The only David Austin pink that I grow from your list is Heritage. I love mine, but it does have times without blooms, however it is very much worth having! I also grow Strawberry Hill (wonderful, but the blooms are a little less full than Heritage), Leander (beautiful, but needs a large area since it gets quite large), and Geoff Hamilton (excellent!!!!).

As for white, definitly take a look at Glamis Castle....mine is always in bloom and very healthy!

Mid-Michigan sure ain't Perth, but for what it's worth, I've probably grown three fourths of the pink to reddish Austins and Sophy's Rose is my pick for the blooming champ.

For me Sophy's Rose, Sister Elizabeth and Wife of Bath (all are on their own roots) bloom very often. A good layer of mulch and organic fertilizer like alfalfa meal really make a difference in how often these roses bloom for me. I don't have Pretty Jessica but everyone who has it says it's wonderful and blooms a lot. Cottage Rose, one of the older Austins, also blooms quite well and is good in the heat. Bishop's Castle blooms in separate flushes, but is very beautiful and fragrant.

I'm sorry to say that I got rid of my Glamis Castle because of its vicious thorns and unpleasant fragrance.

I also garden in a Mediterranean climate with conditions very similar to yours. If I were to get another Austin I'd pick Chaucer, The Dark Lady and/or Young Lycidas.

Ingrid, I never noticed the unpleasent smell of Glamis Castle! I'll have to go stick my nose in it tomorrow and get a good whiff! haha!

Also, agree with you on Pretty Jessica. I don't have it either, but I was asking for suggestions on roses with globular blooms recently and Pretty Jessica was brought up more than once. I may have to take a second look at her! And yes, The Dark Lady is also beautiful. Mine is almost always in bloom and very Black Spot resistant!

Good luck Lynn!

Heritage is so pale in my garden that it's nearly white. Since you mention bright pink, have you taken a look at Lilian Austin?

Here is a link that might be useful: Lilian Austin on HMF

Sharifa Asma and Pretty Jessica don't bloom very much for me although they only get morning sun. Sharifa Asma has a powerful fragrance. Mary Rose is a good bet. Evelyn is a good apricot rose. David Austin can help you to design a rose garden for free. Go to page 106 of the 2011 Austin catalog for more details.

I'm not in your zone, but thought I'd mention a few roses.

The Mayflower has rapid repeat bloom for me. Mortimer Sackler also tends to repeat quickly.

Bishop's Castle is another great blooming Austin, as is The Alnwick Rose.

Thanks for everyone's fabulous helpful suggestions. I'm going out to a wholesale nursery on Saturday to buy lots of cottage garden plants (lavender, salvia, box hedge, nepeta, nemesia, penstemons, 2 prunus persica versicolour trees, etc) and then to the rose nursery to hopefully choose and bring home my new roses. In my garden, I've already got a good sized lawn, a mature magnolia tree, a huge purple wisteria, some camellias, gardenias, azaleas and a climbing Pierre de Ronsard. I think with the new plants, it will all look fabulous! Thanks again for all the advice - I really appreciate it!

I'm not sure I understand what you are aiming for. Pink Austins in a row--all approximately the same height and width and roughly the same mid to bright pink range? Or short, tall, skinny, round and fat bushes with blooms ranging from nearly white with some pastel pink highlights to a pink so dark that the pink is nearly rose-red? Hopefully the latter is your goal cuz that is what the lists above are going to get you.

If you are looking for more consistency--approximately same height, width, and color--I suggest you spend some time on the David Austin webpages. If you pick a height/width of 4x3, you will find there are quite a few choices, but if that is not the height-width you have in mind, you will need to spend more time searching for "matches." Then when you have located a desired size, you need to decide whether you want--let's say--blooms of pastel pink (nearly white) or medium pink or approaching rosy-red. Then you need to decide if you have a bloom style preference--at the very least, singles, semi-doubles, doubles--but you will find there are many other choices in bloom styles also. And then I would add that they need to be "very healthy" (Austin rarely says his disease-resistant plants are disease-resistant. He says they are "healthy.")

Now there is something to be said for a bunch of Austins of different heights and shades of pink, but that kind of mixture is usually not planted in a hedge row but rather scattered around the garden --more for a cottage garden look perhaps. Hedge rows are usually made up of one identical plant--everything the same height, color, etc. You need to decide where you want to be between those two different ways of organizing your garden.

Don't be discouraged--planning is sometimes half the fun of gardening.

Good luck.

Kate

Yes, some of the Austin shrubs can barely be contained at 7' x 7' in a warm climate, while others like PJ and Sophy's Rose remain quite compact.

The best blooming Austin pinks in my Mediterranean climate have been 'Bishop's Castle' and 'The Wife Of Bath'--very different in growth habit. BC is a small climber; TWOB is a petite upright plant.

Heritage could not handle dry heat, and 'Mary Rose' is just so-so...mildew and a long time between flushes. 'Sharifa Asma' was good, and it has an excellent fragrance.

I've had good luck with Abraham Darby. A medium/apricot pink. It would probably get monster size in your climate (as it gets monster size in mine, which is much colder!) Does get some blackspot but blooms a lot and nice scent.....

