Would you compare: Port Sunlight and Pat Austin

14 years ago

I am having hard time to decide by looking at the photos, since their catalog gives much colorful version of each rose than I actually see in the garden.

If you have some experience with these two, would you please compare them in terms of color, blooming habits, foliage and shape.

I am looking for a rose for the front yard. So it should look good as long as possible.

Thanks,

Senko

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Comments (3)

the_bustopher z6 MO
14 years ago
I have both of them. Pat Austin repeats for me fairly regularly and is several years old, I think about five years now. It has a nice orange and yellow color, but the flowers do not take heat well. It just wilts in temps in the 90s. The bush want to get rather large.

Port Sunlight is new for me this year. I had it in a pot, but I put it in the ground to be grown on a pillar. I suspect it will be tall. It is also on the spindly side, but still, it is only its first year. The color is a nice apricot, but it fades badly in the sun, almost as bad as Tea Clipper. The flowers are also little bigger than a miniflora rose. I had hoped for better. They do smell good, a plus. I will withhold judgment on this one pending a couple more growing seasons. Lady Emma Hamilton and Carding Mill are both more than viable alternates. They bloom regularly and have contained growth habits. Both are in the same general apricot/orange color groups, and both are fragrant. Also pending is Summer Song. One I have has not bloomed yet, and I am supposed to get two more. If you want in-your-face orange on manageable plants, the floribunda Impatient and the shrub Kordes' Brillant are also good choices.
User
14 years ago
I love Pat but the blooms do fry in the heat. The color even faded is beautiful. I've seen Port Sunlight and was disappointed that the blooms fade to an almost parchment/beige/yellow shade
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I miss my Pat Austin. I planted it in a semi-shady spot in my house in Columbus and it did incredible there. Despite having less sun than other roses, the rose went bonkers and was in near continuous bloom. The foilage was always spotless and I made numerous comments that it was the healthiest looking rose I have ever had with it's glossy green foilage and bright blooms. If I had any complaint about Pat Austin, it would be that the blooms tend to fry, the scent is kind of like pure tea, and Pat Austin grew a little TOO WELL since I didn't prune it back hard enough and it pumped out too many blooms to support itself. It's definitely one rose I really miss. I brought back cuttings to NW Ohio, but they died for completely unknown reasons. I'm contemplating pulling a covert operation this weekend to go to my old rental property and confiscate some clippings of my old Pat Austin which still grows on that property with zero maintenance like a champ. Here she was with too many blooms to support herself after being in the ground for a year on the north side of the house. http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=21.163027
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I was watering it this morning....think it is probaby going to die before I have a chance to transplant it. One cane left, good leaves left but the cane has that "look" to it that tells me it is going to give it up. Actually....the flowers nod, blow. The only thing I like about it is the color. From the above comments - I will most definitely not replace it, and try Lady Emma instead. I adore Carding Mill, want another of those. Am trying Crown Princess Margareta and Lady of Shallot - too early to tell what those are going to do. Any thoughts on these? I love the Austin apricots.....I have Summer Song from Palatine but it isnt doing much. Long skinny canes, very little flowering this summer and the flowers were small but I only planted it last fall. The color is spectatular! I hope it will do the sleep, creep, leap thing.....anyone grow it?
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Lilyfinch, please don't think I am trying to discourage you concerning Port Sunlight, but Heirloom Roses, the online rose purveyor, lists it as having no fragrance. I have purchased quite a few roses from them recently, and trust their descriptions as being quite accurate. Of course, fragrance may not be a factor in your decision on this rose. It sure has a lovely flower.
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senko
Original Author
14 years ago
Thank you for the info. It seems Port Sunlight is definitely out of my list.

Would you compare: Port Sunlight and Pat Austin

Comments (3)

the_bustopher z6 MO

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Would you compare: Port Sunlight and Pat Austin

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the_bustopher z6 MO

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