agility_mom - You are one of the ones I wanna chat with :) I love Austins, I love the bloom form, the colors, the way they open etc... What I don't love though is the arching bush shape, so I'm so pleased that he is trying to give me my blooms on more compact plants... It's very hard looking at pictures of just the bloom to know which ones to choose without ordering 20 bareroots and just waiting to see who turns out to be a winner... For example, one of my favorites was Tamora... love the color, love the compact bush. Didn't care about the fragrance, and with only 70 petals, I wouldn't mind a bit extra... and I was crying inside to let her go from my no spray garden with her little black polka-dots... So Tamora is listed as an apricot blend. Personally I thought it was more of an orange pink blend, especially compared with some of his other apricots, but he doesn't use the orange-pink color designation, so it makes it hard to know exactly which of his new roses are closest in color to Tamora. So according to DA, the newer apricots are: William Morris Crown Princess Margareta Grace Carding Mill Tea Clipper The Shepherdess So 6 to choose from... The Shepherdess is supposed to be the shortest of these, but who knows? and which of these is more pink than yellow? So the question of which of these apricots (or other Austins that are orange pink and called pink blend) is most like the original Tamora is impossible for someone who hasn't seen all of the new specimens to know... I'm going to start individual threads about the different colors, but my question for you is out of the newer Austins, which are the most compact growers... and which are you falling in love with? TIA

I only have Sharifa Asma and scepter D'isle from your list. Sharifa smells along the lines of Abe darby to me- so fruity rose. Scepter Di is VERY strong myrhh. I initially hated this rose and was horrorfied -like you are with your Tamora :-0--- when i first smelled it because it reminded me of those urinal deoderant cakes (diaper pail deoderizers too smell like it-- and not the urine, btw) (possibly the phenol??) and so I would eye it with a big frown as it exploded and reloaded immediately in blooms all summer. SHe starts early, quits late. Nothing comes close to SD'is blooming abundance for me. And it's flower is so cheerful and lovely. Eventually i became accustomed to its myrrh scent and now I like it. It smells clean and pure and fits the rose. I love that rose and blow it kisses now! Maybe your Tamora will grow on you too, ;-). (i have tamora too and it smells different each time i smell it- but You might like Abraham darby as the blooms are pretty similar, just a little more pink.) My golden celebrations only have moderate scent comparatively- And smell like roses and peaches to me. It's not on your list, but in my garden Lady Emma Hamilton wins top honors from my husband for strength and character (citrusy rose). She blooms well too -- just behind abe darby. Though LEH bush is so well behaved and the awesome purple stems make her special. FWIW, in my harden Fred mistral (romantica, not DA) and sharifa smell rosy delicous but are t that abundant bloomers. Fred's young so maybe he'll improve?

I have several of these roses. First, Pear d'Or is more of an apricot/pink, probably more apricot than pink. It, so far for me, has been a nice rose and just borderline for a pot. Bonica is gorgeous, full, constantly blooming, wonderful pink color but in my garden way to large for a pot. Bonica I also like Sharifa Asma and so far is just borderline size for a nice sized pot. I'm afraid that this rose too, might get to large (at least in my garden). This rose is gorgeous and extremely fragrant though. Mine's still young, only a year old. So, for my suggestions, at least of the ones mentioned that I grow, I have to also suggest Our Lady of Guadalupe. This one stays nice and compact, is in constant bloom, has a nice pink color and fragrance. You could also try Pink Gruss an Aachen. It's surprisingly compact and nice rose. The pink is slightly bolder than OLG but a nice pink, not garrish, and the blooms are much fuller. The plant is thornless or nearly so. In my garden, however, it doesn't bloom quite as well as OLG but might do better in a pot. Mine is in the ground. Our Lady of Guadalupe

