I haven’t covered all of the roses we have in our garden yet.  I thought it might be nice to share some photos of the different varieties we have and make a few comments about each.  I only have standard roses in our garden.  My aunt, who incidentally lives across the road, has a row of standard roses next to their carport.  They look very elegant planted in a row.  I have always admired them, so that’s why I decided to plant those too. It’s a shame because having only standard roses limits you.  There are so many more varieties that are sold as bush roses, especially David Austin varieties which are very beautiful and sometimes quite hard to source in New Zealand.  I try and keep my posts on the short side so they are easy and quick to read, so I will cover all of the roses in our garden in a series of posts, starting with David Austin and then moving on to our New Zealand roses.

I just wanted to make one point.  While I adore David Austin roses, I don’t think they perform quite as well in our garden as they would in England, where they were bred.  Standard roses are sometimes referred to as “tree roses”.   I never seem to be able to achieve a true “tree” shape that you would typically see in England.  It might be due to the way I prune them, so I’m not sure whether that is the reason or if the shape is different if they are grown in a different country.  In any event, they don’t flower as profusely as they would if grown in their home country.  The shape of Austin rose flowers is very distinctive and I can’t help but be attracted to them, which is why we have quite a few different varieties in our garden.

Another thing. Sometimes people ask me which ones are scented and which ones aren’t, and what their fragrance is like. I’m embarrassed to say that I honestly don’t know. I am so busy working in the garden every day that I don’t have time to smell the roses!

Finally, while I have planted one of each of the different varieties that have appealed to me over the years and were available in NZ, a row of the same colour can look quite stunning.  My dentist loves gardening too (you can read a bit more about this here) and he has a row of white Iceberg roses in a garden bed outside his practice.  Iceberg isn’t an Austin variety but you could achieve a similar effect with Winchester Cathedral, for example, which we have in our garden and is covered below.
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Sharifa Asma
I purchased this variety from a specialist mail order rose supplier called D & S Nurseries a number of years ago.  The couple have since retired and closed the business which is a shame because they had an excellent range of Austin roses which can be difficult to source in New Zealand as I have mentioned above.

?Winchester Cathedral
Winchester Cathedral also came from D & S Nurseries.  I purchased it at the same time as Sharifa Asma and planted them next to each other.

?The Ambridge Rose
This variety also came from D & S Nurseries.

?The Alnwick Rose
A friend that I went to law school with absolutely loves this rose.  She has only seen pictures of it so far but I hope to have her around when it is flowering so she can see it in person.  Her favourite Austin variety is called Sweet Juliet which looks really beautiful.  The problem is that it isn’t available as a standard rose in New Zealand.  I am so keen to expand my collection of Austin roses beyond the limited selection offered as standard varieties that I am actually considering planting a row of bush roses in our garden, including Sweet Juliet if I am able to source it.

?Abraham Darby
This is a very reliable performer in our garden.  There are almost always flowers on Abraham Darby year round.

?Grace
This would have to be one of my all-time favourite roses and the name captures it perfectly.

?Evelyn
I planted this rose two years ago to replace Margaret Merrill, which died.  It came from a specialist rose nursery called Tasman Bay Roses in Motueka.

?Princess Alexandra of Kent
This is the only really pink Austin rose in our garden.  

?The Lady Gardener
I added this rose to our garden in winter.  It comes from Wairere Nurseries. I have wanted it for ages as it is beautiful and the name sums me up perfectly. For many years it was unavailable but I didn’t give up hope. I kept requesting it on a back order and eventually Wairere contacted me and said that it had finally become available.  It hasn’t flowered yet so I have shared a picture of the rose after I planted it.

?In my next blog post, I will cover all of the yellow and golden Austin roses in our garden.