That's wonderful, Ingrid! Show us pictures, please!

Glad to hear it Ingrid. My grafted Evelyn looks stronger to me this Spring than my own root one.

Ingrid,

I'm glad your Evelyns are growing flower buds. As you may recall me reporting, my Evelyn was a heavy and quick repeat bloomer. The individual flowers had the longest life of any other Austin I grew. The rest of my story on Evelyn was not so very rosy, but to end on a positive note , I feel your Evelyns will well exceed your expectations going by our quite different climates, and the fact yours are off to a great start. Keep us posted on their progress.

Moses

Congrats! Mine were potted up late January. All three are blooming fools right now. Evelyns seem to get there fast with the blooms!

That is so exciting! I can’t wait to see them!

Congratulations, it's a fabulous rose. The blooms and fragrance are awesome, one of Austin's finest. I look forward to seeing pictures, Ingrid, the blooms will go well with your Teas and other roses...

Sheila,

If I ever tried Evelyn again I would definitely go grafted, never again own root here. Hope yours forges ahead fulI steam!

Moses

I'm excited for you! Evelyn can be a super fast grower, as I learned when my 3 plants were crushed in shipping and I grew them in pots for a while to get some size on them. I have since learned a couple of things about her that others have mentioned, but it is worth mentioning again. I now understand why people call her a diva.

She demands that she have no competition from other plants. Give her room and no roots from trees or shrubs in her root zone.

She demands the spotlight. Give her all day sun. I learned the hard way that morning sun and filtered afternoon sun just won't suit her, even in my intense-sun climate.

She demands to be spoiled. Give her rich soil and plenty of water (preferably non-chlorinated and of low mineral content). Top dress her roots once or twice a year with aged single malt compost. Just kidding about the single malt. That's for the gardener.

So far, I have not found her to be too much of a diva in terms of disease, or balling, or bull nosing, or pruning. Others have commented on pruning and training her canes in their areas. BTW mine are own root.

Good luck. I hope to see some photos soon!

I’m so excited for you, Ingrid! If there was one specific David Austin made for my garden, Evelyn would be it. She seems to love our hot and dry climate, blooming right through the summer heat without showing any signs of crisping. As Mr. Moses mentioned, her blooms are long lasting, unlike many ”open and shatter“ DA’s I’ve grown. She makes a great cut flower, too. I’m glad you have two Evelyn plants, all the more for filling the vase! Mine was rather small upon receipt, and I was initially disappointed with the size. She quickly outgrew roses that started out much larger.

Here’s a little taste of what you have to look forward to, Ingrid.

Seriously, what other David Austin rose would produce roses like this during the last week of July, around here? BTW, my Evelyn is on her own roots. Lisa

Congratulations!!

I should have planted mine possibly in a better location, noseometer. I think I put the Teas in the best spots.

Thank you all so very much! Moses, I very well recall your experience with Evelyn and that made me want to try it, even though for you it wasn't all positive. Our conditions are very different, and I've definitely gotten the idea that this rose likes the heat. Sultry, I'm beyond amazed that you already have blooms in not much more than two and a half months. I can't compete with that! Krista, I'd forgotten that you also have this rose. I'm glad that it does well for you in a colder zone.

noseometer, I hate to say this, but my Evelyn does not have all the conditions you mention to live in, with one of the bushes in afternoon shade, both planted fairly close to other roses and soil that is not all that great. We'll just have to see whether she'll do well with my tough love regimen. That's a lovely bloom of Evelyn.

Lisa, I know you have wonderful clay soil that your roses love and I can't compete, but I'll hope for the best. It's difficult to believe that those absolutely superb blooms are from July when so many roses have inferior blooms in the heat. Honestly, those two pictures could easily be from one of Austin's books. I love knowing that Evelyn makes a good cut flower because I like looking at my roses indoor as much as outside, although your bouquets are far more interesting and beautiful than mine, and an absolute pleasure to look at.

It goes without saying that Evelyn will be watched like a hawk, with my camera at the ready for that very first flower!

Stephanie, it may be a little late in the season to order roses, but before you know it it will be fall and that would be the very best time to order an Evelyn of your very own.

Keeping fingers crossed that yours will fare better than mine did. Congrats!

Ingrid,

How very exciting to have a new rose form its first buds, especially when that rose is Evelyn!

I have extremely hot weather too, and I have new respect for Evelyn when she produced big beautiful clusters of blooms right through a 108 degree heat wave. She is of course extra special in color, form and fragrance, too. Her thick petals hold up in the hot sun while the other Austins shrivel and fry. I think Evelyn is the one rose David Austin bred for me, all his other roses are made for someone living somewhere else!

noseometer. I’m in albuquerque also and wonder if I could email you with a question. I can’t find a link for emailing here

Ben, your comments are extremely encouraging. If Evelyn does well for you then I should think she'll be happy in my conditions too. I have to agree, the late Mr. Austin had you specifically in mind when he created Evelyn, which fortuitously also benefits the rest of us who love that rose and live in inhospitably hot locations. It's a win all the way around!

Ingrid! How wonderful you have Evelyn. I weakened two seasons ago and got a grafted one for the garden. It is spectacular - one of my favorite roses ever. I have been terrible about being on the forum these past years, but I hope your garden, which you were so lovingly planning years ago, is doing spectacularly. Best regards, Jerome

I dug mine out after 20 years. It had crown gall. I miss it--maybe I'll get a new plant of it. Where did you get it, Ingrid?

Very excited for you, Ingrid.

My Teasing Georgia is the first to set buds right now.

