Who grow St. Cecilia? (a David Austin rose)

13 years ago

Like to hear your inputs on this rose.

Photos of St Cecilia posted on the net look really impressive: big, cabbage-like blooms. I wonder why not many people talk about this rose. I mean, all I hear about is people planning to purchase the newer DA roses instead of the older varieties.

1. Does this rose repeat well for you?

2. Is it fragrant?

3. Does the bloom last long?

4. Disease resistance?

5. Is this rose a fast grower? Would one rose bush be enough?

Thanks for your help.

Featured Answer

roselee z8b S.W. Texas

13 years ago

Jumbojimmy, I've wondered the same thing myself. I've grown St. Cecilia for years and it's one of my very favorite roses and I'm puzzled as to why it is so seldom mentioned. I'm thrilled that a rose with big cabbagy blooms and intense fragrance will grow in the HOT climate of Texas. It's not only hot in the daytime, but it's hot at night so the plants get no rest.

I don't spray and in my San Antonio garden St. Cecilia gets very little black spot and that late in the year on some of the lower leaves. Mildew is not a problem here. My plant is on fortuniana roots which seems to make for a better nourished plant in this area so maybe that helps it to have healthy foliage.

Here are some photos taken in late June last summer ...
{{gwi:234244}}

The outer petals get a little dry in the heat ...
{{gwi:234245}}

Comments (46)

hartwood
13 years ago
St Cecelia is new to me, coming as cuttings from a rose friend's bush last fall. Every time I visit his garden, I lust after the WONDERFUL myrrh scent of this rose. The last flower I took home from his place lasted for a few days in a vase. He uses Banner Max on his roses every two weeks, so I can't speak to disease resistance without spray. His bush is two years old, and it's about shoulder high on me.