Wow, thanks for all the feedback, that will definitely be a lot to digest! I guess I should add my short summary of the Austin's I've grown for anyone else researching DA's for this season: Ambridge Rose - Started off in a poor location but since I moved it to a pot it has blossomed. Short grower of 2-3 ft. Once I rid it of rust it has done quite well. Beautiful, large cupped flowers of pale pink cream centers. Petal edges are often scalloped. Medium myrhh scent. Fairly thornless, lovely foliage. Benjamin Britten - Very thorny, strong and upright plant. Color is a very intriguing blend of a saturated raspberry with a tint of orange. Amazing cent is fruity and strong, of apples to me. No disease. Tall growth of 5 - 6 ft. Lots or flowers, ok repeat. Brother Cadfael - Grown as climber, very stout and vigorous. 2-3 major flushes. Huge chalice cupped pink to dusty pink blooms. Completely thorn-free. Interestingly this year, the first flush was scented strongly of myrrh, the second flush had lost that scent and was purely tea. Flowers crisp in heat but fail to full open without plenty of sunshine. Jude the Obscure - Doing great now that I removed the ivy and roots around it, took a bit to get established after ridding it of rampant rust. Grown as a climber, around 6-7 ft in partial shade. Beautiful cupped blossoms with a delectable fruity scent. The very tangy scent is probably the favorite of all my Austins. Unfortunately it seems to start losing its petals as soon as it is plucked. Very few thorns. Ok repeat. Kathryn Morely - Fairly thorny, especially around the base canes. Lovely, delicate blossoms of pink fading to white. Repeats well and often. Mine is a bit straggly since it was planted in a relatively sunny/hot area. Grown as climber, must have hit 8-10 ft this summer. Very light, almost undetectable scent. Carding Mill - My current favorite. Very few thorns, no disease. Constant flush of blooms, huge blossoms, very strong myrrh scent. The color of the blooms is amazing, fading from orange to pink to cream. When the blossoms age they turn a pale apricot, but retain its petals all the way until the end. Lovely foliage. Growth of around 5-6 ft. I love how the petal edges are scalloped, and young flowers often remind my of water lilies. Sweet Juliet - Amazing scent when you can get it to bloom. Mine seems much more bent on throwing out canes and vast amounts of foliage after the first year of blooms. Also seems prone to powdery mildew and BS. Lovely multicolor blooms that are medium to small size. Bushy, growth that needs to be well trimmed. The Mary Rose - This is probably the best bloomer I've had, with the entire bush constantly covered in peony like pink blooms - also always my first Austin to bloom each yr. Each flush the plant which I've grown as a nice arching bush (canes arch beautifully) is completely covered in medium pink flowers that gradually fade to very pale pink. Scent to me is like soap from a boutique shop. Fairly thorny and prone to BS and mildew. Generous Gardener - Tiny own root plant, seems to be a pretty good bloomer. I know I'll love the blooms, now if I can just get the plant to grow. Charles Renne Macintosh - Own root, young and struggingly against mildew. Interesting color of flowers Graham Thomas - Own root, doing quite well. Few thorns and very nicely formed yellow flowers. Lovely tea scent. Golden Celebration - Fairly good repeat, lovely scent. Nice bushy growth. Abraham Darby - picked this one up at costco w/ Golden Celebration. Very vigorous growth, although the huge and heavy blooms are too much for he canes to support. Lovely color and strong fruity scent. The Ingenious Mr Fairchild - twiggy growth with a lot of blooms. Problem is that the spindly shoots are too weak to support the heavy blooms. The scent is an interesting mix of raspberry and others. Fairly thorny, vigorous growth. Can't help putting out its unique and lovely blossoms. No disease. Geoff Hamilton - Nice bushy growth, this one has some lovely flowers. A bright pink inside its compact petals fades quickly to quite. Lovely blooms. St Cecilia - The blooms were pretty nice and it was doing pretty well until it looks like it has succumbed to some sort of spider mite, or something. Blooms turn brown in the bud and the canes and leaves are sticky all over - haven't had the time to diagnose what has happened to it. Othello - Interesting almost pinkish red blooms. We were hoping for a dark red but this wasn't it. Vigorous growth, but holy crap.. the thorns. I had never seen such a thorny plant.. it was growing double rows of thorns rather like the teeth of a great white shark. The original canes had few thorns, but the new ones you could barely see the cane itself. Unfortunately the thorns and pinkish color caused us to give it away. Scepter'd Isle - Lovely petal formation, but the flowers don't seem to last, especially when cut. Currently throwing 10-14 ft tall canes with few flowers. We're waiting to reposition it at which point it'll probably be pruned back very heavily or turned into a climber. Not much scent to the blooms, although plant is disease free and almost thornless.