Hi and welcome to the forum. Four roses ambitious? My friend, you have wandered all innocent into a den of enablers.

David Austin roses are lovely, aren't they? Of the ones you mention, I grow Jude the Obscure, Prospero and Munstead Wood, that last a particular favorite of mine. However, in your warm, humid climate you may find it necessary to spray fungicides for these roses to be at their best. Perhaps other rose growers from your area will address this issue.

You might consider also adding roses that are especially well suited to your climate, to be specific, roses from the china, tea (not hybrid tea), and noisette classes. Those roses will need a great deal less care that the English roses that have caught your eye (and mine, too, to be honest!)

Rosefolly

eakelso,

Welcome to the Antique Rose Forum. I live just east of you in Atlanta--also zone 7b (or 8a depending on who you ask).

I have 4 David Austin Roses--Abraham Darby and Sharifa Asma are more mature; Sister Elizabeth and Pretty Jessica are still just babies.

I've found that although these are beautiful roses with amazing fragrance and pretty good rebloom, I either have to live with defoliated canes or spray them regularly with a fungicide to control the black spot. True, most roses get at least some black spot here but Abe Darby and Sharifa seem to get more than others. Sister E and Pretty J are still too small to know for sure but it seems like they will spot as well.

I say go for it. I love the blooms on all of the ones I grow. Abe is a larger shrub probably 6 X 6, Sharifa is more upright than wide 6 X 3 and I think the other two will stay smaller like maybe 3 X 3.

I don't think 4 roses is too many by any stretch of the imagination--I have WAY more than that.

If you ever want to grow some other roses that do especially well in the south with little care, just let us know and we'll make all kinds of suggestions.

Jeff

Thanks so much, Jeff and Rosefolly! I love the David Austins so much, and I figured that I would be spraying them for blackspot. If the blooms come out as well as the pictures I've seen, I think its absolutely worth the time put into spraying.

Jeff - I'd love to know what suggestions you have that do well in the south. I love the DAs, but I'm willing to give others a try.

I know several people who grow the Mr. Lincoln hybrid tea here, and I've also looked at Pride of England and High Sheriff (both HTs). Any thoughts?

I'm not in your zone, but thought I'd mention that I grow Sweet Juliet. It's a lovely rose, very elegant blooms. The fragrance is a mix of peach, fruit and Tea Rose, to my nose.

I grow a number of Austins in my no- spray garden. I do see blackspot late in the season, but I love these roses nonetheless; find them to be quite garden worthy.

The blooms of Sweet Juliet open a caramel apricot.

I also love Evelyn, which has similar lineage to Sweet Juliet.

Sweet Juliet

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I'm not in your zone, but I am in the deep South. Out of about 10 David Austin's that I grow my favorites in regard to rapidness of rebloom and disease resistance are Charles Darwin, Glamis Castle, and Symphony. Although, all of my David Austins are beautiful, and would really reccommend any of them!

As for the newbie thing...I'm three years in and have close to 250 roses...so I think you're ok with 4...or even more ;)

~Tammy

Like you I do admire David Austin roses, but if I were going to grow them in blackspot Alabama, I'd at least concentrate on Austin's most disease-resistant roses so that I would have half a fighting chance against blackspot (knowing I'd probably lose that battle in the end). You should check out some of his new releases in the past few years. Some of those are listed as "very healthy" (Austin's way of saying highly disease resistant). Some of them--like Lady of Shalott--are gorgeous. Unfortunately, some of his earlier and most gorgeous bloomers are not good on disease-resistance at all.

Kate

Glamis Castle grows and reblooms really well for me here in central Alabama. It is supposed to be a black spot magnet, but hasn't been nearly so bad as I had expected.

I also grow Jude the Obscure, and it has a beautiful bloom. William Shakespeare 2000 has wonderful groweth, and the blooms are beautiful, but not a lot of them. All of mine are from spring of this year, so this is a very short time to determine anything. I am growing Kathryn Morley, a lovely soft pink, but again, not a lot of bloom yet, and I acquired Golden Celebration this fall.

The chinas do really well here. I have Louis Phillipe, Cramoisi Superieur, and Pams Pink. all have done very well, and they were planted in fall of 2010.

I would suggest you look at Belinda's Dream and Maggie as well, since they have a form you may like, and they grow very well in the south.

kay

Thanks so much! Glamis Castle is beautiful! Can't believe I missed that one before. I'm going to research the chinas and teas too. I'm really excited to get started.

I am also a newbie and learnt so much from this forum. I would like to suggest Abraham Darby, mollineux (did great in hot tx summer and does not get too big). I second Kay's advice to try belinda's dream. Its a stellar performer in my garden. Attaching link for you to check out.
Best
Indu

Here is a link that might be useful: Fall blooms

I 3rd Belinda's Dream :) It's not an Austin, but it's great in the South. I have a few Austins, but it's too soon to offer an evaluation for them except to say they have wonderful scented blooms. Souvenir de Malmaison and Clotilde Soupert are old roses that do well in my yard and have the look of an Austin or rather Austins have the look of them I guess. I suggest that you get four Austins and add to them all of the roses we've suggested here as your budget and lower back strength allow.

Definitely go for Lycidas - don't see her mentioned enough on here!! Doesn't throw out long canes, flowers continously, and they are big very strong scented flowers. The colour and fragrance are similar to RDV - but much bigger. Second photo she on right at top corner.

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David Austin roses are bred for cool, cloudy England, not for the blazing sun and steamy humidity of the US south, and they really struggle here. I've planted at least 25 of them here in coastal NC so can speak authoritatively about how they are not a good fit for our heat & humidity. As other southerners have already said, you'd do much better to plant roses that do thrive naturally in our super heat & humidity. Belinda's Dream indeed thrives and is gorgeous. Also Mrs. B.R. Cant, Maggie, Georgetown Tea and generally any of the old teas will do well.

Allie

Planted many of the Austin roses over the years and, in my climate, similar to yours, I can say that Sophy's Rose, Abraham Darby, Ambridge Rose, Fisherman's Friend (just won a trophy at the rose show), Tradescant, Pat Austin, L D Braithwaite (just won a 2nd trophy at the rose show)and Pat Austin are my best bloomers. Caveat is I haven't added any newly introduced Austins in over 6 years. Some of the oldies are really worth growing.