I love this rose and I am totally thrilled to be adding it to my DA garden once I transition my baby plant out of the greenhouse!
michaelg
13 years ago
I've had it for a long time. It is not disease resistant here (blackspot and some mildew). Otherwise it is a good rose with solid repeat bloom. Flowers are beautifully formed and last better than many Austins. The fragrance is powerful old rose and myrrh, but not everybody likes myrrh scent. It makes a full plant, upright and slightly arching.
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I have a David Austin rose called 'Heritage' that I have grown for more than ten years now without spraying with anything at all and it is beautiful. My entire yard and garden are grown organically. I think that whether a rose performs well (after making a good selection, which includes buying a rose that is growing on its own roots, not a grafted rose) it is more important to figure out how to prune the bush than anything else, if you are most concerned with having a solid show of beautiful roses throughout the season. I haven't mastered that skill yet, but 'Heritage' still gives me beautiful roses. Sometimes when I accidentally prune her just right, I am rewarded ten-fold. As an organic gardener, I have also learned this about aphids: You will most likely see some aphids in the spring on the young tender growth of your roses (and other plants). Leave them alone for awhile and don't fret. The aphids hatch out a little earlier than the ladybugs, and are the primary food for the ladybug nymphs. If you kill all the aphids, your ladybugs will have to look elsewhere for food, and you will be depriving your garden of an extremely beneficial predator. Learn to be patient and watch and wait. In just a few days the young ladybugs will come crawling for their first succulent meals, and they will clean up all the aphids. It's a wonder to see. Lesson #2 about ladybugs is that if you sweep your entire yard clean of leaves in the fall, they have nowhere to nest and lay their eggs. They like to lay eggs and raise their young under bushes in leaves and debris. Leave some habitat there for them.
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I have 5 abe Darby's & 3 tamoras they both have great scent - your rose looks like Darby to me !! The colors can vary depending on weather when it comes to Darby. In winter my blooms have strong apricot, peachy yellow & pink but in summer it's very pink. Tamora can also vary in color due to weather. When I saw your pics- Darby was first rose that came to mind. I'm a David Austin rose freak - I have around 20 different austins, plus a few extras of my favorite Austin bushes but I'm not counting those. Tamora is a great rose also, the scent reminds me of starburst :) yum but here in class the bush isn't the most vigorous grower- Both are susceptible to black spot in my garden. Darby however is extremely vigorous. I've noticed on my Darby, the blooms can vary greatly, some are so packed with petals & others not so much ( prob Bc of the heat!) i just dead headed all of mine otherwise I would post pics :( sorry but Good luck!! :)
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Pat, thank you for the thorough explanation of your weather conditions. We can freeze as early as Thanksgiving but usually its around xmas. Then we might have many or no freezes depending on the year lol. This year we had a couple light frosts and that's it! The nights do bounce around in the upper 30's- upper 40's F and days 60-85F ish during the winter. Feb is usually the coldest month. Our last freeze is usually around 1st of March or so. That's normally when I pull all my tropicals out of the greenhouse. Our winters are normally dry and summer it starts raining and it all goes to h*** and its Gumbo Soup outside (as they say in Louisiana) lol You are probably right about Eglantyne giving more blooms here in the winter. Crown Princess is the same way and gives a nice spring flush. I really think she likes cooler weather than I have here. At least she isnt a bs magnet. Diane, your Eglantynes are so ♡Lovely! Her fragrance must be delicious if you have five of her! She must also be extra tasty to deer. I recently saw deer here at night in the front yard near the house. None of the roses were touched, amazingly! I think they were after all the new green grass sprouting. Still. its making me nervous. I havent seen deer in our front yard ever and only a few at the back of the property when we first moved in and the place had been empty awhile. Hey Diane, Guess What? I just ordered Colette :) but as an own root plant. That place on etsy has her (freshgardenliving). I ordered from them last year and the rose was small but doing well still. I'm so happy, maybe my Colette will be as pretty as yours in about 5 years lol. ~Sjn
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roselee z8b S.W. Texas
13 years ago
St. Cecilia repeats well for me with several flushes through the growing season. My one specimen has a tall and narrow growth habit. At this moment it is 44 in. tall and 32 in. wide after minimal Feb. pruning and is covered with buds. As for vase life I seldom cut and bring roses into the house, but they last for a fairly long time on the bush and then the petals fall cleanly.
john_ca
13 years ago
We grew St. Cecilia around 10 years ago in a different home and just planted it at our new home last year. I have grown around 120 different Austin roses over the years, and to my nose, it is the most fragrant of them all. The plant stays compact and branches nicely; I have never seen it grow wildly like some of the other Austins in our area which has a very long growing and flowering season. We find the globular flowers form to be particularly appealing. The repeat for us is at least average if not a bit better. The bloooms last around 4 to 5 days in the garden for us. This rose is a bit more disease susceptible (especially powdery mildew) in our garden than other Austins, but it is common to see higher disease susceptibility in highly fragrant roses. My grafted (R. multiflora) grew to around 2.5 feet in its first year and was fairly vigorous. I like this rose so much that we have decided to create a bed of 6 St. Cecilia roses; we had no problems getting cuttings to root and will put planting out our 6 own root plants within the next month or so. I have no idea why this particular rose is not more popular.
ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
13 years ago
roselee, that's a gorgeous rose in what appears to be a beautiful garden. So nice to see the whole bush and its growth habit is not at all gangly, and no octopus arms. It does seem odd that it's not grown more.

Ingrid
roselee z8b S.W. Texas
13 years ago
Thanks Ingrid. Right, it has never grown those octopus arms. BTW, the outer petals don't always get brownish in my weather. Just to prove it (smiling) here some other photos of St Cecilia's sumptuous blossoms ...

