Nice first thing to see on the forum!

Noseometer, your photos have seduced me! Now I am also pledging my to love Bishop's Castle. And since there's only one plant in your garden, BC will just have to choose between the two of us...or you will be forced to draw your spade! I'm dropping my glove and challenging you to a duel. May the swiftest gardener prevail! Carol

I guess you have a head start but I'm a fast runner! That is truly stunning Rose.

I’m ashamed to say that ANY rose is “on my list”, but this one is, and your pictures just moved it up a notch. Beautiful! Lisa

Very lovely indeed. Is that just one plant you have of it there, or do you have a group..?..

Gorgeous! Especially considering the heat and elevation there in Albuquerque. Share your tricks for creating such a huge spring flush?

Yours looks so beautiful! I moved mine this spring and unfortunately it isn't too happy about it . Hope next year its as nice as yours !

Carol, you are too cute!

Tiffandrew, yes, it does repeat throughout the summer, although of course not as densely as the first flush. The fall flush is almost a big as the spring flush.

Malorena, the last two photos show one plant in each photo, but altogether I have 3 plants, spaced 5 and 6 feet apart. Houzz won't let me post a photo right now, but I'll try to post where you can see 2 and a bit of the third in between.

Cori Ann, I don't know if I have any tricks. Perhaps seeing what varieties Hoovb suggests? Giving it time? It took about 3 years for these to develop this size. I didn't prune them at all until this, their fourth year. I suppose that what really helped is doing a soil test. Mine showed that I have plenty of phosphorus and potassium, and almost no nitrogen. So last year I gave them each a full sack of steer manure and some lawn fertilizer. Also gave them some alfalfa pellets. This year, another sack of steer manure and alfalfa pellets, and a tablespoon of David Austin rose fertilizer. I think the biggest change I made was watering them throughout the root zone instead of relying on the drip irrigation. Roses need more moisture than that apparently.

Lilyfinch, it took mine a few years to get that big, but the way your roses grow, you'll probably get that by next year!

The fragrance is excellent. It is one of my very favorites.

Magnificent... no one could object to those.. thanks for showing us again..

Drop dead gorgeous-ness! I keep having to wipe the drool of my screen, that is a seriously gorgeous rose and so huge! Between the pics of this rose and Paul’s Marriane I’m gonna have a rose-gasm. :)-) I am going to have to find room for BC for sure!

Noseometer, your pictures give me hope! DH is trying to talk me into moving south-west but I'm so intimidated by arid conditions. My problem has always been too much water! But if one can have roses like yours...

I, too, love Bishop's Castle. The fragrance is exceptional, one of my favorite Austins!

Festiva: I'm not sure which I'd rather deal with, drought or blackspot! I think every location has its challenges. It has taken me a while to get used to gardening here. I was too naive to be intimidated when I started gardening here, and I made a lot of mistakes. Even now, I know that I should probably take out most of my roses and plant drought tolerant plants instead, especially when the water bill comes. But how can I do that when the roses look like Bishop's Castle does? I may feel differently in the middle of summer when everything is crispy. Yes, you can have nice roses here in the spring and fall, summer is a bit tough. I'm learning that at least half of the challenge is choosing the right variety, and the other half is how to care for them. The difficulty is knowing which it is when something isn't doing as well as you think it should. Then there is the factor of time. Bishop's Castle wasn't very impressive for the first two years here. In fact, I thought of removing them, which is hard to believe now. Yes, here is usually the opposite of too much water (although it is said that there are two common ways of dying here: dehydration and drowning).

Noseo, these pictures are so amazing! I cannot believe how beautiful Bishops castle is in such a tough environment as ours! Even that hailstorm didnt take away much of its charm. Great job!

My two puny, squirrel-pruned BP's are drooping in shame now that they've seen yours. The squirrels and rabbits are eating everything, roses, irises (and throwing the leaves right and left), day lilies, sea lavender, pelargoniums - it's nothing like anything I've ever seen. In the last week or two my garden has become a wasteland.

Oh no Ingrid! How horrible. I'd be devastated. Are they eating the natives like ceanothus and arctostaphyllos?

