Interesting--I rather like the Lady of the Lake--but like you, I'd want to see more pics before drawing any final conclusions.

Thanks for sharing the "news."

Kate

The same pic of the yellow one in DA's fb page

Here is a link that might be useful: DA new yellow one

When I heard rumors that David Austin was coming out with another yellow, I was hoping it would be a new yellow; maybe along the likes of Graham Thomas, one of the greatest, elegant and most sublime old fashioned yellow roses ever created.

My guess is that if The Poet's Wife gets good post-show reviews and sells in Great Britain, it will come here in a couple of years. Until then, I'll reserve judgement on The Poet's Wife, but I fear people in Great Britain may think it looks too similar to Charlotte or Teasing Georgia and won't buy it in large numbers. If so, I may have to wait longer for another great yellow from D.A.

David, DA introduces roses in the UK concurrently with the rest of Europe. Lately most, but not all, of the roses introduced over here are also introduced in the US one year after. Each year, along with the introductions, there is also planned obsolesence of some older roses, sometimes different in Europe than in the US.
Nik

This post was edited by nikthegreek on Thu, Apr 10, 14 at 14:41

nikthegreek,

That's true, but the more common time frame is 2 - 3 years. The determinant factor is the demand for new rose introductions in Great Britain.

My guess is the marketing folks of D.A. in Texas look at the demographics of who's buying in Great Britain and extrapolate the data of who and how many units would be bought in the U.S. You could look at it as a "test market" since buyers in the U.S. far outnumber buyers in the U.K. (I'm a former marketing man myself and that's one technique I would use when forecasting demand of a new product/variety from a similar economic cross-section of buyers who made purchases.)

Fast sellers in Great Britain make it here much sooner than the norm. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, it probably is a good inicator of a great rose variety. English/Old Fashioned rose customers are very savvy lot, so if they flock to a new D.A. introduction, it's a safe bet that the rose is a great one.

And, I fully agree with you on planned obsolesence of roses. That happens with most products in the U.S. Look at computers, cell phones, etc., etc.

From the article above: "Nicola Bethell, from David Austin Roses, said: âÂÂEven though all English roses have good disease resistance, David Austin continues to focus on improving their health." (emphasis mine)

I never met a more disease-prone group of roses than the Austins. Some were even worse than the Bourbons in my garden.

I agree, but much of it may be due to the quality of the graft and soil conditions.

I've bought Austins in "body bags" and they have universally been the worst in terms of disease, growth patterns and vigor. All were lost after 2 winters, no matter how mild the winter.

Bare roots that have substantial roots, clean, non-injured canes seemed to be the best growers with little (never no) disease during the humid months.

I'll stick to bare roots.

Depends on whether the Austins you grew came out 20-30 years ago, maybe even 15 years ago. A number of them probably did have disease problems since neither Austin nor most other breeders were much into disease-resistance back in those days.

However, if the Austins you plant and grow are from his offerings in the past 5-10 years, then you would find that his roses are often quite good on disease-resistance, and some are excellent on disease-resistance.

Different experiences for different generations of Austin roses.

Kate

The Austins are a mixed bag in terms of their heritage and that may also dictate why an Austin rose in southern California is a dog while it's splendid in New York State and vice versa. I doubt that even the new ones do universally well everywhere, which is not to say that they aren't an improvement over the older ones. My Young Lycidas is clean whereas Bishop's Castle has mildew, although Bishop's Castle has considerably more than Potter and Moore, which is a much older rose. Obviously there are various factors at work.

Ingrid

There is also the question of whether the rose is weakened by one or more virus infections. My Heritage is grown in a no spray northern Ohio garden, and disease is not a problem.

DaveBeck, the roses announced in Chelsea in 2012 (e.g. Boscobel) and made available as bare-root fall 2012, were announced in 2013 in the US and are now available to you. All five of them if I recall correctly. That's less than 2 years delay and in effect it means you are just 1 release back. You may also be surprised to know that there are roses officially available to you that are not available in Europe (e.g. Carding Mill, a very good rose for the warmer climates, as I infer by posts by people in CA, which might not be so good in England so DA decided people in Southern Europe will not be getting it either).

