Personally for a hot area I might pick something with a similar look or scent that does better for your climate.

I only grow James Galway, he is fairly tall 7feet but not very wide and only blooms 2 or 3 times a year Mine has only been planted 3 summers so it might bloom more next year

Thank you for your reply Kippy. I will appreciate alternative suggestions very much as well. We do however have a very limited selection of DA's and OGR's available over here. I always envy you all when I see the huge selection available to the US market and Europe. Until two years ago DA's were virtually impossible to come by and I practically 'hounded' all the rose growers / nurseries / gardening websites all over the country to see if I could obtain some (the same story with peonies and crab apples! I am still trying for flowering dogwoods..sigh). I gradually obtained some Austins and recently after some correspondence South Africa' main rose grower let me know that he was able to procure Austin budwood from Arizona (apparently it could not be sourced from England due to plant importation restrictions). He was kind enough to let me visit his trialling plots on the rose farm and let me selected some varieties that I would dearly love to try. However, these three were on my 'dream list' for such a long time that I thought I would see if I could not squeeze in one of them somewhere. If you can however make an alternative suggestion and it can be obtained over here I would greatly appreciate your input -I am a bit of a sucker for all plants rare and hard to come by. If it does not work out I can always dream...

G'day LiezelG,

Of the three roses that you are asking about, I have direct experience with The Reeve. It is a good rose, though I am not at all certain how large it will get even in a warm temperate garden. Mine is quite winter hardy here in my , cold Canadian climate, so I suspect that its mature size is not overly affected by winter die back as is the case with many other Austin roses. Its canes are fairly thin and flexible, so they arch over in a very pleasing manner. The longest ones I have seen are perhaps 2 meters. I am not at all certain it will make a climber if that is what you are looking for, but having said that, I suspect it would break laterals if it was trained along a fence. It is a delightful rose that I like very much. The link below is to a thread I started about The Reeve on the Forum last summer, images of my plant are included.

With respect to The Generous Gardener and James Galway, I have researched them both and would love to try them if only I had more room. Both get good reviews for health and rebloom from people who grow them.

The description for JG on Help Me Find Roses begins: "Tall, climbing, upright..." It is however said to have stiff canes, grows to 3 meters or more and is most often pictured as a stand alone shrub, or a pillar rose if you do a google image search. Bloom colour is said to be quite variable, ranging from apricot-orange to lavender-pink. It is not often noted for strong fragrance in reviews I have read. But it has a very beautiful very double old fashioned flower form.

The Generous Gardener is likely the rose to choose if you want a large climber that you can train on a fence. It generally gets excellent ratings for health, bloom quantity, bloom frequency, fragrance and vigour. It is often pictured as a climber on a wall, espaliered, or on an arch. Colour is listed as light pink but it appears to fade to almost white. Flowers are looser and more blousey than JG.

Hope this helps a little. By the way, you mentioned The Swan in your initial post. I grew Swan many years ago, but lost her to a harsh winter. I have been looking for a replacement ever since, but so far no luck. And just to note, we may have access to more Austins in North America than you do, but the down side is there are so many to choose from, there is no room to grow all the ones we'd like.

Cheers, Rick -

A Hopelessly Addicted Early Austin Connoisseur

Here is a link that might be useful: A Rose That Is Pleasing Me Greatly

Hi Rick. My apologies for only thanking you now for your detailed effort with the descriptions and the link to your previous post. It has been quite hectic these past few weeks. I love the fact that the bloom colour on JG is quite variable, I did not expect that! Right now I am considering Generous Gardener for the original spot but will try to plant James Galway nearby - I really love the photos I've seen from both of them and I think that they might be the hardest to come by in future. After reading your post on The Reeve, I am however going through every square inch of my garden to see if I can find some space for it...

Of the 10 or 11 older Austins I've managed to procure over the last two years, the Swan and Ambridge have really outdone themselves and were practically constantly in bloom since they started flowering this year. All of my Austins have however been planted in the garden for less than a year still so I will wait and see. Swan is however very special-I have just dead-headed the last flowers of the previous flush but will try to post a pic when the next buds open.It really is a pity that you can't find a replacement.

I've been thinking about your comment on having too many roses to choose from. Although I must admit that I would love to face such a predicament for once ;-) it might just be that simply the privilege of being able to obtain a few special varieties e.g. Austins might create a deeper sense of appreciation for the individual variety and its unique qualities with its less than perfect qualities somehow not mattering as much as it would in a market saturated with competition,somehow forcing them into obscurity. Something like just appreciating beauty for what it is with no conditions attached :-)

You're welcome Leizl. I would love to see some images of Swan. I sure wish I could find another plant of it.

R