{{gwi:234247}}

{{gwi:234248}}

{{gwi:234249}}

John, a bed a six St. Cecilas will be glorious!
the_bustopher z6 MO
13 years ago
My first year plant did well enough. It did not get any long, octopus canes. It did repeat reasonably well all summer. It is quite fragrant. With regular spraying, it did not have any big disease problems. The color of the flower picks up some apricot tone in the fall. I wish the flowers were larger. It certainly outproduced Eglantyne. I think St. Cecilia deserves a place in the garden, even if you only have one.
jumbojimmy
Original Author
13 years ago
I want to thank everyone for your input. I'm giving this rose a try.

roselee - the first photo is the one I've been drooling over at helpmefind rose. The blooms look huge and that's what I like about it.
erasmus_gw
13 years ago
In my garden it has had better blackspot resistance than most Austins, better repeat, and it is a vigorous but densely branched, shrubby plant. It does have a strong myrhh fragrance, which is not my favorite scent. No mildew. It was named after the patron saint of musicians.
Linda
roselee z8b S.W. Texas
13 years ago
Jumbojimmy, I've never measured the blooms, but I consider them to be fairly large; at least with their globular form they give the impression large to me. However, they are not as large as the blooms on Lilian Austin, another oldie but goody. Just for curiosity sake I'll put a ruler across one of the flowers when it blooms.
suebelle_neworleans
13 years ago
Here in the New Orleans area, St Cecilia does quite well. The repeat bloom is excellent and I love the fragrance. Mine will be blooming again in a week or two. Can't wait.

{{gwi:234250}}

{{gwi:234251}}
predfern
13 years ago
New to me last spring. Survived the winter but with considerable dieback. Blooms smell like fine licorice candy.
jumbojimmy
Original Author
13 years ago
suebelle - gorgeous pics. Love how the petals of this rose are arranged. Thanks for sharing.
gardenerzone4
13 years ago
How thorny is St. Cecilia? Does it do well on its own roots?
dove_song
13 years ago
Jumbo Jimmy, she grew very well here in my Semi-Arid, ZONE 5b/6a garden. She had good repeat.

She never had blackspot, nor any mildew--neither of which is a problem in my microclimate.

She didn't sprawl with octopus arms--her form was pleasing.

Her fragrance? I got addicted to what I considered her exotic, ultrafine, myrhh fragrace. I understand how some people might find some of DAVID AUSTIN's myrhh scented roses repudgent, as each type of his myrhh scented roses that I've had the pleasure of getting a good whiff of, had it's own unique fragrance--that plus we know the individual person smelling roses has their own unique smeller . Some of his myrhh scented roses--that I've had the pleasures and experiences of smelling--I've liked better, than some of his other myrhh scented roses. But I have not smelled one of his myrhh's that was repugnant to my nose. Although you know, we hear here, some of us don't like the smell of his myrhhs.

Is this rose a fast grower?--Mine was an own root band from Heirloom, and took 3 yr.s for her to start leaping, but I loved her from the beginning.

And yes, one would be enough for either a specimen or planted with other roses--at least that was the case in my no spray garden. :0)

Gardener-zone4, mine did great on it's own roots here. :0)

Thanks so much for sharing these wonderful pictures with us, Suebelle, and Roselee.Roselee, your garden is a BEAUTEOUS wonderland. :0) And, Suebelle, I LOVE your lace table cloth. Also your white with blue-flowered, pitcher with your beautifully arranged St. Cecila blooms is sooo lovely. :0)

Ã¯Â¿Â½Saint Cecilia (Sancta Caecilia) is the patron saint of musicians and Church music because as she was dying she sang to God. St. Cecilia was an only child. Her feast day is celebrated in the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches on November 22. ...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Cecilia

Deborah

Here is a link that might be useful: Who is ST. CECILIA?
michaelg
13 years ago
Thorns-- straight, fairly small and thin prickles cover the stems. They are sharp, but it isn't one that grabs at you. I have it next to a path.
roselee z8b S.W. Texas
13 years ago
I said I would measure the size of St Cecilia's blooms. Right now in our already 95 degree weather the globular flower is about 3 1/2 inches across.

