall or or fence, you can convert a dull, even unsightly area into one of the most stunning features in your garden. It draws the eye up from the ground, providing colour and blooms at eye level. Similarly, placing a rose behind a border on a wall or fence will increase the impact and visual depth of the bed.

Roses offer wonderful impact and privacy when planted in hedgerows. Regardless of area size, plant a single variety along a well defined line to create a simple colour block effect. Why not give a small urban garden an edge, frame the perimeter of a grand property, or scale a large boundary fence with a rose hedge? It's a simple and easy-to-maintain way to bring linear style and privacy to your garden and add protection all year round.

Planting a fragrant, colourful rose next to a doorway makes for an enticing entrance. Plant pots either side of the doorstep for a formal look or why not train a climber up the wall for real impact.

Container Gardening with English Roses: Transform Any Space into a Floral Haven

Rambling roses are an impactful addition to any garden, especially when they clamber up trees, creating a romantic and wild display. Planting rambling roses up trees may seem challenging, but with the proper techniques, you can achieve a beautiful and spectacular result with ease.

How to Plant Roses onto Large Structures

Companion Plants for English Roses - Planting for Continuous Colour

Creating Home Grown Arrangements with English Roses