Mareleah,

I had my very first luck with a rugosa (Therese Bugnet). Then, I happened onto Ashdown and got some of the antiques and older roses...more success. Then Austins...more success I love the range of colors, fragrances and forms of Austins as well as the somewhat unpredictable nature of their growth patterns which are so heavily influenced by climate/location. I'm having such great luck with the two Austins I got on multiflora from Pickering this year (The Alexandra Rose and Comtes du Champaigne) that I intend to add about a dozen more different varieties (and some of my current varieties which are struggling on Dr. Huey) in the spring!

I too have read the Austin "bashing" and am somewhat bewildered by it. I know that there are other hybridizers out there that are putting out excellent roses, and when I hear of them, I am eager to try them (Buck, Meilland, Delbard, Kordes, Tantau, etc.) And, I realize some of these hybridizers are still unknown to many rose enthusiasts. Some rose enthusiasts still feel that Jackson Perkins is the only place to get decent roses, I believe.

I thought I had enough David Austins when I had about 35 different varieties...now I think I'm just scratching the surface. I do feel that David Austin, in most of the roses he's introduced, has put together a wonderful combinaton of color, scent, form, and excellent repeat. Some may find fault here or there, but, I think the roses are lovely.

Robert

It is because of David Austin that I grow roses.

My first rose was a Canadian Explorer. I asked at the nursery for something easy care and hardy. But it wasn't fragrant. The following year I tried two Austins--Graham Thomas and Heritage. I was hooked.

Since then I have amassed 35 different Austins. Also, if it wasn't for DA, I may not have become interested or aware of OGRs--of which I have been incorporating into my garden with the Austins.

'Falstaff', 'The Prince', & 'Charlotte' were in my first small 'rose garden' of 5.
I already had 'Ballerina' and some other rose. I went to the
nursery up the street, it was late in the summer, and I saw
maybe a half a dozen Austin's. The owner gave me all of them
for $5.00.
I gave the other three to the friend who got me into roses
in the first place. We used to sit in her kitchen and
just pour over those Austin catalogs. Back then, you didn't
see many around here, so we just had the catalogs. You
never saw two more excited people, you would have though
we'd found a bag of diamonds...6 Austins..
When she had her new baby she named her "Georgia", so I
had to give her 'Georgia' as a gift, she winds it around a
pillar and it is beautiful.
I don't have those roses anymore, 'Charlotte' mysteriously
died on me last year. I s/p'd 'Fallstaff'. I don't remember
what happened to 'The Prince', seems he just disappeared.
But they were the first roses I really fell in love with.
I'd have to say my only complaint is that I wished the
nurseries carried more of his older roses, I always wanted
'Windrush' but I never see that one..
Alida

I have Windrush in my garden. Although it is not doing well at the moment, it is in there trying to get regoing again as a lingering effect of our Easter freeze. If you want to get a Windrush, the current on-line David Austin roses catalog lists it as available for here in the US. Mine has a history of not liking the pruning shears so I typically don't prune it heavily any more. When happy, it does quite well with plenty of simple, but fragrant flowers fairly regularly through the season. I would consider it a shame if I lost it. Like everything else in my rose beds, it needs spraying. I hope this helps.

When I first started reading this forum I was aghast at the fact that Austins were listed in an "Antique rose" forum, because his roses are modern roses. I've lightened up since then.
Hybrid Musks are modern roses too, as well as Ramblers and I believe both of those classes belong here as well.

Luxrosa

I have to say that the David Austin roses are my favorites, followed closely by the tea roses. I like almost all roses, except maybe for the green rose (does nothing for me), but the Austins and the teas....heaven!

With Robert posting I guess I can't say it's a "girl thing". And maybe that would be wrong anyway, because when my Austin catalog arrived, I looked at it with my husband - he was oohing and aahing just like me. He was so impressed with the petal counts. But I would turn the next page and my heart would flutter and my breath would catch in my throat at the pure beauty of those flowers. Oh, to have a beautiful garden full of those roses! I could only dream of such a thing. That was this spring before I had planted my first rose.
I only have Tamora - just a two month old baby. I think Jude the Obscure would be good in Florida, and he's so lovely. Abraham Darby is supposed to do well here but he's so big, and Molineaux is so petite and pretty. And I was all set to get the luscious Heritage on fortuniana but Nelson's didn't have it. Happy Child makes me happy when I look at her but don't know about her in Florida. I think in the fall when Chamblee's and others start shipping again I will set aside my fears and buy what I love, hoping for the best. I was a little upset though when I saw ugly blackspot on Tamora. I don't spray - yet. (The whole subject of spraying baffles me.) Hoping that she will buck up and get strong enough to resist it.
As someone who loves English country fabrics with all those gorgeous cabbage roses, how could I not love David Austin's roses. If they weren't allowed here on this wonderful forum, I'd just have to be somewhere else - at least some of the time. Thanks all for being a welcoming place.