Here she is ...
{{gwi:234252}}

Dove Song, thank you for the link :-)
jumbojimmy
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks everyone.

I've already added this rose to my order along with Claire Austin.

You guys use inches in America? We use centimeters.
So that works out to be 8.89cm. Pretty huge!
mnkitty
13 years ago
Thank you for posting this and for the beautiful pictures.

I potted up my 1st St. Cecilia yesterday. I can't wait to see her bloom.

I was wondering if anyone knows how big an own-root St. Cecilia will get in my climate zone 4?

Thanks,
Kitty
parker25mv
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago

"myrrh" smells like anise or fennel (if anyone is familiar with those).
Lilyfinch z9a Murrieta Ca
7 years ago
Beautiful Parker !! I have one coming from k and m this april . I may not sure I'll like the fragrance ( if it's like Jude the obscure ? I don't know what is wrong with my nose but that Rose smells awful to me ) but it's blooms are so luscious ! Can't wait to see for myself
summersrhythm_z6a
7 years ago
I planted a own root last summer, can't wait for the blooms! Mine was from Linda, LongAgoRoses.
User
7 years ago
YOU ARE GOING TO LOVE THIS ROSE!! I got one last spring from Roses Unlimited. I planted it with David Austin Rose food, and it recovered for about 2 weeks. Then it took off and went crazy after that.... Grew all new growth and leaves and bloomed it's heart out. Big handful blossoms with a fragrance that made my heart sing... Myrrh, but with a twist... Not like Cressida. Sweeter. And the color was amazing. Bloomed all the way into fall and by that time was in the shade of a fence and STILL kept on. It was my last rose to give it up in November. The Monday after Thanksgiving, we had 25 inches of snow and I haven't seen it since. :) The banks covering it are 3 feet high and snow so hard you can walk on top of it, so it will be a while before she peeks out again.

I am not ready for spring yet, but I am looking forward to seeing and smelling that rose.

Rebecca
Lilyfinch z9a Murrieta Ca
7 years ago
Well that is a rave review Rebecca ! I am so glad I have it coming . :)
Lilyfinch z9a Murrieta Ca
7 years ago
I just picked my st Cecila up from the rose society sale yesterday. It came from k and m , and has one bud one still a couple days from opening but I can already smell it and it is divine !!! I hope the fragrance stays the way I'm smelling now . Also I'm not sure how k and m mails their roses as someone picked them up but I am very pleased with their size !
kittymoonbeam
7 years ago
It's a good repeater in warm climates
enchantedrosez5bma
5 years ago
@Rebecca and Lilyfinch- how is she for black spot? Do you spray? If so which spray is most effective but with the least impact on the environment? I don't spray and tend to buy roses that are disease resistant but I've had her in the past and fell in love. Sadly she died from too many transplants. Her scent is divine as is her flower. I just ordered 3 own root from RU and still have concerns about disease resistance. But I just have to have her!!

Rebecca- How did she do over this horrid winter? I'm in MA, z5b so a little warmer than you but we still had a couple of winter nights that dipped to 15 below. Do you winter protect?

Thanks for any info. As always it is really appreciated

sharon
User
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Hi Sharon! I have never had black spot in my garden, although other rose growers in my area say they have had it, so I can’t comment on that. St. Cecilia is totally disease free in my yard.

I have her right next to the house right now, so that is not a fair judge of hardiness because of the heat that comes through the concrete in the winter. However, she has been out in the yard far away from the house and survived that and 3 transplants in one year with 100 degree heat many days. I have to keep her for that reason alone. This past winter we had -26F for many nighttime lows and she winter killed to the ground, but because she is next to the house, I can’t judge that for sure. I am going to give her a year’s rest and then move her to her permanent home to replace a grafted Perdita that died last winter. AMAZINGLY, 5 of my 6 grafted Perdita survived that wicked winter planted with the graft 4-6 inches under the soil line without much snow cover, and only a few wood chips on top of the soil!!! Another great Austin rose!!

ps. Deborah in above post says no blackspot.