I am so sorry to hear this Ingrid. I had to put ugly wire cages on some of mine this Spring too. We feed the birds here, and there are so many other things these critters could eat. I'm still grieving my wind torn off Devoniensis basal. I did stick it in a pot to root it.

Gorgeous. Thanjs for the soil testing tip. What is BC fragrance like?

Totoro, to my nose it has a sweet Old Rose type fragrance, similar to a Damask Rose or Gertrude Jekyll.

It's not often that I have trouble describing a scent, but for some reason this one is tough. Perhaps because although the strength is strong, the quality is soft, perhaps like powder or cream, and yet it is not powdery or creamy. There are no sharp or acidic tones to it all, or crinkly sandalwood, like Radio Times or Tiffany. There are no deep woody or musky tones, like heavy damask scented roses can have. Yes, it certainly is as Krista describes it. There is no fruitiness or myrrh to it at all, which Austins are famous for. There are no citrus or lemon tones. There is no raspberry like Alnwick Castle. The fragrance seems to be entirely midrange, without the highs and lows. To my nose it is just smooth mellow old-fashioned rose, like sliding between freshly laundered high thread count, sueded cotton sheets.

Krista how big is this rose for you? I’m trying to figure out where to put mine -I want it where I can smell it! Thanks!

Dingo, it's 3 1/2 feet tall, and about 2 feet wide; it has an upright, somewhat arching habit.

Thank you! That is very helpful!

noseometer, the two native cistus that grew on the rock outcropping have died due to the heat, or at least have lost their leaves. We don't have manzanitas, but I really need smaller plants to place within the garden.

Holy Cow your BC is stunning!

Ingrid, I feel for you. Cistus is one of my favorite plants, and I tried them for years here. They would grow for a season and most would die in the winter. Some would struggle through for a winter or two before deciding it wasn't worth the effort. I hope you find something to replace them that you love. Then you could show me some beautiful photos.

@Noseometer, have you ever been to the Bishop's Castle that I think is the namesake for this rose? It's pretty incredible. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop_Castle

Thanks Amanda. The David Austin website says this:

"Bishop's Castle is a small town. A castle was built there in 1087 to protect the English border."

Is this what you meant? I've never been to either the "Bishop Castle" in Colorado that your link is for, or the "Bishop's Castle" in England, but I'm fond of Castles and have been to a number in Scotland.

Right now my 'Bishop's Castle' roses are putting out a meager second flush. It's been a dry year, and I haven't been irrigating as much as I should, in order to conserve water. But at least they are blooming.

Oh, ha, yes that seems the much more likely namesake... I do recommend a visit to to the nearby one though!

Nose, I actually came to follow your posts after a Google search on cup-shaped climbing roses led me to another thread you started here on Houzz a while back. I am trying to decide among Jude the Obscure, Eden, and Margo Koster to train up a fence that separates my front entry from the driveway, and I was so pleased to learn that you live in Albuquerque like me because your success with them means I might have some too. It also means that it's possible, if permitted, for me to see these varieties in person. Would you allow me to visit your garden to inform my upcoming purchase?

I don't see a way to send private messages through Houzz, but could you perhaps look me up on Facebook (Amanda Redmond-Neal)? I'm excited to hear from you!

Amanda, I removed my Jude the Obscure because it just didn't want to grow for me, either in the ground or in a pot, and I tried three times. So if you live in the higher elevation parts of Albuquerque like I do, grow it as an experiment, but don't count on it being great, although you may have more success than I. At the Albuquerque Rose Garden, which is at much lower elevation than I am, their Jude also stays small (less than 2 feet tall) but seems to be a bit better than mine was. It also might be grafted, whereas mine was not. Might be worth trying if you live by the river, like in North Valley. I'm also in the process of removing about half of my roses. One problem is that they take too much water. I'm removing my Eden because it is planted in a poor spot (in hind sight) and also because it is very susceptible to thrips and wind damage. It might be worth it if you have a protected but sunny courtyard, can water copiously, and are willing to spray for thrips. I don't grow Margo Koster, but you might want to check its height as I remember it not being tall enough to grow on a fence. Good luck and show us pictures of your results!

I see. Not as promising as i had thought. Do you think the Eden would survive a transplant? I would help you dig it out if I could take it home with me. I live a tad north of Nob Hill.