There is a rose for every taste. I enjoy some of my Austin roses very much. I think a love for the rose in general in whatever form is what brings us all here to share our gardening joys and sorrows!

I became interested in OGRs through Austin as well. I purchased a Heritage & Graham Thomas from JP about 10 years ago. Those roses led me to discover the wonderful world of OGRs. I still have Heritage & GT, though I SP'd GT after I took cuttings. I just replanted GT on its own roots and it is truly amazing. I do not have any other Austins, but his roses are the ones that started my obsession.

I love the Austin roses very much. They started my passion for roses, in tandem with reading Graham Stuart ThomasÂs writings. I have not had the greatest of success with the varieties I have. Of the 11 English roses types in the garden (Abraham Darby, Brother Cadfael, Charles Darwin, Evelyn, Glamis Castle, Golden Celebration, Janet, Jude the Obscure, Pat Austin, The Dark Lady and William Shakespeare 2000), I feel the only one I grow well is Golden Celebration and mixed success with William Shakespeare 2000. All the rest do not grow well in my conditions, and I sigh with a bit of wistful envy when I see the magnificent specimens others grow.

Jerome

I just love the Austin roses ever since I saw a magazine article about them years ago and never imagined I'd ever be fortunate enough to be able to have any.

Austins are the reason for my "insantity" as my family calls it. We moved into our new home a year ago last october. So last spring I put in a carefree wonder and told my step daughter about it. She lives in England. Weeeell, she said "have you ever heard of David Austin Roses?" and we went to the website together...on the phone. Looking at them, talking about them. She wanted to get us a house warming gift, so she got me, Glamis Castle, Gertrude Jekyll, and (because of my name) MaryRose. To that order I added Graham Thomas. I had to wait about 3 to 4 weeks for shipping from chamblees, and in the meantime I discovered I live about 2 miles from Roses Unlimited. Before the first ones got here, I went and got Golden Celebration, Dark Lady, Winchester Cathedral, Tradescant and Yellow Charles Austin. When my stepdaughter arrived in June, I had acquired more....Lovely Child, Generous Gardener, Leander and Fishermans Friend. We took another trip to RU and got Boul De Neige, Reine De Violette and Zeffy. We had such a wonderful time putting the roses in. I will forever be greatful for the wonderful time these roses gave me with her. It brought us so close together. So Austins started it all. This year I have added others and some non Austins, but I don't think they will give me that little extra smile that the originals give me ....because of Kelly.

The austins I have all do really really well in the Midwest - zone 5. I would not grow them if they did not. They really seem to like it here with minimal care. And they are hardy even after this brutal winter we had here.

I really really want a garden with all roses appropriate to the period of the house (I love artificial parameters) but I can't do without Cymbeline, Jude, and Golden Celebration - they are just too good.

I started as a purist, only wanting true OGRs, but have - thankfully - moved past that phase...just got my first 4 Austins this year (Tradescant, Jude, Gertie, and Comtes des Champagnes). WOW!!! Everyone - myself included - comments on these roses more than any in my garden. I don't know why, because it would seem that the massive spring flushes on my beloved bourbons, or the massive flushes of unusual colors on the gallicas would attract as much or more attention.

I can only conclude that there is just something indescribably exquisite about these Austin blooms. I am always so perplexed that I have to actively point out my OGRs to people, but their eyes are always drifting towards those Austins. They just suck all the air out of the garden. I am resolved to double my holdings of them next year. I will continue to plant OGRs for me and my kids, but for the rest of the world I will plant Austins.

It should be said, also, that they are mostly really good plants. Mine have been surpassingly healthy, vigorous, and in almost continual bloom (except GJ). They are undoubtedly the OGRs of the future. If we lived in Medieval times, would we disparage popular albas and gallicas as new, and be species rose snobs?