I don't consider DA roses a single distinct group of roses regarding disease resistance and general health, in the same way I don't consider any other breeder's roses a single distinct group. No matter what DA wants me to think of them. DA rose health seems to be improving with each year of introductions and the planned obsolescence by them, has resulted in many sickly older roses to have disappeared from their catalogs. This is one good thing that has resulted from their otherwise shrewd business and marketing practices.
Nik

This post was edited by nikthegreek on Thu, Apr 10, 14 at 23:44

I wish they would release a few more Austins over here- we only got one, Princess Anne, for 2014 (bareroot season is June/July).
Considering they were released several years back,its beginning to look like Emma Hamilton and Bishops Castle aren't ever going to make it.

I don't understand the rationale for Austin's distribution system. Bishop's Castle and Carding Mill are both very good roses for a hot climate and yet are not available in Australia.

Nik, I'm not sure I completely agree that all older Austin roses were sickly. One might be cynical and say they were no longer under patent and therefore not generating revenue for him. Certainly Pretty Jessica, Cottage Rose and Potter and Moore are quite healthy for me, and non-Austin nurseries carry them, which I doubt would be the case if they were undeserving runts. None of them, by the way, have the dreaded octopus arms, especially if they're shortened once or twice in the summer. Chaucer and Wife of Bath are also very charming smaller roses.

In all fairness I haven't had experience with the newest roses except for Young Lycidas, on whom the jury is still out since it seems to be a very straggly grower with stems that are too thin to hold up the flowers.

Ingrid

Ingrid, I never said that ALL older Austins are sickly. I just said the average health of Austins has greatly improved. I think this is undisputable. The same has happened with most breeders' rose. Very different than saying all of them are/were sickly. Of course the planned obsolesence is driven by (mainly?) commercial considerations like the ones you refer to. There may be others also (how many roses can the DA nurseries sustain in cultivation and production?). Regardless of the factors driving this policy, the result is that many a sickly DA rose has been withdrawn from their catalogs intentionally or not. Which does not of course mean that only sickly roses have been withdrawn.
Nik

PS I'm still trying to find a spot for the Prince which will provide it with enough sun to bloom and enough shade for it not to fry. The spot in which it is in now fits this criterion but it doesn't fit the second one which is that the spot should allow me not to see the plant but its blooms...

This post was edited by nikthegreek on Sat, Apr 12, 14 at 0:22

Another soon to be introduced Austin. Buff-pink deep cupped and loosely petaled this time, with visible stamens.

Not sure if everyone can view the facebook link but I paste it below anyways.
Nik

Here is a link that might be useful: Another new Austin. DA facebook page

Here's a page that lists, supposedly, all the roses to be introduced (including two new cut flower roses). The light pink one mentioned above sounds interesting since it seems to be a new 'rambler type' rose named The Lady of the Lake. It has aroused my curiosity.

So we will have a yellow, a medium pink and a buff/light pink rambler for this year in Europe.
Nik

Here is a link that might be useful: New Austins

The Lady of the Lake is very interesting to me since it looks quite different from many Austin roses, with an ethereal, almost innocent appearance. I'll be watching to see how it does in the coming years. It might be too fragile for my hot climate but is certainly appealing.

Ingrid

I've also noticed over recent years something of a turn-away from Austin's long-stated philosophy of developing his roses with deep fragrance. More and more I am seeing new releases over the years say "Light " or "Medium" fragrance.

I'm not sure why. Perhaps the company is leery of setting off allergies among customers so they offer lightly fragrant varieties? Not likely, but not out of the question.

I know it's hard to develop a beautiful, healthy, fragrant rose. Perhaps he's choosing to release some roses that are outstanding in looks, growing habits and health more so than fragrant? Are the boys in the marketing department holding sway on what gets released? I don't know, but I hope the trend can be minimized or even reversed.

Mind you, the product line of D.A.'s are not lacking in strong or heavily fragrant roses. I just hope his hybridizers are not caving to putting out beautiful varieties at the expense of fragrance.

Just sayin'.

David, I think that health has (rightly) been made a higher priority due to customer pressure thus fragrance might have taken a hit. Balance will be found eventually.
Nik

Wow if Lady of the Lake gets to be 12 feet in England it might get 24 feet or more in CA!