Gardens
The rosarian chasm
Ursula Buchan
The rose is our national flower, an icon, a symbol, rich in cultural and historical sig- nificance. It is also a garden flower and probably still our favourite one. We all have an opinion about roses, although not always the same one. In fact, the gardening world is divided into those who like long- pointed buds, high-centred flowers and recurved petals of Bush Roses, and those who prefer the many-petalled rosette or deep-cup flowers of the Old Roses. It has nothing to do with class, education or refinement, as some people seem to think; it is simply a respectable divergence of aes- thetic opinion. No amount of exposure has ever encouraged me to love the flowers of Hybrid Teas but I quite believe rose show exhibitors (usually men) when they tell me, in voices creaky with emotion, that 'Admi- ral Rodney' is a beautiful bloom.
Those people who like Bush Roses (Hybrid Teas and Floribundas) will some- times grow a Bourbon rose like 'Madame Isaac Pereire', while Old Rose fanatics may countenance a discreet 'Margaret Merril' or 'Iceberg'. Generally, however, the differ- ent races never meet in the garden.
But neither side of the rosarian chasm has ever been entirely satisfied with their lot: growers of HTs would sometimes like richer scent, a laser, shrubbier habit and less glossy foliage in their roses, to make them better companions for other garden plants, while Old Rose freaks could really do with growing a few which flowered more than once in the season and came in a wider range of colours than just white, pink and purple.
It was David Austin, a farmer in Shrop- shire with an interest in plant breeding, who more than 30 years ago saw the advan- tages of crossing Bush Roses with Old Roses (Gallicas, Albas, Bourbons, etc.). The result has been the development of a distinct race of roses, which he calls the English Roses; in the process he has carved the most important milestone in rose histo- ry since Guillot introduced 'La France', the first HT in 1867.
Although it is only 27 years since the arrival of the first proper English Roses (Austin considers his once-flowering 'Con- stance Spry' of 1961 as a 'stepping-stone'), some are already household names: 'Gra- ham Thomas', which is a delicious rich clear yellow, the strong pink 'Gertrude Jekyll', and shell-pink 'Heritage'.
And there are more to come. Amongst the best of the newer roses are 'Evelyn' (see illustration), 'Noble Antony' (deep magenta-crimson), 'Golden Celebration' (deep golden-yellow) and `St Swithun' (soft pink). Because of the variety of parents used (which now includes English Roses themselves), a number of discrete strains has been developed. Although there is, and is intended to be, an unmistakable look to an English Rose, they are not homogenous in habit or flower shape.
Some roses have been dropped from the Austin catalogue along the way, found wanting because they hung their heads, had too stiff a habit, did badly on certain soils or succumbed to blackspot. But that is how it should be. It does not make commercial sense for the catalogue to be crowded with superseded varieties.
There are four to six debutant English Roses each year (always first shown to the public at the Chelsea Flower Show). Six out of 80-100,000 seedlings, reared annual- ly from 70,000 deliberate crosses, shows a restraint bordering on self-denial. But gar- deners do expect each new one to be dif- ferent from the others, even if they have sometimes to look closely to see it.
The great strength of the race is that, despite the number now available (about 100), their softness of flower colour, delica- cy of flower shape and matt foliage almost guarantee harmonious plantings in the gar- den. Or that has been the case until the recent introduction of 'Pat Austin', named after David Austin's sculptress wife. This flower is a scintillating copper-orange, which would look wonderful with purple- blue perennial salvias or rich red-purple Cotinus, but the strength and depth of its colour means it is bound to overshadow many of its pastel relations. To be fair, how- ever, we routinely endure far more extreme colour variations in Bush Rose beds.
David Austin's rose 'Evelyn'
The development of the English Rose seems to me to elevate Austin to the small, exalted circle of people, who have changed the look of gardens: Lemoine by breeding lilacs; Marliac by developing a race of hardy water-lilies; Alan Bloom, by breeding a wide range of garden-worthy hardy perennials. Austin is already a prophet with honour in his own country — and abroad. The most popular of his roses have found their way into other rose nursery cata- logues. His success lies partly in his timing for, 20 years ago, when gardeners became keen to integrate roses in flower borders rather than keeping them in solitary con- finement, he was already producing new roses that would fit the bill. But his success also lies in the fact that he has altered an icon to match our heightened expectations. It takes a genius to think of doing that.
David Austin's garden and nursery (Bowling Green Lane, Albrighton, Nr Wolverhampton) are open every day 9-5, weekends 10-6 (dusk in winter); ring 01902 375027 for a free mail- order catalogue.
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