Hi le Jardin, we moved here for several reasons.. my partner is English and had a career opportunity, I wanted the chance to go back to school, and we have family here. I've always loved England anyway, so I was actually more excited than my partner! I love it here. Hi Diane, thanks for looking at the photos, I'm really glad you enjoyed them. Hi albertine, Yay! Another corgi fan. I've had two as well and they really spoil you for other dogs (although, there are many others that I love as well). We see a lot of Jack Russells, Greyhounds, Westies, occasionally an English Bulldog or a Bull Terrier. There are also some type of herders that I'm not familiar with that remind me of skinny versions of Australian Shepherds. If I ever see Lilac Rose looking lonely at a garden centre, I'll probably go ahead a pick her up anyway, but she's not something that I'm going to seek out, there are far to many recommended roses to get first! Andrea! We really have to meet up, I think you might be my soul sister! :) I picked up Mr. Fairchild and Alan Titchmarsh together last autumn, the first to roses that I purchased here. I have mixed feelings about A.T., like your', mine tends to have such heavy flowers that they go right to the ground. On the other hand, there are so many of them! For a first year rose mine must have produced 30 or so roses so far this year. I noticed that if I let the branches hang, like pegging I'm getting new shoots popping up and already there are buds on them too, so I'm just going to let him do his thing and see how it goes. Mr. Fairchild, by comparison, has been less vigourous; but I much prefer the flowers, scent, and bush shape. I really like this rose. Wow... going through your wonderful list: I grew Gertrude in California and didn't really like her. I smell some scent, but my nose doesn't register the scent that everyone else raves about. I had the same problem with Comte de Chambord, so I guess I'm just not wired for that group. Shirifa is in a nice pot, I am hopeful. Jude I adore, I'll have him again soon. Lady Emma Hamilton really surprised me at Austin's, not my colour, but I loved the scent. Summer Song is totally out of my colour range, I wish I had smelled it though.. bananas!?! I really liked Young Lycidas, it is one that needs to be seen in person to really get the subtlety of the colours, and yes.. WOW, what a scent! Love WM2k, so so about Golden, but love the Prince. This is one of my favourite photos of him from my California garden: I saw Dark Lady and Prospero for the first time this trip, both nice but undewhelming. I really liked Munstead Wood. Also saw Radio Times for the first time, it was nice but didn't bowl me over. Now, I had the Alnwick Rose high on my list, but was disappointed in the scent! I chose Sceptre'd Isle over it this year during my small bareroot purchase, and had been wondering if I had made the wrong choice. The way you describe it though, I really out to love it, so maybe it was just the wrong time of day, or I had been overwhelmed by other scents. I grew Evelyn in California and I liked her delicacy very much. I've yet to meet Ab Darby, isn't that strange!? Princess Alexandra and Jubilee are the two top on my list right now, I'll keep my eye out for Rosemoor. Gentle Hermione is the other bareroot I ordered this spring, and she just had her first flowers this week. I like her, and true to Austin's word, she held up beautifully in the rain this morning, and even held water in her cup through the whole day without falling over or apart. I used to grow Tamora as well, but in California it was a rust magnet, I swear it was nearly copper coloured by the end of the season. Thanks for sharing your list, it's helped reassure me about several choices that I'm interested in. Here's a shot of Tamora and Evelyn: Carla, it's so kind of you, thanks for the good wishes. Here's a hug for you... (((Carla))). Hi Joanne, it's nice to see you! Apparently they have redone the "Lion garden" and will grow roses with perennials, thank goodness, as much as I like roses I much prefer them mixed with other roses. Mottesfont is still the gold standard for me. Megan thanks you, and sends best wishes to Maggie. Hi Aliska 12000, thanks for looking, and good luck with your Wisley, ultimately, it really comes down to each of our gardens, what does poorly for David Austin might be a gem for someone else. That's a lovely photo! Hi Sue, thanks for your good thoughts, they are much appreciated. Thanks Beth! Cheers everyone! I'm delighted that you have enjoyed these photos.

Thanks everyone! I guess most of everything "leaps" on the third year. Thank you Kate for introducing me to David Austins roses with your recommendation of QoS, Lady of Shalott and Munstead Wood. Got hooked on them and then some. :) Ingrida, the orange flower is Oriental Poppy. I don't know the name of it but it returns every year. If you like it, I can send a clump of it to you next year for postage. It is a rapid increaser but not invasive. You can easily pull them.

Ben, these pictures are invaluable! What a wonderful resource of visual information all in one place. Thank you SO very much for taking the time to do this. This thread will be helpful to many, for years to come. It’s already helped me today! I was gifted a Benjamin Britten rose, although I’m generally not a fan of that color range. Although BB is lovely in your photos, you’ve confirmed that it simply will not “blend in” anywhere in my garden. I just sent my sister a picture of it, and she loves it! I’m going to her place today for a BBQ, so I can bring Benjamin Britten along. Excellent!!! I’m very happy to hear that you’ll be visiting this garden in September, John! One of my thoughts as I studied each of Ben’s pictures was, “I wish he could go back in high summer, and show us which ones are still looking so lovely, then!” It will be great to hear which ones look like they’re suffering, and which ones are still looking so fine. This is a garden I would like to see myself, but your pictures have come as close as possible to that, Ben. It really is fabulous seeing them all in full bush photos. IIRC, the EarthKind trial roses don’t receive any extra “stuff”, like insecticides or fungicides, correct? I wonder if they receive fertilizer, and if they are regularly deadheaded? It seems like fertilizer and removal of spent blooms make a big difference in rebloom on my David Austin’s in particular. Many thanks! Lisa

I wasn't dismissing anyone! I was merely pointing out that it has been the case for many years that most gardening advice came from the UK....the books you cite are relative newcomers, all things considered. I have a pretty extensive personal horticultural library and probably at least half the books are UK publications. Because that's where all the serious horticulturists lived. And I am NOT saying that is more appropriate for Las Vegas or the west coast.....heck, 95% of it is not necessarily appropriate for most of the US!! And that link is from the Pacific Horticulture Society, which is a California based organization...........therefore it addresses west coast gardening issues, including ALL of CA. I also tried to make it clear that USDA hardiness zones have nothing to do with how well any plant will survive in different locations other than to address winter cold tolerance - that is all the USDA hardiness zones were intended to do. Upper numbers are meaningless....if a plant survives a zone 5 winter, of course it will survive a zone 8 or 9 winter!! You have to look at other data for that information, which is why I also said to check locally, as virtually no growers assign Sunset zones - which admittedly would be very helpful - to their plants. Please accept my aplogies if that was too difficult to understand.