Lady Emma is a wonderful rose for me here. Still blooming now, they are very fragrant with a citrusy-scent, a lovely apricot-orange of different shades depending on how cold it is but always lovely, and a prolific bloomer. She is pretty disease free for me and holds up well in a vase--in fact, I was just going to go snip a few for indoors as it is too cool to enjoy the fragrance outside now. I don't know how winter hardiness is in a colder zone--she hasn't had any die-back here, but that is true for most of my Austins in this warmer zone. Maybe others can comment.

I had Carding Mill until this year when it succumbed to Rose Rosette. I doubt I will replant. The flowers opened somewhat oddly/asymmetrically and the scent was a bit different from the other Austins I had and not one I loved. That said, I only had it for two growing seasons, so it may not have showed its best to me--I'd be curious if others love it.

I had Pat Austin for several years and she also recently succumbed to RRD and I doubt I'll replant. The flowers are a lovely coppery color of orange but they are the shortest lasting blooms of all of the Austins (a day?!) I barely had a chance to enjoy them and they'd shattered and were gone. They have a tea scent. Forget cutting for a vase...She does make a nice arching bush shape, somewhat like Golden Celebration and blooms with okay frequency, although not as prolific as some of my best Austins.

I've been interested in Summer Song too--such an unusual color and they say it has an interesting scent. So far it only appears to be for sale at DA in the UK, so I think it isn't likely available in the US but maybe others know of a source

Palatine sells 'Summer Song'. They list it as "sold out" but I suspect they'll have it available by Spring.

I SO hope you're right, Mike! I've been crazy about Summer Song since it was first introduce and not yet available in America. So I've been trying to get it for 3 years now with no luck. It seems it sells out the moment it's posted as available.

If it is available from other growers, I don't know why DAR in Texas is not carrying it--usually they have the new Austin introductions before they are available for US purchase from many other places like Pickering (which is in Canada). It might be worth a call to ask if they anticipate carrying it if Palatine remains sold out.

I had wondered at the strange silence regarding this rose - so many Austins are a bit meh and tend to look very similar while this rose is really astonishing. Quite difficult to place as it is a classic Austin shape but a remarkable deep vermillion colour which none of the orange/apricot Austin's resemble. Apparently not suitable for growing in the US. I wonder what criteria was followed in this decision? It really is a very unusual rose for the Austin stable, even remaining free of the usual late seasonal BS (unlike Pat Austin, a bit of a duffer by comparison). I have it with Hot Chocolate, A harkness hulthemia, Alissar, another strangely orangy rose, Iris Webb and Cardinal Hume. Would really like to add Cinco de Mayo and a good purple semi-double or single. I suggest a programme of hassling the US office of DA - this really is a very odd and interesting rose - seems a shame it is not available for you.

That is a major bummer, John. I had also been patiently waiting to see when this one would be available in the US because it was such a change up in color. Like campanula says, it is easy to end up with the Austin colors all blending together into a pastel mix, so I like mixing in the stronger shades, especially when the lighter ones bleach out in our hot sun. It is difficult to believe it can't be grown well anywhere in the US, given our range of climates.

john_ca, is Summer Song doing well for you?

I too, given the massive variation in climate and geography, am bemused with the verdict of poor growth in the US. Surely this cannot apply eberywhere in the US. Obviously, many roses grow badly, all over the world - I really cannot grow many teas, for example, but surely there is a good home for a rose of SS somewhere in the US? If budwood could be sent across the pond, I am more than happy to do so.

Summer Song is establishing itself in my garden and produced 3 or 4 flushes. The plant is growing nicely, and I expect it will do even better once it is more established. It is not the most vigorous-growing rose in our collection, but it is not the weakest either. The flowers do have an unusual shade of orange. The flowers are nice but not as large as some of the larger-flowered Austins that we have. I expect that the flower size will improve in its second year.

I don't understand DA's refusal to market this rose in the US. Most of his roses are the result of wide crosses and have very high vigor.

SUMMER SONG is one of my favorite DAs. It isn't exactly what I would call "apricot" tho. It's a red-orange bordering on coral. The plant grows well for me here in Northern CA. The blooms are a bit smallish, but very pretty and repeat pretty well. The plant grows fairly upright and averages about 4-5ft high and 3ft wide. This past season it didn't do as well as in the past couple of yrs tho. Actually not many of my roses did all that great this season. Weird climate changes and my lack of attention due to personal issues, etc. SS does better for me than CARDING MILL or LADY EMMA. Those two don't bloom nearly as well as SS, altho their blooms are generally a good bit larger.

If I recall, I got my plant from Hortico. I'm not sure if they are still offering it or not. I know a lot of people don't like Hortico, but I've gotten some pretty good roses from them over the yrs.

Funny you say Summer Song is not a strong grower, it's a donkey over here lol.

