Avalon, Our Coastal SoCal conditions are not the same as yours, but I can tell you that for us, 'Prospero' is a wonderful rose. Mind, we had to figure out how to grow it! We almost yanked it, before we learned to treat it more or less like a China. We left it un-pruned for a few years, while it recovered. Now, its "pruning" consists of removing any dead twiggy stuff, and deadheading. Deadheading, normally, is "bend and snap." With that treatment, Prospero makes a smallish, upright, twiggy, ever-blooming plant. It is disease-free for us, and a constant pleasure. We use it as a small "hedge" along a low wall. We plant dwarf lavender in front of it, because it does, eventually, get some "bare knees," but other than that, it's about a perfect landscape rose, which also provides cut flowers in all seasons. In this photo, there's not much bloom open, but it IS covered with buds. Jeri

I have 4 David Austin, Heritage--lovely, lots of blooms all season, very super disease resistant, tons of petals, beautiful light to pale pink, beautiful dark green foliage, gets huge though. Also have a Fair Bianca. Same type of petals (lots of petals) white, again very disease resistant, healthy Pat Austin--Very pretty orange yellow blooms. Healthy--disease resistant. Would probably never plant this one again because blooms droop (stems don't seem to hold up the bloom longer than a day after it opens) Then there is the Othello. Very vibrant fuschia color. Would never plant this one ever again. The thorns are awful--would just about take a finger off if not careful. Plus they seem to bloom a couple times & then nothing for the rest of the season. Don't know if this was just a problem with my Othello or if all Othellos are like this.

The 6 top performers here are MW, Abe Darby, Lilian Austin, Teasing Georgia, Pat Austin, Lichfield Angel, and Olivia. Pat Austin may blow quickly like in 3 days when its hot BUT she is a total workhorse blooming so much that the little tree frogs that adore her, will just hop on into the next open bloom as the old ones fade out. So to me it doesn't really matter if they don't last cuz she's a blooming machine. Her leaves are flawless here. She was blooming her head off during the hurricane and while sitting in flood water. Need I say more? lol I have two Pats and may get more <3 Olivia is my newest well performing Austin. She is a big girl and blooms alot. Her flowers start out more cupped and gradually relax. She doesn't have much scent but is surprisingly nice. Stays green. Lichfield Angel is a power bloomer. Just keeps going. Foliage stays pretty green. The buds start out baby blush pink and open to creamy white with some blush on the reverse of outer petals. Sometimes the blooms are quartered but usually not but still very pretty. Teasing Georgia is also very large, basically a climber here. I have two. Foliage is nice and green even in the dog days of summer. Blooms in flushes. Lilian is just so under rated. Huge pink blooms and yellow centers. She blooms alot and is doing well in a big pot own root. Great foliage and not picky. Her blooms ladt and keep opening larger until they fall off in a week. Why Austin did away with her is beyond me. Munstead Wood has wafting fragrance but very thorny. I have him in the back by a garden bench but not right next to it lol. I can still smell it though. He blooms a lot. I dont always get that dark luscious red. During high heat he is magenta but still beautiful. Has some very tall canes. Abe is probably one of my favorite Austins ever. He blooms a ton and is so fragrant! He gets big. He is not totally black spot free here but not bad at all. He does better for me than Evelyn, by far, but to be fair, they are both grafted on DH. I am getting them both on fort. this spring so I will see how that goes. I wanna love Eveyln cuz she's so fragrant and beautiful but she is a mess with some black spot and doesn't bloom much. I have a few others that are new and look promising like William Shakespeare 2000..kinda soon to tell but he loves to bloom and is huge and quartered. ***OTHERS good but not best bloomer Lady of Shalott also has great foliage. She doesn't bloom as often as the others I've mentioned. When she blooms she's drop dead gorgeous. Like, amazing color changes of pinks, corals, oranges, and touches of copper. Not much scent though. She blooms in flushes. I had Sharifa Asma. It was own root and not really big. The flowers were fragrant and very beautiful. I don't remember them lasting a long time..maybe just average. I lost it in the hurricane due to brackish water flooding. I lost several Austins and SA was one of them. I plan to replace her grafted. In H. Irma flood water, I also lost Golden celebration, Princess Alexandra of Kent (I had two that were awesome bloomers one died and the other is recovering slowly). The Poet's Wife was doing good grafted before the hurricane and surprisingly up and died. Eveyln really took a hit. She wasnt the best here anyways but after flood water about bit it. She's barely hanging on. A Shropshire lad was huge own root. After the flood died down to a tiny stick. We will see if he lives. So those have NO salt water tolerance apparently lol. I could go on forever on my Austins. Sorry if this is long winded and TMI lol ~Sjn

The size depends on your geographic location and growing environment. I have both roses: AM is entering his 3rd year; PAoK in her 4th this year. PAoK is definitely the taller and wider of the 2: about 6 - 7 feet tall and 5 - 6 feet wide, whereas AM is about 4&1/2 feet tall and 4 feet wide. If you are in a cold zone, yours will likely not be as big. I am in SF Bay, zone 9b, SS zone 14. My climate is maritime. Even in the summer, our temperature is usually around 70/80's degree F. Only rare days in the 90's. We didn't have a day of freezing (not below 32 F) this winter. In my climate, neither of them are suitable for container growth. I laugh when I see David Austin advertises that PAoK can be grown in a container. I have heard that in the UK this is possible as PAoK doesn't get so big there. Perhaps It is possible to grow her in a container in colder regions though I am not sure. It may be helpful if you indicate the geographic region in which you garden.