Darcey Bussell or Queen of Sweden
marcindy
7 years ago
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Lilyfinch z9a Murrieta Ca
7 years agomarcindy
7 years agoRelated Discussions
Darcey Bussell and friends
Comments (5)Hi Krista! Thanks, as always, for looking and commenting. I love the look of The Alnwick Rose, but I don't smell the fragrance the way many other people do. I think I must have a strange sniffer... I really love the fruity scents... like Jude; or the Myrrh scents, like St Cecilia; or the "old rose" scents (supposedly, that's so broad a term), like on Brother Cadfael or Sharifa Asma. I also love Bourbon roses like La Reine Victoria, which seems very strong and sweet to me. But I just don't get knocked out by the scents on many of the roses or some that are supposedly really incredible. Gertrude Jekyll, for instance... I can smell it, but it doesn't seem all that strong (this, judged on many bushes over the years), or all that remarkable. One of Austin's new roses, Queen Anne, looks really beautiful to me, the bushes in bloom at his garden were really spectacular; but when I smelled the flower my first thought was "Portland"... and I just don't seem to like it the way that most other people do. The Alnwick Rose is the same way for me. I smell it, but I can't place it. It smells botanic. It smells of fresh flowers, like at a florist's to me, but not strong, and not particularly interesting. Other people visit my garden and smell it and say "Oh, now that one I really like!", but I'd pass it by for fragrance compared to most of the other ones I grow. Odd, eh?? Can you tell me, what does it smell like to you?? Hi Ingrid. It's nice to hear from you, I always appreciate your comments, and I am flattered by you kind words on the photography. I'm finding it very interesting to have Darcey Bussell now. I've grown The Prince and William Shakespeare 2000 in California, and Munstead Wood here, so it's fun to compare them all. Darcey is brand new, and MW is only in its first year, so it's early to make judgements, but from what I've seen so far Darcey tends to have long stems with a flower floating on top while MW is more of a shrub. The flowers on MW are definitely darker and more velvety. The scent on MW is stronger to me. I suspect that Darcey will be a better repeater, it has that look to it that it will regularly produce roses throughout the season. My inexpert opinion is that MW is more closely related in form and style to old roses, and Darcey seems more modern. Out of them all, I think The Prince has the deepest purple, but MW is pretty close. WS2k is certainly the most pink of the bunch, but I always had good luck with it and would happily grow it again. Thanks for looking! cheers, robert...See MoreAustin Roses Chronology
Comments (12)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...See MoreDarcey Bussell and/or Heathcliff?
Comments (39)I love HC's version of tea scent as well! Also have Wollerton Old Hall (described as strong tea) and though it's one of my favorites it smells exactly like wet diapers to me (I have three small children and one on the way so I'm very familiar!) My HC gets about 6 hours of sun a day but it's on the north side and I treat the rest of the bed as semi shade. There is a fence very close by with a Sweet Summer Love clematis trying to get established on it. In the bed are a Paula Fay peony, two Liberty Hosta, blue plumbago and and a mystery heuchera (green with silver veining.) I rarely plant "hot" colors like this but if I do I like the clashy pink and red combo. The blue in the plumbago is meant to set it all off long term. We'll see. Everything is still so young right now. We're in Western PA and though we moved from very close we were formerly in a river valley with hummus rich soil. The unrelenting clay on the hilltop here has been an adjustment but I just keep digging in manure and peat and hoping to have nice soil long term. HC is own root from a struggling local nursery that gets stock from a supplier in MA that labels their DAs differently than I've usually seen. Only way to get own root DAs locally (Greater Pittsburgh) but sometimes they're in rough shape as the nursery doesn't sell a lot and over winters them....See More2019 Roses Unlimited Sale (June 3 - 19)
Comments (96)Another fun comparison: Left: RU, Distant Thunder, Own Root, I’ve had it about 1 month. This plant had the thinnest stems of the three, also had smaller root ball than the K&M. Very healthy, put out a lot of new growth Middle: Wayside, Molineaux, Bare Root, Dr Huey, also had it about a month. By far the thickest stems, but of course being bare root had to grow new feeder roots. Good progress, there’s even a bud. Right: K&M, Buxom Beauty ,Fortuniana, just arrived today. Thicker stems than the RU rose, also had a very dense rootball. Was trimmed short significantly to fit in packing box so most of the mature foliage is gone, but lots of new growth remains, even 2 buds. I’m very happy with all three providers, and thankful that I’m able to get hard-to-find varities in mid summer in great health!...See More
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marcindyOriginal Author