My favorite is Queen of Sweden. It's very erect and holds it's blooms upright. Graham Thomas would be next but it can get octopus arms sometimes. Golden Celebration acts like a climber with long canes and so far Jubilee Celebration is very wimpy and likes to lie on the ground, lol!

Olivia Rose Austin has a compact habit, nice foliage and good repeat bloom. The blooms have a sweet Old Rose fragrance. Mine is 2 1/2 -3 feet tall.

I also raise my hand for Olivia , and will also say Roald Dahl is amazing too.

Here is mine in my old garden in Tennessee

Here in California I have it as a tree. I have two .

im sorry , I have a million pics and can’t find my good ones but it’s a wonderful rose. No care , never had given me an errant cane .

Desdemona is another I love . I have to search for pics though . Lord I wish I ordganized them .

Lilyfinch, all three of those are Roald Dahl? Wow! I wasn't even considering him. That's a pretty shrub.

I keep hearing good things about Oliva. Krista, do you get blackspot on yours?

I love the look of Desdemona's blossoms. I'm considering her for her blossoms and her fragrance, but don't know what to expect in terms of habit.

Austin roses are so unpredictable. The same variety planted in England, Virginia, and California will look like three different roses entirely.

Seil, for me Graham Thomas was a climber and both of the Celebrations were octopi. I have my eye on Queen of Sweden!

Wow, Lilyfinch - your RD looks amazing!! Beeyoutifull!!! The last picture is especially gorgeous!

Rd makes a lovely plant in my next door neighbor's Garden. So nice is one on order for next year!

You are right Suzanne , they can all look so different! That’s why I feel confident in Roald Dahl, it’s had the same habit in both places . I think desdemona is the same and I’m feeling confident in my vanessa bell as well but it’s too early to be sure . One neat thing about Roald is his color can vary in the most lovely way

Here is Carding Mill:

My Austins with the best growth habit are: Tamora, Brother Cadfael, The Prince, Boscobel, Olivia Rose, and Jude the Obscure. This is in descending order of nice habit. Brother and Jude are huge, but retain good growth habits. Boscobel and Olivia are pretty large and still putting on size in my garden. Diane

Rose Lai - oh my goodness!!!! Your roses are divine!!! I can't imagine!!!

rose lai, that is gorgeous!!!!! Where have you been hiding these?

Rose Lai, those are gorgeous! You are clearly an ace at growing Austins.

I would love to have both Carding Mill and Boscobel -- I adore those colors -- but then there's the blackspot issue. I've heard bad things about both of them in terms of BS. Tamora would also be perfect -- but what's her blackspot situation? Diane, I can't remember if you spray or not.

I've been thinking a lot about Olivia, since so many people cite her, but the sad thing is that her cold shade of pink isn't quite my cup of tea. The spot I have in mind really calls for a warmer tone.

The new Emily Bronte looks promising, but there aren't enough reports from this side of the pond yet to know how she'll do here.

Thanks all. The climate here is mild; similar to others in the SF Bay, many austins can do quite well here, although they tend to get big in California and throw octopus canes. Even my Olivia rose threw a cane of 7 feet (while the rest of the bush is at 4.5 feet) ! I just pruned it down.

Perhaps Roald Dahl is a good choice. I have it too in my garden and can attest to its disease resistance and blooms. It is about 4 x 4 in its 2nd year. Lilyfinch's pictures above are gorgeous and realistic.

I'm still recovering from the magnificence of those pictures. Rose Lai, what is your feeding regimen? I think you said in another thread (Vanessa Bell?) that you spray every two weeks, but I'm not sure if you have told us about how and when you fertilize. I know California is magic, but obviously you are a very talented gardener!

Rose, I don't think that I have ever seen a prettier Carding Mill

What a delicious color, good enough to eat

Hi Suzanne, thank you but I am really a beginner in gardening. Most of the roses in my garden is no more than 2 - 3 years old. I don't have great secrets with fertilizers. I did get a soil test 3 years ago and found that my soil is missing organic matter. My house was built in 2014 in a piece of land in SF Bay that was never inhabited before, so the soil is not fertile. Also I know I have alkaline clay soil at pH of 7.7. The clay is quite hard.

so I make it a routine to enrich my soil with organic matter. I do believe that healthy soil is very important to good rose gardening. I do major fertilization approximately 3 times a year: in February, June and August. For the February fertilization (to prepare for the spring bloom), I use John and Bob's Mix, which is a mixture of 3 parts: humic acid, minerals and microbes and organic fertilizer (7/1/1); I also supplement with EB Stone 5/5/5, liquid iron (chelated), kelp and a dose of alfalfa tea to jump start the garden. In addition I add acidifier (not a lot but maybe 2 - 3 table spoons) to the soil for maximum performance.

