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Can't get st swithun out of my mind

Lilyfinch z9a Murrieta Ca

6 years ago

Do you grow it ? Do tell. It's older and not spoken of much recently. At the local fancy pants nursery where people send their gardeners with a black American Express card , David Austins were $59.99 . They were advertising half off , for end of season which brings them back to earth for me. They had tranquility, James Galway and st swithun . Not one you see much in person around here. It smelled really really good ! It's health looked so so , the best of the 3 though . The fragrance was very nice and the color gorgeous. I wonder if it would consistently open well , it looked like it though. My st Cecilia is also petal jammed and dosnt always open very well.

What do you think of it ? I know i shouldn't buy more especially with no new bed started but it's tempting.

They also had half off clematis whose regular price was 64.99 ! Good grief. Made me wanna run to the lowes clearance rack :)

Featured Answer

Deborah MN zone 4

6 years ago

This is St. Swithun's fourth summer in my garden. It grows in a difficult western exposure position and has never bloomed heavily, although it does always seem to have a few blooms. The foliage is very healthy, no fungus problems. It is subject to thrips damage in the spring so I try to stay on top of it and cut buds for the house. It is a lovely cut flower. The past two years I have pruned it back by at least a third, yet by this time of the summer it is approximately 10 by 10. It is, in my opinion, a graceful shrub with abundant foliage and it is never droopy or too rigid. I don't have a very good full shrub shot, but I will go out on a limb and post a not so good one so you can see the growth habit. I really like this rose and I am sure it would bloom more with more sunlight. Also it provides a great support for the Clematis, Josephine.

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Comments (17)

berrypiez6b
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
You read my mind Lilyfinch,

I was just thinking about St Swithun this morning looking at a photo I saved to tempt myself. To me it looks to be the ultimate perfection of soft pale pink old fashioned bloom. Sorry I do not have first hand experience but you could read Paul Barden's opinion on his Old Garden Roses site that convinced me.

Next Spring I hope my favorite mail order nursery has St Swithun again, I just missed the shipping deadline last time.

AND what do you think of these funny little Clematis ? I was looking at companions for St Swithun.
Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR
6 years ago
I have a St. Swithun that is newly planted. I loved photos on HMF! It should get large they noted so I gave it room.
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Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR
6 years ago
Love those clematis, berrypie!
berrypiez6b
6 years ago
Yes those HMF photos reeled me in.

The Clematis reminded me of

" I'd love to be under the sea in an octopus' garden...
flowersaremusic z5 Eastern WA
6 years ago
Wow! Who shops there? No one I would know! I think I have an idea of the roses you are drawn to, and you would like St. Swithun. Mine is only 2 yr. old, and about 5' tall. Her canes are flexible, but not like Young Lycidas. It's loosely a vase shape and not very bushy so far, but I hope will get there. I've gone through my garden file, and can't believe I don't have any photos. She's not blooming right now, so I have nothing to show. Wonderful fragrance and the kind of blooms we expect from DA. Blooms about the same amount as Strawberry Hill and Eglantyne.

What are those clematis' names, berrypie? Love them! I don't have any like those.
berrypiez6b
6 years ago
Clematis Crispa
Prettypetals_GA_7-8
6 years ago
I don't think mine had trouble opening when they bloomed in the spring but mine were grown plants when I purchased them from one of those nurseries that are kinda expensive but not as bad as yours. I like to purchase a few from them every year bc they're a local small business but their price was a little over 30$. I really haven't had much reblooming on it which I thought was kinda odd for an English Rose bc all my others bloom fairly well. It is gorgeous though.
Lilyfinch z9a Murrieta Ca
Original Author
6 years ago
Berrypie- I hope you can get it next year ! In person the blooms really were perfect. The shrub itself wasn't that great but it had been in a pot all season and not a generous one. I like that clematis! I'm going to look it up. I'm a sucker for clematis. You really don't have to talk me into those , they usually aren't expensive and are so easy to fit in the garden.

Flowers , this nursery must do well as they are always busy but I don't think I've purchased much from there! It really is in the richest part of town. I go for the half off rack lol

I'm glad you have it and hope you can get photos and share them! I think I will like it . The fragrance really stuck out to me.

Judy , I'm glad it opens well for you . That's a bummer not much rebloom , I wonder if it would be the same here. The blooms were so big too , it's almost worth it . You know me , I'll probably get it ! I'm hopeless!

