Ha, ha, ha. Were they planting new midget Austin's we can't get here in the US? I wouldn't even contemplate squeezing in three plants in such a small area--even one can be too much for this space size. I realize that in colder areas in the US and Canada, the plants are often smaller, and this might be possible. I also think that severe blackspot limits the size of some roses, as they expend valuable energy replacing dropped leaves. Austin has a wonderful bunch of workers who can remove and add plants in a near instant, but I can't do that, nor do I want to spend all that money on multiple plants. The only exception for me is Evelyn--a group of four was planted here 15 years ago. Within two years, I had to remove one because of crowding. These Evelyn plants are smaller also, because of too much tree shade, than the full sun Evelyn I grow in a different bed. Diane

No dont do it. Plant them separate..they are like your kids in the backseat of the car...."Mooommmm, she's touching me" lol.

They need their space and good airflow so they behave.

I have planted mine this close in groups of threes. The good news is they do fill out sooner and look like a bigger bush, the bad news is now I have a huge mess I have to prune harder than I ever wanted to. I agree with Diane and Sultry here they just grow bigger than they expect there, and the 18" spacing seems too close for long term placing. My only exceptions have been those with narrower ones like Queen of Sweden.

And we care because????

Seriously, this garden is in a totally different climate, with gardeners raised in a totally different rose growing culture, and a totally different set of goals and limitations.

If anyone is interested in delving a bit deeper into this, try and get your hands on Gardening with Old Roses by John Scar[man. The pruning explained there is basically prune early and often, performed on roses that grow noticeably slower than most of us here on this side of the pond are used to.

Well this was fun! Actually I probably could put them that close together since I have a lot of cane dieback every year!! I'm saying this facetiously and laughing at myself as I type! I am anxiously awaiting the true spring and wondering how those 25 Austins I planted last year will look when it's all said and done.

Cynthia - My tiny own root Crown Princess Margareta from Regans was barely sticking above the ground when I planted her in cold muck last year. She made 6 feet and bloomed at least three times. Yes she has thin canes that I blame on the fact she is in shade all morning until at least noon.

First blooms.

Mad Gallica - my take on an answer to your question would be that in a global forum like this, we tackle rose issues that come up and help each other make determinations about the extent to which that information does or doesn't apply to our own situations. Many times people might go to the Austin website for advice about growing Austins in their own zones, thinking that the company would be the best source of information about growing their own roses, and unless they see a discussion like this where advice from (in this case) England doesn't apply to them, they might not think to question it. In essence, this was the OP question raised, and it's a good one to raise having read information from one source.

In the same way, our responses to the question have been different coming from different regions, and so far we've been pretty good about clarifying our responses as representing our own regions (and the differences in other ones). For instance, I've learned from your own input on East coast rose gardening that my own advice from the dry Midwest doesn't apply to the same roses grown on the East coast, but I wouldn't have known that if others hadn't asked the questions and people like you hadn't chimed in with alternative issues and responses for different regions. For those that are experienced rose gardeners, you know which regions or which experts have advice that applies to you and which don't, but there are a lot of relatively new rose growers that chime in here and this kind of discussion helps. I'm sure there are people logging in from England to the Roses forum for which this DA information is much more pertinent than it is to mine, so the web link is useful for them to use (or for me to overlook).

The book on Gardening with Old Roses sounds interesting - I'll have to check it out. I've recently gotten re-energized about OGRs including once bloomers, though the OGRs that do well in my zone 5 are (like many things) very different from OGRs that do well in England or other warmer parts.

Lkayetwv5, I am so jealous of your CPM, both for blooming at ALL and for being such a lovely apricot color. I bet you'll be pleasantly surprised to see good survival from your Austins this spring. Of course, we'll want to hear about it when spring comes (and it can't come too soon in my world).

Cynthia

Boy, in southern Oregon if I planted that close I would have a huge tangle of canes . Sometimes even 3 ft. seems tight depending on the rose.

We have a pretty long growing season so things tend to get pretty big. So that tight planting must be in a climate where roses stay a bit more mannerly

CPM should do well in cooler climates.

I love CPM but she blooms much better with a cooler winter which we rarely have. The times we did get several freezes she bloomed much better the following spring and summer. She is fairly disease free and healthy at least. She varies in color here depending on the weather.

She will get huge. I have two and they are 12 ft in 10 gallon nursery pots, of course, the roots are grown way down into the ground.

They have been cut back many times so they would be larger, I'm sure, given their druthers! One climbed up my LSU Purple fig tree and ended up practically killing it from the weight and sharp talons.

I still havent figured out where I will put them lol.