Lots of lovely pictures! I will dig through my files at home and see what I've got, although I'm really bad at taking pictures. I have (roses* are new or first year roses so I don't know much about them yet): Munstead Wood* Fighting Temeraire* Lady Emma Hamilton* Summer Song* Carolyn Knight Jude the Obscure Golden Celebration Graham Thomas Charlotte Possibly Pilgrim? (It was unlabelled - it grows like it's an Austin and the huge blooms look like Pilgrim) Wildeve Eglantyne Sharifa Asma* The Mayflower 14, which is more than I expected actually. Mostly orange and yellow which is predictable I suppose, as those are the colours least represented in old roses. Mayflower is an early and late bloomer for me too, and has remained small (it's 4 or 5 years old?). All the Austin yellows I have tend to blackspot, (apart from maybe Pilgrim, that stays titchy, but clean) so why I bought Golden Celebration I'm not sure - Although I've heard it's not as bad as some. I am actually hoping that the Austins will be like most of my other roses and stop blackspotting so much as they become mature plants. Carolyn Knight is coming up on her third summer for me and has been a small, healthy, floriferous plant for me. It was an impulse garden showstand dismantling purchase. Don't really like the scent, but I hear a lot of people do - I find it a bit bitter. I gather Summer Song did very, very badly for a lot of people in the US, I think the phrase 'grew backwards' was used more than once (so much so that it was withdrawn from sale!) but it's not got so bad a reputation here, and Carolyn Knight, it's sport has been good, and where it is it can stay small if it wants, AND I really wanted that colour in it's spot, so I took a chance on it. The bareroot had very solid chunky canes, and big roots, so fingers crossed. I'd heard a lot of good about Sharifa Asma from forum members, not so much about it in the UK, so I took a punt on it. It's planted near Wildeve, which is a very graceful plant although it didn't bloom much last year - I think it was concentrating on size. Hopefully they match well. Munstead Wood I'm hoping has the deep purple red colour that it so often has in pictures, it's possibly my favourite rose colour. That's it really, not thinking of buying any more Austins, as my garden is getting pretty full - I have room for more reds, and more titchy roses, but I don't like the habit and colour of most of the Austin reds that I've seen as mature shrubs, and the range doesn't really seem to include really small roses. Of course, who knows what Chelsea will bring?

Thank you, Khalid, for a wonderful show of roses blooming in hot temp. I like your dark-color roses: McCartney rose, Ebb tide, H.Z, Doris.T., and Oklahoma. Alec's Red is known as partial shade rose. Old Garden Roses are usually sold as own-roots here in America. In my experience, floribundas are better as own-root. Floribundas such as Ebb Tide, Bolero, French Lace are very good in acid-phosphatase (producing acid to break down minerals for blooming) .. thus they can root easily & be able to go deep into my hard-clay for winter-survival. I have to give high pH dolomitic lime to my FLORIBUNDA roses: Bolero, Old Port with dark green leaves. The exception is my Kordes Floribunda Deep Purple (ultra-wimpy as own-root) .. some Kordes roses are bred to secrete LESS acid, to prevent blackspots, and folks in alkaline clay California complained that some Kordes roses don't bloom well. My hunch is: if a rose blooms easily, it means roots can secrete acid to utilize minerals in soil, which means it will root easily, and does well as own-root. Per Khalid question: Do you think it will be safe to remove soil from the roots (in the evening), dunk the roots in a bucket of water for some time and plant it at a new place in temps ranging between 90-100*F during day but 80 to 90*F at the time when the rose is being shifted (evening time)? Answer: Yes, it's safe to remove soil from a GRAFTED-rose (Dr.Huey rootstock or Centifolia), dunk that in a bucket of water to get rid of termites, but NOT safe to plant at that high temp., unless you are in wet-season with frequent rain. I dug up roses at 90 F, bare-rooted in a bucket of water, and had to water it 3 times a day, otherwise the leaves droop. I bare-rooted Bluegirl (Dr.Huey-rootstock), then planted in another location. I had to water it daily for 2 months .. before it sprouted new leaves. Thank God it didn't lose leaves being dug up at 80 to 90 F, but it's a pain to water it daily for 2 months. I had seen Dr.Huey rootstock being wrapped in wet-sawdust, with a plastic outer-cover, sitting inside the store for 4 months, yet sprouted green leaves. If you don't have wet sawdust, anything damp & soft like cloth can sub. and the roots can be stored inside for weeks, then plant later when you have time or the temp. goes down.

An Austin rose that you don’t see or hear about much is The Shepherdess, which was the best looking Austin rose in the public rose garden yesterday (untended and possibly not irrigated since shelter-in-place).

Deborah, some of the bare roots I got from DA in 2021 were tiny and not great, either. I thought the same things as you. Luckily, the two that were small and sad took off in the 2nd year. I don't grow James L Austin but I've heard others compare them in the same way as you. I like fragrance too much sosososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososo So I decided to just try GO. And I'm glad I did, he's aa becoming a favorite. Houzz gremlins are at v again. I'm glad aa DA replaced yours. If mine hadn't shaped up last yearyear, I'd be in the same position as you.