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Kate (dublinbay), apologies for my lack of information! I have been thinking further on it, and I think I'm going to go for that consistent row of 4x3 that you mentioned, in either a mid to bright pink. I'm a little flexible on colour and bloom shape - it's more important that I get a long flowering period, and most of the Austin roses look gorgeous to me. Our house is a plain cream render with a charcoal roof, so it really needs a colour injection!

I've got another spot in my garden where I'm going to plant a number of different roses, along with some other cottagey plants in a more unstructured/soft way. I love the effect of mass-plantings, but it will be nice to have an area where I can get some variety in colours/bush shape/bloom type/fragrance as well. I sound greedy - I want it all!

I definitely agree that the planning stage is fun - there's a lot to think about and learn about.

'Pretty Jessica' has been a very consistent bloomer in my garden...,softer pink, fat, globular blooms on a compact, shorter bush. I spray, so I can't comment about BS issues. Even with the high 90 temperatures in July/August, PJ continued to bloom and shrugged off the heat.

I'm not sure how it would react in your environment, but Lillian Austin has stayed a consistent height and is a constant bloomer in my zone 5 garden. It does have a tendancy to fade to a paler pink after a few days but I like the teo-tone effect on the bush.

The only other pink Austins I grow are monsters (well, for zone 5 anyway) - Marinette, a semi-double bloom machine 6 feet tall, and Sceptr'd Isle, only 4 to 5 feet tall but gangly. Marinette is my hands down favorite Austin, except for maybe Tamora.

You mentioned a splash of yellow would be OK - check out Julia Child. Not an Austin but most people have had very good experiences with it (including me!) and it is also compact.

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: The Stubborn Gardener

Well, I certainly backed myself into a corner by suggesting a hedge row of pink Austins about 4x3. That is a common height of a lot of his roses, but wouldn't you know it--I don't grow many pink ones that size. Do study his catalog--I know he has a number of them.

My best 4x3 Austin for a hedgerow is Queen of Sweden--but it is a lighter pink with a hint of apricot. It is somewhat upright--which Austin seems to think is best for making a hedgerow. Great rose in all respects.

I also grow Austin's Mayflower--reliable, hardy, would make a good hedge--but the blooms are more modest--it doesn't have that lush look many want from their Austins.

If I had more room available, what I'd like to plant is Gentle Hermione. Someone posted some pics of it on this forum gallery recently, and those blooms were gorgeous! It seems to be a healthy and bloomeriferous rose and is 4x3--but it is a paler pink with a fuller pink center. Don't know if that pink is bright enough for you.

Lady of Megginch meets the above criteria and is a deep rich pink, but if you might make do with a somewhat shorter hedge--say 3.5x2.5, the rich warm pink rose I'd love to get is Princess Alexandra of Kent. That bloom is absolutely beautiful in the photos.

That gives you some choices--all excellent possibilitities in my opinion. If you spend more time browsing the David Austin site, you may find others that also meet your criteria. All the ones I listed have good disease-resistance--an important qualification for me.

Kate

Kate, I saw on Angel Gardens' website that they are taking pre-orders for David Austin bareroots for this coming spring, and Princess Alexandra is one of the one they are offering. Just an FYI :)

Get thee behind me, Temptress! LOL. No fair playing on someone's weaknesses.

Fortunately for my purse, I literally have no room left to plant more roses--unless I spade something. THat's a tough choice!

Kate

I saw a picture of Radio Times posted by an Australian and fell in love with it (the person gave it a 10 for fragrance).

I planted Radio Times this July. Got about 10 cut flowers so far. Incredibly beautiful, extremely fragrant (Old Rose scent). It blooms like crazy in the heat. Radio Times give great cut flowers, up to 4 days in a vase.

I saw that Portmeirion is on your list - others said that it's a workhorse, but not much of a fragrance.

I have Mary Rose and hate it, very thorny, and not as robust as Radio Times. Mary Rose can't compete with Radio Times in looks, performance, nor fragrance.

Queen of Sweden always has some flowers on it for me. Plus there are only about one or two thorns on the whole plant. I love the fragrance. Mine emphasize the pink of its pinkish white color. I rally like this rose.

Carol

I'm surprised no one mentioned Belle Story. It has always been one of my favorite Austins. A nice medium pink.

I am in a very hot climate in georgia and although you wanted pink, I have a Teasing Georgia that is currently in its 3rd spot in my yard where I have uprooted and replanted and it does amazinly well and is a very soft peachy yellow color so it is very sturdy, but it does get big unless you keep it trimmed down.

Hi Lynne,
We have hot, dry summers here, also, and winters that aren't too bad--though, I'm sure yours are milder in Perth. I'd like to recommend Austin's Young Lycidas, which I like very much, though I haven't had it a year yet. I got in a pot in June and planted it in August, and it bloomed all summer and grew plenty. The blooms have lovely purplish centers with outer petals in a magenta that isn't harsh. Another Austin not mentioned often that I love is Brother Cadfael. Its largish, medium pink blooms have a great scent, and come in waves all summer and fall. It growth habit is one of the best in my garden, and it's the least thorny of my Austins. I'm looking forward to planting Princess Alexandra of Kent this spring. In photos, it seems to have blooms of a kind of unique shade of pink. Hope this helps. Diane