James Galway is a rose developed by David Austin, an English breeder. I have grown this rose in TX and just planted it this year in CA. In TX I planted an own root rose from Chamblees Roses of Tyler TX. In TX, it was a very vigorous upright shrub that topped out at around 8 feet. It did not require any support for its strong canes, which do not have many thorns. If it is well-watered, the flowers can be 3.5 to 5 inches across and have a high petal count; the flowers in my garden looked just as spectacular as they did in the catalogue. The fragrance was not particularly strong to my nose. This rose is not particulary disease prone. I was so pleased with its performance in TX that I bought one for my new garden in CA. My new specimen is around 4 feet tall so far, but I know that it will be much larger in a year or two.

I grow this rose as a freestanding shrub, and it is a superb rose. It's been vigourous, not sure how tall it will get when it matures; it's about 6 feet tall now, and almost 5 feet wide.

While not as strongly fragrant as some of the other Austins, to my nose it has a lovely scent. I think it's one of the most beautiful of the Austins.

I have to say, that even though I've only had this rose since about January or so, I'm really pleased with it. It was the last of my DA bareroots to show growth, (all planted at the same time) but once it got started it really shot up and seems to be very happy and healthy.
It's leaves are entirely green and beautiful, while many of my other bushes show some, I guess, salt build-up from my water, or crispies from the heat or something.... but not James Galway... it's leaves are gorgeous! and like I said, it's grown more than some of my other DAs. How it will do in other years, who knows. Even though it's it's first year, it's tried to bloom several times.

I think the flowers are interesting and unusual, they have a bit of a pointed look to the petals and a complex bloom shape. It's not like every other "Mary Rose" type "old fashioned" rose, it's a little different.

It's hot/dry where I am. zone 9-10. clay soil

Here's a photo I took this month showing the growth since Jan. (note the size of the marker)
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My JG got RRD. It hurt to dig it up and burn it.

Today I ordered a replacement JG because it was just perfect for the spot it was in and it's one of the few multi-heavy petaled roses that never balled, even in drowning rainfalls.

Even up here in relatively cold 6b/7a, it made a large vase shaped self supporting rose.

Oh, y'all are killing me here. I've sworn off DA roses, but I just looked up the pictures of JG and I'm drooling. One of my main complaints about DA roses is the blooms just don't last long enough in the Texas heat. I've also had problems with disease resistance and just not blooming much. Molineux was the only one that was fairly healthy and bloomed alot, but it was the absolute worst about the blooms not making it through the day.

John - Since you grew it in Texas, can you tell me how the blooms did for you? I don't have room for a large rosebush, so I would probably grow it on the pillar and I don't spray my roses.

Laurie

This is my third year with James Galway and I really like that rose. It is hardy here in my Northern garden, although I do have to cut back winter cane damage above the snow line some springs. It grow upright and has the most beautifully formed blooms. It has been very disease resistant for me, even this summer which was a dilly for blackspot.

Ingrid is right - it is a bush that just gets so big in some areas, it becomes a climber!

Mine is about 4 or 5 years old. It just started sending up long (12-15') canes just last year. I keep it at about 6-10 ft. (pruned to 6 ft, it grows to 10 ft by the end of the summer). I have often thought it would make a much better climber in my climate, but I'm not going to move him.

I've not been too impressed with JG. Although he has pretty blooms, he is stingy with them. A nice spring flush, and usually again in the fall, but not much in the summer.

This picture shows him in his spring flush this past spring. I've also thought that perhaps he would have more blooms along the canes grown as a climber. Not sure if that would work in your zone, though.
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"Large vase shaped self supporting rose" describes it perfectly here. Not a climber in the Austin "octupus" sense at all. More like Aloha which I would suspect it has in parentage..no proof since I have not paid HMF yet but Austin used it in his breeding of several introductions such as Abe Darby.

Laurie,

If my mememory serves, the blooms on JG were good for at least 3 days in the TX heat. Size between 3 to 4 inches there if the plants are well watered. JG was a big boy for me: 8 ft tall and at least 5 ft across. We were in the eye of Ike and though the leaves were mostly all stripped off, the robust canes did fine. Does not need any support.

I have visited the David Austin Rose headquarters and was astounded to see that they sell both "climbing" and "bush" versions of this as well as many others. They even have different tags that they put on these different "versions". The truth is, the climbing and bush versions are exactly the same thing, as was mentioned in an earlier post! To me this is very confusing and misleading.

What a mixed bag here! i think ill keep it on my list but not as a arbor rose. I have an arbor and a swing that need roses and they need to be amazing so ill keep looking. I think so far ive chosen lavender lassie. Ill keep on looking! Thanks! The pictures were helpful and i think itll look nice on my fence.

Hi Lilyfinch,
I just got JG this summer,and it was listed as a climbing version, which I take with a grain of salt. I am in a normally colder zone than you, but this has been an unusual year and the weather more like Kentucky or even Tenn. I will say that JG has gotten 6-7 ft. tall however, I can't say he would get through the winter with that amount of cane. Personally, he's beautiful, but I don't depend on him to climb, I just got him for the beautiful carnation like blooms! It depends on how harsh your winters are. I don't really think any of the Austins can be climbers in my zone unless global warming is really going to set in(I have to take that back, I think Constance Spry can do it, but she only blooms in spring).
roseberri

IâÂÂve grown JG for 8 years. It gets big, 10â high x 6â wide, and, while it is more shrub than a climber, mine grows against a fence that is probably giving it some support . I guess if I kept it shorter it wouldnâÂÂt need any support. Mine is generally healthy, blooms profusely in spring and for me is essentially a once bloomer.

I'm highly skeptical of those claims that sell a rose as both a climber and shrub.