Although all flowers are beautiful, you must admit that roses seem to capture our attention.  There is something about them that draws us in. It is hard to walk by a rose bush in bloom without stopping to take in its beauty and to breathe in its fragrance. One group of roses that stands out above the others is the David Austin English roses.  

David Austin, the late British plant breeder, began developing his award-winning English roses in 1961. Today, David Austin Jr. carries on his father’s legacy in cultivating these roses.

It was very important to Austin that his roses maintain the same wonderful fragrances of antique roses, with the wider colour range and repeat-flowering nature of modern roses. They are hard to beat for sheer exuberance of flower and scent. 

As a group, David Austin roses are renowned for their outstanding health, reliability and vigour. English roses are remarkably adaptive plants. Their graceful, shrubby habits make them ideal for mixed borders in traditional rose gardens. Many varieties can also be trained as climbers or used to create fragrant, flowering hedges.

The form of the flowers of David Austin roses is much different than our traditional hybrids. They may be cup-shaped or in the shape of a rosette, often with numerous petals giving them a much fuller look.

Some flowers will have petals that turn downwards, to provide a more dome shape. These roses have been bred not so much for brilliance of colour, or even for excessive flowering capacity, but for the delicate charm and the fragrance of their individual flowers. Most varieties are strong, repeat flowering throughout the summer.

English roses have more of a natural shrubby habit, which makes them ideal to add to mixed borders. Most of the David Austin varieties will grow to be four to five feet high, although there are some shorter growing ones and some that are a bit more upright, making them suitable for climbing types.

The foliage of the David Austin roses is glossy and dark green, which still adds to their attractiveness even when not in bloom. English roses are fast gaining a reputation for excellence. They are known for being more resistant to black spot and powdery mildew.  

English roses are not only notable for the charm and beauty of their flowers and their flowers and their elegant growth but also for their rich and varying fragrances. In this way, they are undoubtedly second to none. 

Among them, in the different varieties, you will find not only the beautiful old rose fragrance but tea, musk, myrrh, fruit and a whole variety of other fragrances. No other flowers can rival these roses when it comes to fragrance.

So, if you are one of those romantics who cannot resist the beauty of a rose or their fragrance brings back a slew of memories of days gone by, then David Austin English roses are a must-add to your garden this year.

Joanne Young is a Niagara-on-the-Lake garden expert and coach. See her website at joanneyoung.ca.

The Niagara-on-the-Lake Horticultural Society is pleased to be hosting a series of Saturday morning gardening classes, available to the public. They will be facilitated by Joanne Young and will run until May 31. Join us for the classes that interest you. For all the details and to pre-register for the classes, visit notlhortsociety.com/classes.