Thread BRUMP. New BC from BareRoot

I know it may be better to make a evaluation in year 2 after getting established but I had to ask.

All my BR DA planted, bloomed and some still have bloom bud or 2 after it's 1st flush.

The BC has sprung up about 2 feet height and is not just setting up it's bud.

Dare I ask, is this normal of MC to be a taller type.

Sofar, I'm really liking the other DA's where they grew a bit more roundier/bushier.

I have a question about this beautiful rose, namely, how large are the flowers (diameter)?

I didn't think that my Bishop's Castles were very impressive the first few years. In retrospect, they did grow very quickly. Here, there is intense sunshine and they are planted in full sun. Soil is low nitrogen sand, made worse by the bark mulch.

April 2015 (below) shortly after being planted.

June 2015 (below)

September 2016 (below) - blooms must have been bad in the spring because I don't even have any photos of it.

September 2017 (below)- likewise, no photos from the spring. Looking at the photos, the flowers are at the end of gangly stems.

It wasn't until 2018 that I had an impressive show.

Flowers are 2 to 3 inches in diameter, rather small by HT standards and about the usual for a shrub rose in this climate. They tend to be on the small side of the range for DA roses. Keep in mind that flowers tend to be smaller in this climate than in others. For example Evelyn and Abe are 3 inches in diameter at the most. When cut and brought indoors, they quickly expand another 1/2 inch or a bit more. Flowers also tend to be larger when the plants are pruned harder and kept well watered.

Yes, NM. Pic #2 is how mine looks in small 2 1/2-3" bloom, not alot of leaf on width but, just the laterals with buds. Maybe it's just time....I've seen some pretty impressive pics of it, hence that's why it made it to the shopping cart

What just threw me off completely (aside from very small blooms) , is the timing of it as it stands now, as opposed to the entire DA planting, where they have all bloomed a full flush, most of the spring rain has broken them up, with some new sparse buds on them....and BC is small and just starting to show it's blooms.

I'm typing this know it's technically not established....heh, just the gardening aspect which is always teaching me the life lessons of Patience

To me, smallish blooms are a plus, as combines well with other plants. Thanks! This is a very alluring rose.

One of the things I really appreciate about BC is that it doesn't resent being kept small by deep deadheading. The branches tend to get long and flop but I don't allow that because I cut off not only the dead flowers but several sets of leaves, and in spite of that cavalier treatment the rose keeps growing and blooming.

Nosometer, if any rose in my yard bloomed like this, I would die of simple shock.

I have been trying to find an own root after looking at Ingrids pics, now its it's a must have.

I agree that the smallish blooms do make it combine well with other plants.

This year (2019)

My plants grew to this size and last year I pruned more heavily. This year I pruned more lightly and they are the same size at bloom time. I haven't tried the deep deadheading that Ingrid describes, but this is the perfect size for the space they have, so I probably won't try it.

There are a few relatively minor downsides to 'Bishop's Castle' in my garden (YMMV). One is that the flowers all tend to bloom at once. This makes for an impressive show, but only for a few weeks. But I suppose that is better than having all the flowers fry when the heat gets here. The buds and flowers are very susceptible to thrips damage. Last year I sprayed and got a more impressive display. The thorns are not huge, but they are numerous, very sharp and down-curving, so they snag a lot. To use them as cut flowers, you really need a thorn stripper. With this number of flowers, there does need to be a lot of dead-heading. It's not too bad when all the flowers fade at the same time. Again, relatively minor negatives.

Even with the thrips damage, my plants managed to put on this show this year. People commented that as soon as they walked into the backyard, they could smell the roses.

You can see the thrips damage on the outer petals and buds here.

Rekha, you may just need to try it and find out!

Does anyone grow this in a BS prone area? Beautiful pictures everyone!

Albit small in bloom, the ones that in bloom are quite unique or just luck of the draw ? I have 3 flower blooms per each lateral, so its 3 mini blooms that form 1 mega 7 inch'ish round.

I wonder about bs and size too. Right now, most of my Rose's are unsightly...and blooms have shrunk..

I jinxed it. Heavy rains wiped out BC today. So now all my spring flush is gone. Luckily , new buds are already formed/forming on the latter roses for a round 2. Yay.