Christopher Marlowe, beautiful English rose

20 years ago

No secret -- I just got an exquisite bush of Christopher Marlowe, one of the finest recent English roses of David Austin.

It looks almost surreal in its beauty; beautiful foilage of smallish and disease resistant leaves, blooms of finest pink, yellowish and peach hues. And the perfume is just wonderful; very strong tea variation with lemon overtones, very pleasing indeed.

Bush grows tall here in Australia and mine is already 4 ft tall. I was told it will reach 6ft height in very short time (although in colder climates will stay much shorter and create smallish, compact shrub).

Rose has several main shots that go upright and on them, almost perfectly horizontal, it shoots 20-30 cm long thinner branches with flowers at the top (clusters 1-3 flowers). In other words, I strongly believe this rose can be trained as a short climber to cover the wall in the most eye-pleasing manner.

I was lucky to get one of these; Christopher Marlowe was intruduced in Australia in 2004 and I believe I got the specimen from those first grafts.

I encourage many of you to give it some place in your pots and gardens. Mine is now spreading in an extra large pot (70 cm) and is leaned to a wall. Branches need support because of the masses of those wonderful blooms. I believe this rose is perfect for pots because it tends to shoot gentle, tender branches straight from the base, which slope down and cover almost half the pot height. Most beautiful.

Rather tender and charming than strong and bushy, this rose is a delicate treasure. Put it close to wall, give it support and enjoy most beautiful fireworks of flowers.

I hope I'll find some time to take some pictures later and shall post them here.

- Tom

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Comments (15)

User
20 years ago
I hope you do too Tom, I am looking forward to seeing this rose after what you wrote.
Cheers..MM.
tom_pariz
Original Author
20 years ago
Hi!
Here are some photos of Christopher Marlowe.
A flower and a rose in the pot. Hope this gives you an idea how beautiful this rose is. Please note that I've cut many too long branches shooting from the base and quite a few thinner shots from the main stems, together with flowers, to encourage vertical growth. I want this one to be a climber! Fingers crossed! :-)
- Tom
PS. If only these photos could bring some of her wonderful scent!

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tom_pariz
Original Author
20 years ago
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drhuey
20 years ago
Tom
I agree with your comments about Christopher Marlowe. It is definitely different from other Austins in my garden.Got mine as a freebee with this year's bareroot order. The dahlia-like flowers are quite exquisite. In my colder climate the bush,I suspect,will remain compact.

Brenton

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greencroc
20 years ago
Silver Anniversary is a lot like Chritopher Marlowe,well to me it is,check it out,greencroc.
greencroc
20 years ago
TRy that again,Jubilee Celebration looks a lot like Chritopher Marlowe, what do you think,greencroc.
User
20 years ago
Hi Tom I think that your C.M. is a wonderful looking rose and thats a great Pic of it.
Brenton yours looks a very healthy plant too, with such beautiful looking blooms.
Cheers..MM.
rosesforme
20 years ago
Hi
I saw Jubilee Celebration and it is a stunner.
The photos are lovely.
Michelle
meryl2
20 years ago
My Christopher Marlowe is in its second year and in a cold climate. It is flowering lavishly, just like your pix, but behaving more like a ground cover than a bush rose. It's in a raised bed and some of its multiple lax canes tumble over the edge very prettily. The ones that don't reach the edge are lying down too, however, and tend to bury their flowers in the low perennials which share the bed. Mine is very healthy too. Great rose.
greencroc
20 years ago
This Christopher Marlowe is a lovely rose,thanks Michelle I got a Jubilee just recently,they are great for flowering,and are lovely to look at.I thought Tom might at least give an answer,he seems to know a bit about English roses,cheers Graeme,greencroc.
tom_pariz
Original Author
20 years ago
Hi Greencroc.
I saw only a small bush of Jubilee Celebraton but it seems to me that rose is different. Chisopher Malove has smallish (for English rose standards), 5-7 cm wide flowers, densely packed petals (almost like dahlia), thinner and smaller leaves, whilst Jubilee Celebration has larger blooms, shrubby and upright growth, larger petals and different foilage. Both have well deserved place in any garden, but I believe Christopher Marlowe goes better near walls because it needs support to show himself fully.
Although I know nothing about his parentage (I'm still waiting for that new book by David Austin -- I've ordered it from the UK), Christopher Marlowe reminds me in so many ways of Pegasus, another excellent English rose.
- Tom
greencroc
20 years ago
Thanks Tom my Jubilee is in bloom and I see what you mean,regards greencroc.
BeeVee
20 years ago
Brenton, Thanks for the gorgeous pic! Here in Florida, it was hard finding it so I mailed ordered it today.
karima_autojapan_com_au
18 years ago
Tom,

i l
karima_2008
18 years ago
sorry about my ealier message, im a new member.
i live in WA too, can you please tell me where you got your CM from, because i cannot seem to find them in the nurseries.