Juliet, yes, his gardens are very near Birmingham, it's a half hour train ride from there. Even in late August it should be pretty spectacular. Wollerton Old Hall is covered with buds. I've not seen a single bloom yet "in real life", so I've got my fingers crossed. I think I'm expecting something similar to Scepter'd Isle with a lighter colour. I'll post photos when it blooms. Florence, it's my pleasure, and a treat to share it with others who enjoy the roses! Silverkelt, I do appreciate how lucky I am to live so close! When I lived in California I never dreamed I'd get to visit, and now I can walk out of my door, get on a train, and be there in just over two hours. I wonder what I should do this weekend?? LOL. Jumbojimmy, the roses in most of the pictures of the greenhouses are "potential" new Austins, either for garden or cut flowers, so I'm pretty sure we wouldn't know any of them already. If you like button eyes, you should consider Sister Elizabeth and Eglantyne. I thin Sister Elizabeth might do very well in your climate, she loved my So. California garden. Krista, it was great fun. I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures. Hosenemesis, thanks for taking a look! Inga007, you're very welcome, thanks for taking the time to look through everything. The Bustopher, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Christina, I'm so glad the photos brought some happiness to your day! Ingrid, it was my pleasure. Thank you! Jerome, yes, I agree, I think he is a genius too. I can't tell you how much enjoyment I get out of his creations. I think we are so lucky to have him. He lives in a house on the grounds, and the tour guide told us that he still comes out every morning and walks through the gardens, taking notes, commenting, and finding improvements. He still works in the breeding and selecting and is very much the man we can thank for these roses. So.. thank you very much Mr. Austin! Kristin, I did spend hours there. We arrived at 11 and left when they closed at 5, and I still could have spent many more hours wandering around. It was really fantastic.

Robert, thank you so much for going into detail about the roses that did well for you in SoCa. I am really glad that I have already some of them (Charles Darwin, Jude the Obscure, Sister Elizabeth, Yolande d'Aragon), and I will think of the others that worked for you when you were gardening there. Yves Piaget is especially appealing to me! Thanks for posting more great rose pics! Seeing your photos forces me to try 'Munstead Wood' and I really like 'The Wedgewood Rose'. Wishing you lots and lots of fun with your "old" and new roses in England. Christina Here is a link that might be useful: Organic Garden Dreams

Goodness, I have to bring this forward for folks to see Color Revolt if nothing else. I've lusted after that plant. It is good to note that a certain hybridizer keeps showing up in the things you find beautiful. Some hosta which are soul satisfying unbeknownst to me turn out to be connected to a person who posts here just like everyone else, but what we don't know is he is a mildmannered man until he goes into that phone booth...and comes out as the caped crusader to leap tall bushes in a single bound, etc etc. I think he must put some kryptonite into the leaves of some hosta he coaxes from the gene pool....like Rhino Hide, which I had to have....and gave it as a present before I realized I could grow it here.....and now I see that my secret love, Color Revolt, is another one of his. Sometimes superman is just like the guy next door. Awesome.

hmmm .. Found why my browser does this.. 2 clicks to back out of a page.... its my advertising blocker. I disabled my PeerBlock ad-blocker temporarly for 15 minutes, and then any page I enter, I can back out of with a single click.