Darn good question. Originally it was on a list of roses that Ashdown was propagating for the Spring of 2008. I quickly added Summer Song to my wishlist at the Ashdown site. Meanwhile I noticed that it wasn't available in the US and emailed Trish at Ashdown and asked her. She said that the people at Austin sold the rights to either J & P or Weeks meaning no one else can sell it for two years.

If you find a source....let me know

Terry and Carole, I ordered Summer Song at Hortico (among other varieties). My order arrived....but, Summer Song is on back order. Bummer... It happens quite often with Hortico (at least in my experience).
When I ordered it, they had it 'available' for immediate shipping, but right now the availability shows 'T.B.A.'

From the other hand, I heard from a very RELIABLE source, that David Austin, Texas will offer Summer Song for the Spring'2009.

Here is a link that might be useful: Summer Song @ Hortico

Thanks for the link! I went ahead and ordered it, giving them a year to ship it. If not....no harm done.

Carole

Hmmm...I wonder if it is possible to order roses via airmail from England? Might look into it and see what it costs. I have a BAD case of "I WANT IT NOW". With my luck, if I ordered from Hortico, they would send me something I don't want. I have a lot of friends who travel for business overseas, so I wonder if they could bring one back for me also. Heck, they always bring wine back for other coworkers; what's one itty-bitty rose?

Wish me luck for the search!

Terry

I think it's not going to be available this year, we tried to get it ourselves (it was listed on the Austin wholesale list originally), but then when their final list came out it was no longer a choice.

--Ron

Alas, Ron, you are probably right. There is a UK mailorder source who will ship but I have to figure out who to get them a export certificate. Good luck with that! I have e-mailed DA and asked them if it is avaiable to ship from their UK nursery and if so, how much. I will probably just have to wait...something I'm not very good at.

The Ben Britten is also very beautiful, but it says it can get to 8'. Can be pruned to a shrub also. It's color is listed as strong salmon pink fading to pink.

Too bad the US market can't get the roses when the UK market does. I wonder why they don't introduce them at the same time?

I also had Summer Song on order from Hortico so I wonder what the final story will be on that one. If you want to import roses from Europe, you will probably need an import permit and a quarantine area. The deal is that Canada can import from at least some European suppliers without the import restrictions. That is probably why it is easier to get some European roses more easily from Canada. Whatever the truth is, I am sure that I will have to wait to see what happens with my order.

I have Benjamin Britten. It makes a big octopus shrub. It does bloom reasonably well. The flowers for me are small, only about 3 inches in diameter at their largest. The color when it first opens is almost a vermillion red color, but it fades to a deep almost watermelon pink. It does have some fragrance, but it is quite disease-prone in my yard, along with all the others. If you want this one, give it room. It can get anywhere from 6 to 10 feet tall and 4 to 5 feet wide. I will say that for the most part, it does not have much problem being hardy. It also seems to bloom better if you prune it hard in the spring. I whack mine off to between 2 and 3 feet in the spring just to keep it in line.

Terry, I'd assume it's because in the UK Austin's introductions don't have to go through a 2-year quarantine. I was told by an Austin representative that they were going to try to get an earlier start on rose introductions over here by almost immediately sending them here if they plan to introduce them over there (as they sure have to have a couple year's planning on roses they'd like to introduce, just to have enough stock).

--Ron

Well, guess I'll just have to be patient along with everyone else and wait for Summer Song. Maybe I'll take a chance and put it on order with Hortico, but I dunno if I want to take a chance on getting a mystery rose.

Bustopher, I don't tink BB is what I want to pair with Lady Emma. Too big with a hillside planting. Sounds gorgeous, though.

I'll just save a space for SS in my new hillside planting for SS. If I run across any hot leads, I'll post.

-Terry

I went ahead and bit the bullet and ordered SS from Hortico. Called and left a phone message last week to ask about when they thought it might be available but you guessed it...still no call back yet. But they did charge $10 on my VISA. Not the whole amount so I don't know what that means? A retaining fee, I suppose?

Has anybody else heard any news from Hortico about their orders?
-terry

For those who already got Summer SOng, is this rose worth getting?

Does this rose require spraying? Is the scent strong?

Terry, I've seen pictures of this from Andrea, a poster from NC who is living in England now. The pictures are beautiful! Good luck.

Carla

Hi Jimmy!
I have this rose, own root, since the past spring, and it needs to grow up and mature... BUT! At the moment, it's a complete failure. The plant is weak, and prone to BS.
The beautiful shades of "burned orange" never come in my experience. Spring flowers are good, rather similar to 'Pat Austin', but more coppery orange and mauve-pink than coppery orange and yellow; they are short lived, and burns badly under the heat, when te colour is a plain, dull light orange, and the shape... is unshaped. The fragrance is mild, fruity.

Probably definitely better in a much colder area. I'm waiting to see if it does better next spring, or I'll get rid of it.

Ciao!
Maurizio