My other nursery sells them for 28 each , not bad at all. I visited them today too but no sale and nothing blooming go tempt me. I really should put the money aside for palantine or David Austins new releases :)
flowersaremusic z5 Eastern WA
6 years ago
Thank you, berrypie. I put Crispa on my clem list. I need to make an order. Northland might have it so I'll check with her before I make an order. She has a whole greenhouse of clematis that always makes me want every one of them. I shouldn't even go in there.
Tangles Long
6 years ago
I used to grow St Swithun for over 3 years in a pot but it ended up with lots of dead canes, mildew and then, it died. I only received a few shattered blooms from this rose, and wasn't impressed with them. I don't think the dull green coloured foliage match the pearl coloured blooms. And St Swithun is a very thorny rose! The reason I bought this rose in the first place is because it contained the name, "saint". I love saints, and angels - hopefully someone could come up with a rose name called, "archangel". :)

I thought the blooms were gigantic. Certainly, there were not gigantic like the hybrid teas. Maybe St Swithun will turn out great rose if I grew it in the ground instead.

Speaking about St Cecilia, I'm hoping to add this rose soon. Just saw a photo of this rose on google and I'm totally blown away by how pretty this rose is when paired with Jude the Obscure. I think St Cecilia looks prettier than Earth Angel.

St Cecilia

http://ksrosegarden.web.fc2.com/MyRoses/StCecilia/StCecilia.html
User
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Lily, I had 3 St. Swithun on a trellis in the coldest, windiest part of my yard. They had the biggest, wonderful smelliest blossoms that took up my entire cupped hand. The color was cream and pink swirled together. Fabulous. However, they were very thorny and only bloomed twice in a season instead of 3 times like my other roses. Also, one winter killed to the ground and came back wimpy and then the other did, so I ripped them out. BUT with your zone they should be fine. I had thoughts of putting it in a more sheltered area, but the thorns and the bloom cycle put me off. Thinking about it now, I realize that the huge blooms probably needed time to build and if I had a longer growing season, might have given me 3 cycles of blooms. Holding one of those blossoms in your hand as you inhale that wonderful fragrance would certainly help start your day right!

Here's a photo of a photo... please forgive the quality. From the left is SS, then the wimpy SS after the freeze, then the montster SS tied onto the trellis, and then Teasing Georgia building for another run.

Rebecca
Lilyfinch z9a Murrieta Ca thanked User
Lilyfinch z9a Murrieta Ca
Original Author
6 years ago
Wow Deborah !! Ten by ten ... sounds unstoppable. And that makes me rethink it . That's just so big ! I do have a new part of my bed in my mind but I wanted the new austins and they are large too. But it can hold a clematis, so bonus points for that ! Your photos are perfect, thank you for sharing them.

Rebecca , thanks for telling us how they did for you as well. I didn't note the thorns , that's a good point to think on. Yours look beautiful! Did you have problems with the blooms opening?

Tangles , sorry yours died on you. Sometimes pots are tough, and sometimes the perfect home for them . My st Cecilia is new this year from h and m roses . It has grown so much and keeps going with blooms . Although every time is has a good flush , we get rain that batters the blooms and they only look good from afar. But the fragrance is straight out of heaven! I'm hoping my fall flush will look better. It won't be leaving my garden , maybe I need an umbrella for it :) there is much more depth and substance to the blooms than earth angel. I hope you get it and enjoy it !

Flowers that's awesome she sells a lot of clematis too ! I don't have much luck nearby with interesting ones so have to order online.
User
6 years ago
Lily, my St. Swithuns opened like a dream right from the start. I purchased them in the fall, and grew them under lights in my basement over the winter. They were huge plants by spring, and took right off climbing. The thorns were an issue for me because I needed to tie the canes to the trellis. And it kept shooting out smaller canes as well that shot out into the walkway... bitey things.

Rebecca
Kristine LeGault 8a pnw
6 years ago
Debra, what a pretty pretty area. It draws you in. The gate is to die for

Really nice
berrypiez6b
6 years ago
Somewhere I read St Swithun can be kept pruned to a manageable size. A few of my old garden roses are by rule to be left alone and not pruned, yet I had to keep them cut back for safety reasons. They flower all over in less space to fan out. The St can join the others to behave saintly.

My sweet quilter neighbor keeps her mega thorn pink rose shaped flat on a trellis against a wall . She whacks the front branches to smithereens and it grows upward with the most graceful appearance. One thing growing roses does is make a rose artist out of a person.
Lilyfinch z9a Murrieta Ca
Original Author
6 years ago
Just wanted to share a couple st Cecilia photos for you tangles!

I'm actually surprised at how much pinker it is right now . This spring it was the color of the whiter rose up top of this last photo . It really is lovely!

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