Ingrid, if your soil is not that great, can you amend or mulch with some good stuff and water well? That might be enough to make her (and you) happy. As they say, YMMV and you may have better results than me in the partial shade. Mine were shaded by a rapidly growing maple tree, which also took a lot of the moisture from its root zone, even though I thought I was watering heavily. So that may have been part of the problem with mine. I do know that once I moved them to full sun, even with some competition from the huge Bishop's Castles, they seemed to take off, although the one closest to the hawthorn is significantly smaller (as are all the roses that were close to it).

Sheila, I hope yours do well anyway. I'd be happy to be wrong and see some lovely photos. Everyone's conditions are different and you just might have enough of what she wants. Is there anything you can do to optimize the conditions where she is?

BenT, have you tried Bishop's Castle? That might be another Austin that does well for you.

Sultry, gorgeous photos. Your flowers are so much more pink than mine (and I prefer the pink).

Juniemarie46, if you go to your Houzz settings and allow messages, I can send you a message. Go to the upper right "Your Houzz", go to "Edit Profile and Settings" click on "advanced settings" scroll to bottom and change the drop-down to "allow anyone to message me." Alternatively, start a new topic on the forum and ask your question. You can get so much more information that way!

Thanks nosemeter, we have been having unusual weather. I think thats why the color is a little off. My old Evelyn would do that too in weird weather. Normally they would open more apricot.

Ingrid, I am thrilled for you. I have her own root and grafted. I can't tell any difference between the two. Our summers are triple digit and dry, very much like So. CA. Last year we were hotter than my kids in Thousand Oaks and Pasadena. I think she is the perfect rose for you.

Sultry, those are beautiful pictures and luscious blooms. That really makes me look forward to when my babies finally have flowers.

Jerome, how lovely that you could visit. It would be wonderful to see pictures of your garden as it is now. Mine has gone through rough times, with rabbits eating all my irises and every other companion plant, and all the roses as far up as they can reach, but now, with a rainy winter season and the introduction of some perennials that the rabbits don't like as much, the situation is improving. Global warming has not done my garden any favors, but I'm not alone in that. So many gardens will be permanently altered, but all we can do is try to adapt. We're fortunate that there are some roses that don't mind the heat, and one learns to think about positioning much more, with morning sun and afternoon shade the gold standard of the rose world, at least in hotter climates.

hoovb, I received my two Evelyns as bare roots from Austin in Texas, and I was very satisfied with the quality of the plants I received, and the subsequent rapid growth.

flowers, I generally buy own-root but Evelyn hasn't been that easy to find, and I'm glad you haven't noticed much different between own-root and grafted. It sounds as though Evelyn has passed the heat test in your garden.

noseometer, Evelyn was planted with added bagged soil and is mulched with wood chips from a tree that was chopped down in our yard, as are all the roses, so hopefully it will do well. I'll be sure to water it well, and I'll even talk to it nicely. I very much want Evelyn to be happy and bloom its head off.

noseometer, I plan to lug a trug of alfalfa hay remnants and or bagged manure and top it off with wood chips around each of the two plants tomorrow, since I hear Evelyn is so needy. That might help.

Thanks Ingrid! I am surprised the rabbits eat your iris...they leave the ones here alone...and believe me, we have herds of rabbits. I got the Evelyn here from a nearby nursery in San Juan Capistrano, and it was one of those impulse buys. It was planted into an not ideal place (crowding from nearby hedges which I need to remove soon) but is a champ so far. And you're right about the heat and climate changes: we lost or are losing so many roses last summer because of the heat: Marechal Niel; Condesa de Sastago both dead and gone. Versigny, Francis Rabelais, Roberto Capucci, dying, and I will probably remove them to put them out of their misery. I'll miss Versigny a lot, but it's not worth replacing since we're moving to the new place in late 2020. The heat is brutal though, you're right.

Sheila, she's gonna love that!

Ingrid, did the bunnies leave "gifts" I.e. droppings? That would help offset the nitrogen that the wood chips use when they decompose, and the extra nutrients would at least somewhat offset the damage the bunnies did. I think Evelyn would appreciate that!

I found my alfalfa remnants scanty, so I split a 1 cu ft composted manure bag between the two Evelyns and topped that with coffee grounds, and that with a trug and a half of wood chips per bush. At the minimum, it should at least cause the soil to retain more moisture and be cooler around each bush. I think being the third Summer should help too, because they might not have been "established".

Ingrid...I'm late to this Evelyn's-bud-appreciation-party, but I wanted to say I'm so happy she is already doing well in your garden!! I look forward to seeing pictures of the blooms!

Jerome, you must have a "nicer" class of rabbits since they don't eat your irises. I'm so sorry that you're losing some of your roses to the heat; that is very worrying. I've certainly noticed that the roses seem to want afternoon shade much more now.

Sheila, so you also have two Evelyns. If yours don't do well it most certainly won't be for lack of trying. You've given them a deluxe home, and I hope they'll be suitably appreciative come blooming time.

Rosylady, you can most definitely count on me to photograph Evelyn from all angles and at every stage of bloom. She has all the charm of novelty this year, although I suspect she won't reach her full beauty for some years.

I don't know if my rabbits are nicer. I thought iris foliage was poisonous...so I'm surprised they bother yours. The snails do go after the irises though.

They ate every part of the irises right down to the ground, Jerome. With the drought the snail population has greatly decreased here, but with the irises mostly gone it hardly matters. A few irises have made some growth again this years but I doubt the bunnies will let them live to the blooming stage. I've planted penstemons, monkey flowers and a few other things (not nearly as beautiful as my reblooming irises) that the bunnies so far have left alone. I don't like a garden of just roses and so hope that some other things will be able to make a stand. I will keep trying!