In June, after the spring boom is over, I mix earthworm casting with EB Stone rose fertilizer, and in August, to prepare for a major fall bloom, I use earthworm casting again, plus Flower Tone. Also I supplement again with liquid iron and acidifier. Iron is important for alkaline clay soil as mine is borderline low in iron. This mixture also has low nitrogen and higher phosphorous and potassium to avoid stimulating too much growth in late season.

In between these major fertilization, I supplement selected roses with liquid fertilizer to boost their bloom. For this I use a mixture of fish fertilizer and Maxsea bloom formula (3/20/20), which again stress the higher phosphorus and potassium for blooming. Maxsea also contains Kelp which is beneficial for roses. However, I don't always manage to give liquid fertilizer for the selected roses as I have a busy career.

I also use a mixture from John and Bob calls Penetrate for clay soil: it is a liquid mixture of 3 soil bacteria, high concentration of Kelp and Sopanin for the purpose of loosening up clay soil.

A couple of forum members give organic supplement in late fall. I think it is a great idea but I never managed to do it (too lazy by November or so). I stop feeding roses after September.

I use only organic fertilizer and organic supplements. I tend to reserve miracle gro for my other perennials. I think many rose fertilizers sold in the market work quite well, and i don't think one blend is necessary superior to others. It is more of tailoring the specific need of the soil.

Rose, thank you very, very much for that detailed information. It is extremely helpful. I'm also the kind of gardener who plans out a feeding schedule with different components, so it is always useful to see what others are using and when. Your roses are magnificent. Obviously they love what you're doing!

Suzanne, I came across this thread about the most Blackspot resistant DA roses that seem relevant. https://www.houzz.com/discussions/1659861/blackspot-resistant-david-austin-roses.

And this one, https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5751405/what-are-your-most-floriferous-black-spot-resistant-roses-please-share

Thank you, Stephanie!

Rose - if I were you...I would copy your fertilizing instructions and save it somewhere...with your gorgeous roses this will not be the last time you'll be asked for your fertilizing regime. Good job!

Rose- one more detailed question if you don’t mind- did you calculate the fertilizer amount per rose or per sqft?
Love your rose pictures, your roses are amazingly healthy and gorgeous!!

Hi netMM, I calculate amount per rose bush - I find it easier that way. Also for new roses grown from bare root, I tend to give only liquid fertilizer to begin (like fish fertilizer and Kelp), for the first few months. Once it is grown a bit, I use the same routine for other roses.

Hi Rose, thank you for your response. I bought the Gaia Green fertilizer this year, an organic brand that might be similar to EB Stone you mentioned above. I did not use much, got stuck with “how to apply” as the instructions were based on “sqft”. The results of organic fertilizers you shared here are really encouraging:). I will definitely resume the Gaia routines next year.

Sharifa Asma grows into a nice well rounded shrub. Fair Bianca is small and similarly well behaved.

Great thread and photos everyone. @Rose Lai (9b) - I was wondering if you could tell me a little bit about John and Bob's clay soil kit? I have compact rocky clay soil, and have been debating whether it's worth trying their kits to help liven it up a bit. Did you apply yours in the spring time in beds that had roses planted already? Do you re-apply each year? It looks promising, and it's hard to find reviews or info on experience people have with it. Would love to hear more about which products you like from them. Thanks for any tips! Beautiful photos, hopefully one day my roses will look as full and healthy as yours. I love all the color

@krista, would you say Olivia is as thorny as Munstead Wood? Do you grow Summer Romance? If so, how does it compare to her in terms of colour, health and thorns?

@B_cs, the John and Bob's clay soil kit comes with 2 bottles: 1 bottle is a mixture of saponin (from yucca extract) and high concentration of kelp, and the other bottle contains a mixture of 3 soil bacteria. Before applying to roses, you mix the 2 bottles together with water. You will see some foaming, which is coming from the saponin. The instructions are quite clear on the web and also on the box. You can either broadcast over a large area or use as a soil drench on existing roses or new roses. I do the latter. It is important to preserve the bottles well in room temperature before you use them due to the live bacteria in one of the bottle - they can't tolerate high heat.

I like the soil kit. Since I start using it, I notice my roses are healthier and bloom better. I think you can use it several times a year, but I use it at spring time and in the fall. It is not a cheap product by any means, and since I have about 150 roses, I can't afford it more than twice a year.

Note one of the soil bacteria is bacilius subtilis 317, which also has good anti-fungal property and is the active ingredient of Cease, a biologic fungicide.

@Rose Lai (9b) - Thanks for all of this feedback. I think I will give it a try in some of my newer beds that have heavier clay soil. Great note about the bacteria, would be a great addition to helping the soil. 150 roses! Wow, I'd love to see any other photos of them when you get a chance. The ones above look so healthy and beautiful.