I had this rose and it always made it thru the winter. I shovel pruned the rose after 4 years in the ground.

I have two problems with some Austins. First it was on Dr. Huey. This root stock will not grow in my yard. After four years the root stock on those that I shoveled up had not grown at all. So no wonder the rose was sick all the time. The other problem is the varieties that have very thin canes. In order for those to hold them selves up they need to build a structure. They can't do that up here when they must regrow each year. It did however bloom and the blooms were gorgeous. They shattered quickly thou.

I now have an own root Lady of Shalott and it is a much better rose. The color is nearly identical and it can be grown without spray. Canes hold up better with lots of branching. She is a large rose however.

Mine is one year old. It survived its first winter. Time will tell how it does in the future. It's grafted on Dr. Huey.

Other apricot Austins do well for me. I don't expect it to grow as tall as Evelyn or Sweet Juliet.

Fragrance is wonderful, like tangerine with perfume notes.

(Edit note: LEH is in the background, on the right.)

Does Lady of Shallot fade in sunlight? LEH faded badly in CA sun. I once saw a group of potted Lady Emmmas in a CA nursery which had all turned an ugly dull buff color.

I tried it twice, because I loved the first photo that I saw of it in a BBC Gardening magazine before it was introduced in the states. It was a bust for me both times.

Krista, the color on that doesn't look like LEH to me, do you have another photo?

Sorry, in that pic the LEH is in the background, should have mentioned this...

Another pic:

Thanks Krista!

Did it die on you Diane? Or did I just not bloom?

Died, both plants. One bareroot from Austin, one potted, from a local garden center.

Does anyone else have experience growing this rose in this zone?

Not a wimpy grower here. My experience leads me to think it would be happier in a cool-ish-summer climate. High heat ruins the foliage and flowers. This one is fairly well established now; we'll see if it handles summer any better. Good fragrance, frequent bloom, shrubby growth habit are its virtues. From the crepe myrtle behind it in the photo, it will get shade in the middle of the day--perhaps that will help.

How old is your LEH?

Also do you think LEH will go well with Princess Alexandra? Can anyone post more pictures with their LEH beside pink roses?

In zone 5, I honestly wouldn't waste your time and money on this variety. It will survive, but has such poor vigour that it will never really amount to much. This coupled with sub par disease resistance to BS does not a good zone 5 Rose make. Pat Austin was a better variety. At least, that was my experience with it in 2 different zone 5 gardens and climates.

The best Austin for cold zones in this colour range is easily Lady of Shallott. It is a surprisingly cane hardy rose for an orange/yellow and stays very clean of disease as well. Very good vigour also.

Thanks for the tip Rose Whisperer. Although I love LEH, I am considering Royal Jubilee or Benjamin Britten instead.

Lady Shallot is nice but I don't think it has a fragrance nearly as good. What happened to your LEH, Rose Whisperer?

I live in Zone 5 Wisconsin. I purchased my LEH own root from Roses Unlimited in Spring of 2014. Mine did very well for me last Summer. I can't remember anything about the fragrance though.

I actually really love her. She is beautiful. I'll have to let you know how she does for me this year. I also have Lady of Shallot and PAK. I'll search for pictures.

I could only find a close up picture of LOS and not a full bush shot.

Thanks very those lovely pictures. I just wish LEH would tend to grow taller. Is your LEH bad with BS?

I don't remember BS being bad on her last Summer. I'll have to let you know about this Summer.

Wow they look big. How tall is it now? And this is just one LEH rose bush?

LEH is maybe about 125 cm tall. Yes, that's just one LEH. Austin roses grow big in California.

You all are killing me. Sniffle. :-(

Don't forget Hoovb lives in a different climate than we do. I think that you have had your heart set on LEH for a long time. So the best thing to do is get it. Sometimes it's all you can do. It took me around 2,000 dollars or more to learn what would grow well here for me. Wish I still had mine to give to you.

I had LEH, own root plan from DA. Three blooms in three years, wimpy sickly plant. If you do want to get it, try to get a graft one. Crappy, crappy rose here in Northern Jersey, but you might have better luck. I pulled this twiggy thing out a few days earlier, and don't miss it one bit. I don't spray, and you might get better result if you do.

I thought that Summer Song was the rose Austin referred to in particular that didn't like growing in the U.S. in the original thread before the quoted one.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1707231/opinions-on-the-austin-rose-summer-song?n=10

I think the quote was meant for SS, not LEH unless Austin admitted that both don't fair well. I love my LEH.

Mine grew well, prior to the weed eater catching it. It still bloomed, but hasn't s h it back up yet.

I am in zone 4. LEH did not make it through my winter. LOS I have had for a few years...

My Lady Emma Hamilton has done reasonably well for me here. I like the color and the fragrance. Mine has never had a large number of flowers at any given time. Rather, it has had smaller numbers of flowers, but more frequently. The bush tends to grow wider than tall. It is not a large bush. Lady of Shalott is a monster that has lots of flowers all season, but they fade in the sun and do not have much of a fragrance. If you are considering Benjamin Britten, watch out. This one typically gets 10-15 ft tall in my yard. It has plenty of flowers, but they fade from vermilion to a sort of watermelon pink. I can comment on my long-term observations with my Summer Songs. They do sort of okay if we do not have a late, hard freeze. However, this past summer was the first year that any of them made a half-effort at reblooming. The flowers were small, but at least they were there. It may be like some of the other old hybrid perpetuals that had to be at least 6 or 7 years old before they would rebloom. They can be quite showy in the spring, but they are not like Crocus Rose by any stretch of the imagination.

I love my Lady Emma Hamilton.

She grows outward, somewhat horizontally first, and then breaks laterals growing vertically.

I'm rather looking forward to this season: it's year three this spring!

I find her to be possessed of a polite vigour: eager, but not gigantic.

Steven

DA claims she grows well in zones 5-9 i love her so much, but live in zone 10 with drought - wish me luck!!

***Update***

We removed an Easter Red Cedar (Juniper) tree that had given LEH shade from the most severe of afternoon sun. I'm not sure if due to this or the generally miserable nature of Dr. Huey rootstock in my garden, but she declined afterward and is now only around 12" tall and consists of a few thin whisps of cane compared to how she was before.

Perhaps I will order another try her in a shadier location. I had previously thought the Red Cedar was casting too much shade, but apparently not (the Red Cedar was removed due to proximity to septic tank of house plus installation of a new propane tank in the yard).

Steven

I have not grown LEH, however, Lady of Shalott does very well for me in humid, zone 4.

LOS

@Kelly Tregaskis Collova- I do have a Lady of Shalott that is own-root from DAR-USA. I got her in 2017, and she has gradually put on size a bit at a time and reaches nearly five feet by the end of summer here. I got one for a friend of mine that lives about three hours south of me in Anderson, and her own-root LoS has already exceeded the size of mine in one growing season. It must be something in my soil because I know I put more of that good gardening effort into my plants, but go figure that hers does better than mine!

I am glad though that LoS has increased in size year over year, but I'm still waiting for excellent bloom and re-bloom from her. I do wish she were more fragrant as well, but I suppose it's hard to combine everything we find desirable into one plant.

It can become quite humid here too being surrounded by the Great Lakes and in a state that, before being drained, was mostly a swamp!

Steven