John, glad to hear that 'SS' is getting acclimated to Cali. My remaining 'SS' had about 3 flushes this past summer. I'm still underwhelmed with this Austin....the color is very vibrant but like Beth said, the blooms are small and my flushes can be stingy. IMO, there are much better roses in my garden.
-terry

thanks Terry--Good to have some sense of how it performs in the mid-west. Maybe Austin had a point then, since they have indicated that it did not perform well in enough US locations to justify a release here. I will be excited about all of the other new roses I've got planned for next season and won't pine for the Austin that got away...

I have all of the Austin oranges - Pat Austin, Lady Emma Hamilton, Summer Song, Lady of Shalott, and also Carding Mill. My Pat Austin has shown rose rosette disease, but is responding favorably to aspirin treatments at the moment. I'm hoping for the best on this. It does bloom nicely, but the flowers do not take our summer heat. The bush gets quite tall. It does have a good color, but, again, the flowers fry easily.

Lady Emma Hamilton does not get to be a tall bush. It is more spreading. It does not bloom in large amounts of flowers at any given time, but it has a fairly steady supply of nicely fragrant flowers. It is the most consistent performer of the oranges that I have.

Summer Song was quite pretty in the spring. For summer all three bushes of it that I have didn't do much of anything. I noticed that a couple of them were munched on probably by deer. Something ate the leaves off of them as well as part of the stems, and I have seen deer in the yard at various points. The first year I had these plants they did reasonably well. This past summer, year two, they didn't care for the excessive heat and just sulked. They did, however, throw long canes. The orange color does fade badly in the heat. They did not bloom much at all in the fall either. I think it was more because of the weather.

Lady of Shalott was pretty its first year. It seemed to be going along okay growing and flowering most of the way through the growing season. It pretty well stopped by the end of September, but it had a couple of flowers late. I think this bush will get fairly large. Flower size has been on the small size. Perhaps it will improve some next year.

Carding Mill does reasonably well, but the flowers have been on the small side. It can get to be about 5-6 feet tall here. Its growth habit is fairly cylindrical and doesn't spread much. The apricot color bleaches out to a pink in the heat. Otherwise, overall it has been reasonably consistent here. I have no major complaints about this one. I hope this helps a bit.

Thanks-That is especially nice to hear about growth in our zone--I might try Carding Mill again (mine got RRD in its first year) and I still do want Lady of Shalott. I think I can pass on Summer Song then, as it is so hard to get anyway.

And I've never heard about aspirin for RRD--how does that work?

With respect to aspirin for treating RRD, my operational thinking is this. Normal fungicidals, functional antibiotics, won't work for viruses. Just as in animals/people, viruses have to be fended off by the immune system. The problem with many roses is that they don't produce enough salicylic acid to fend off the virus or other diseases. Salicylic acid production, as I read, is a plant's normal immune response to a disease attack. Guess what aspirin is. It is acetylsalicylic acid, a derivative. My hope is that the increased presence of salicylic acids will help the plant fend off the disease by itself. I can't claim absolute victory yet because I am not sure. However, the initial results look promising. For absolute proof, it would require carefully controlled conditions, something I don't have. I just have my garden and a bunch of mites spreading the disease.

bustopher, the aspirin theory is interesting. Hadn't heard it before. However, can you explain--exactly HOW do you use it to treat RRD? My roses refuse to swallow it.

I'm serious--what do you do with it?

Thanks,

Kate

I'm deeply interested in the aspirin therapy also; my garden was hit hard by RRD this past summer. How much in a gallon of water? How often? etc. I have a rose I'm watching carefully with symptoms that I've already pruned off the offending cane.

All I am doing with the aspirin treatment is to poke a small hole in the ground near the base of the plant once every month to 6 weeks, put in an aspirin, cover the hole, and water it in. It is not an elegant method, but that is all I am doing. I am hoping the aspirin will permeate the plant from the roots up. I have tried spraying a 1 aspirin per 3 gallons of water solution, but some of my plants were showing foliage burn. I wasn't seeing blackspot, but I was seeing foliage burn. This way I am not seeing that. I also am not seeing evidence of mosaic virus on one Pink Parfait plant (a great variety) that has had it. I can't claim that this is a magic, cure-all method, but it is either try something like this out of desperation or ultimately dig out a number of well-established plants I may not be able to replace, burn them, and further cause my back more problems by all the digging. I am just hoping for the best.

Well that is interesting--I see in a number of plant journal articles use of salicylic acid to block either replication or movement of multiple viruses through different types of plants. It is thought that the resistance that is induced may be too short-lived for commercial usefulness, but conceivable that it would have some efficacy. Might be worth treating the plant when the first branch shows signs, after cutting that branch back as far as possible, to see if it helps to slow the virus spread through the plant.

What does RRD stand for?

Ha, over here in the UK, it means rose replant disease - a nuisance but absolutely not in the same league as the hideous Rose Rosette Disease - a horror mite infestation leading to dreadful growth distortions and eventual death. A nasty, nasty disease - I believe Ann Peck is the forum expert so follow up any of her postings (my source of info) and hope your area remains RRD free (cos I am counting the weeks and months before this hits the UK - the global movement of organic material suggests this is only a matter of time).

BC makes powdered aspirin that dissolves quickly in water. That might be a good option to mix either with the soil or in a watering can.