Rebecca
enchantedrosez5bma
5 years ago
Rebecca- thanks for the update.
rosecanadian
5 years ago
Wow!!! I chose Scepter'd Isle (still hasn't come) over St. Cecilia. Maybe I should have done the reverse. Roselee - your picture is wonderful!!!!

Carol
enchantedrosez5bma
5 years ago
Carol- St Cecelia is supposedly being discontinued so grab her while you can find her. I had her in the past. she was probably the prettiest and most exquisite scented of all the Austins. You could just stand there and admire her beauty and sniff her lovey scent forever.

sharon
rosecanadian
5 years ago
Darn. Why didn't I order it!!! GAH!!! Hortico had it. Maybe I can get it next year. Darn!!

Carol
enchantedrosez5bma
5 years ago
Carol, I would buy her if I were you. Mine was so black spotted that she literally had no leaves but still produced flowers. One of the prettiest and most luscious scented of the Austins and near continual bloom. It doesn't get much better than that!

sharon
rosecanadian
5 years ago
Sharon...I really wished I would have gotten her. Next year!! What is the scent like?

Carol
User
5 years ago
AH, CAROL... The scent is not as swoonable as Cressida’s, BUT it will definitely make you swoon. She is going to be my first to bloom this year. I can see a small bud forming now. If I ever leave her in one place long enough for her to perform, I’m sure she will be one of my favorite roses. Seeing as how she is off patent, I plan on taking cuttings of her this fall before the freeze for my cutting garden.

Rebecca
enchantedrosez5bma
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Carol- I've never smelled Cressida but I love the scent of St. Cecilia. She smells really sweet almost like fruity candy but not cloying or overwhelming. It's really hard to describe. I haven't had her for a few years but I remember her scent being really pronounced and just very appealing.

sharon
User
5 years ago
Oh, Sharon, you would love Cressida!!!!

She smells even better than she looks!!!!!

Rebecca
rosecanadian
5 years ago
Sharon - sweet candy!!! Oh wow!!!! Why oh why!! didn't I get this rose!!!! ARgh!!!! :)

Rebecca - your picture of Cressida is wonderfully beautiful!!! Oh my!!! I love it!

Carol
enchantedrosez5bma
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Rebecca- I think I had her many years ago but she didn't do well. Probably more form my lack of experience than anything else. This forum has been such a wealth of info and I've learned so much. How big does she get for you in Z4? I'm running out f room, especially in the sunniest areas of my yard which get between 5- 5 1/2 hours of sun. Not the best condition for growing roses but some of the Austins do decent without a lot of sun.

Carol- Sweet candy!! The smell reminds me of some kind of "candy dust" from my childhood but I just can't place it. Crushed "Smarties" maybe??? I just remember that she smelled exquisite, at least to my nose, but not the typical rose scent. It's been a while since I lost her but I remember that she was my favorite rose for scent.

sharon
rosecanadian
5 years ago
Sharon - arrrgghhhhh stop tormenting me. LOL :) Dang it all!!! I'll definitely see if I can get it next year. Drool!

Carol
enchantedrosez5bma
5 years ago
:-)
Aaron Rosarian Zone 5b
3 years ago
feels like this is another one on the chopping block :(
Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR
3 years ago
I got Cressida and St Cecilia from Hortico who rescued these with Rick's help I think.
HU-248816319
2 years ago
I am desperately looking for a cutting of this rose bush. does anyone have one still? i am in oregon.
Sarena Altman (7a Middle TN)
2 years ago
@summersrhythm_z6a Hi there! How did your Saint Cecilia Own root from Long Ago Roses turn out? I am planning to order mine soon!!! Would love to hear :)

Who grow St. Cecilia? (a David Austin rose)

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