You know that is a fairly serious list:)

I can only tell you about a couple. Charlotte I bought for Mom in 2006 for Mother's Day. It is what you would except from a DA in the fairly mild climate of Zone 7b. Great growth, many blooms, really leggy and octopus-like. Has to be cut back several times per season. In short, it's a monster but the blooms are great.

I have Mary Rose. I think I've had it for three years now. Year one it was amazing. I loved it. A lot of blooms for a young rose, decent disease resistant. Second year it scarcely bloomed at all and I finally pulled it out of the ground mid season and potted it up. It was declining so fast I thought it might die. It did much better in the pot in a sunnier location. Now in year three I have it replanted in a new bed and so far so good. Foliage looks nice but too early for blooms. I doubt I would buy it again.

I hope this is what you were looking for.

Kate

The newest Austin I have is Miss Alice. It's small both in stature and bloom size and does well in a pot. I wasn't impressed the first two seasons - except - last fall it had a beautiful fall flush, better than any other rose in my garden except for Mutabalis. It's growing on me...

BettyN

I guess it would be difficult to discern the test of time without sufficient passage of time so all we can do is go on what we know so far. That is for the newer ones that is :o)

I have 46 different varieties of Austin roses and I am all over the map on what is an improvement and what isn't. Also, some of the Austins I have are too new to tell either way.
I don't think all of the newer plants have been improvements over all of the old plants for example I have both The Mayflower (2001) and Mary Rose (83) and I like Mary Rose so much better. It is a much better performing plant for me. What I have noticed is that you keep getting more options for plants to fit your different needs in the garden. For example, he seems to have come out with plants that are more compact. Also, you get more variety in the look of the rose. I am fortunate to live in an area that doesn't get too many diseases so I don't have the experience to judge if he has improved that problem in his plants. The only problems I sometimes have is powdery mildew and occasional balling (Lilac Rose is the worst for this).
Thank you for the list, I hadn't seen that before.

Yes I am EVER so grateful that the JB's have not found us here and we don't get RRD yet either or downy mildew. Not sure about thrips, will have to ask. Aphids of course are present and accounted for. We also get BS and canker and spider mites.

agility_mom - You are one of the ones I wanna chat with :)

I love Austins, I love the bloom form, the colors, the way they open etc... What I don't love though is the arching bush shape, so I'm so pleased that he is trying to give me my blooms on more compact plants...

It's very hard looking at pictures of just the bloom to know which ones to choose without ordering 20 bareroots and just waiting to see who turns out to be a winner...

For example, one of my favorites was Tamora... love the color, love the compact bush. Didn't care about the fragrance, and with only 70 petals, I wouldn't mind a bit extra... and I was crying inside to let her go from my no spray garden with her little black polka-dots...

So Tamora is listed as an apricot blend. Personally I thought it was more of an orange pink blend, especially compared with some of his other apricots, but he doesn't use the orange-pink color designation, so it makes it hard to know exactly which of his new roses are closest in color to Tamora.

So according to DA, the newer apricots are:

William Morris
Crown Princess Margareta
Grace
Carding Mill
Tea Clipper
The Shepherdess

So 6 to choose from... The Shepherdess is supposed to be the shortest of these, but who knows? and which of these is more pink than yellow? So the question of which of these apricots (or other Austins that are orange pink and called pink blend) is most like the original Tamora is impossible for someone who hasn't seen all of the new specimens to know...

I'm going to start individual threads about the different colors, but my question for you is out of the newer Austins, which are the most compact growers... and which are you falling in love with?

TIA

Of course the minute I say he doesn't use the orange/pink color code he comes out with an orange pink rose...

Only available in Australia of course...

Here is a link that might be useful: The Endeavour

My new Austin roses Harlow Carr, Sister Elizabeth, Bishop's Castle and Carding Mill are all beautiful and fragrant and the first two seem to be very compact plants. I'm not sure about the size and shape of the latter two since this is their first year. I also have Janet which is an octopus but has distinctly different and rather unique flowers. Overall I think many of the newer ones might be an improvement although I don't think there could be an improvement on Abraham Darby.

Ingrid

Don't forget the Mayflower...

ooh yes I just looked that one up. Very purdy. Maybe one day when I actually own my own patch of dirt I can make 'themed' rose beds.
Cutty Sark would be a cool name for a rose. And Bounty. and Amistad. Revenge...? maybe not. only if it is very thorny.
David Austin should drop me an email sometime :o)

My climate is similar to yours and I have had Crown Princess Margareta for 2 summers. She is neither apricot in any way, nor is she compact. She is cream-coloured in the intense heat of the summer. In the fall she has slightly more colour (golden-yellow in the center), but it is nowhere near the colour I fell in love with on the tag.