David C.H. Austin and his English rose
He considered modern roses much less engaging
To follow up on last week’s look at romantic English-style roses for modern gardens, let’s take a closer look at David C.H. Austin, the man behind these beautiful roses.
David Charles Henshaw Austin was born in Shropshire, England, on Feb. 16, 1926, the son of a farmer. He fell in love with gardening as a boy.
“I grew up in a family of readers,” remembered Austin. “One day at my school library I happened upon a magazine called ‘Gardens Illustrated.’ It was filled with articles about flowers. It was the first time I realized that, beyond their beauty, flowers had stories, too.”
In 1947, his sister Barbara gave him the book “Old Garden Roses” by Edward Bunyard as a 21st birthday present. He remembers that it was this book that prompted him to grow his first rose, a step that put him on a lifelong journey.
By the mid-1950s, he turned his attentions and considerable talents to amateur rose breeding.
He loved the heavily perfumed, full-bodied flowers of old roses, but found their very brief bloom seasons, limited colour range and sometimes finicky garden performance frustrating. He considered modern roses much less engaging, but they did have desirable traits. They came in more colours than the old roses and repeat bloomed. Still, for Austin, these traits, while appealing, were not enough. He saw little romance in their stiff, uniform flowers on, too often, spindly, upright bushes. Worse, most had little or no fragrance. Incredibly, the fragrance had been bred out of them.
From these observations one of the great quests in the world of rose breeding began: Why not, thought the young man, marry the exquisite perfume and flowers of the old roses with the desirable habits and traits of the new? Austin believed that “fragrance is the other half of the beauty of a rose.” He was to make fragrance a hallmark of his program.
Hybridizing is a painfully slow process. Over time, he teased out refinements and pushed boundaries to get the full lineup of attributes he considered “must have”: gorgeous old-fashioned flowers with a delectable fragrance and individuality; a full beautiful bush; abundant bloom; repeat flowering summer till frost; an expanded colour range; plus disease resistance and good health.
It wasn’t until the late 1960s that Austin began to consistently edge closer to the “new old roses” he envisioned. His selections were repeat bloomers and included a broad colour palette. Increasingly, they hit the mark on heady fragrance. He saw the romance returning to roses — and felt ready to turn to breeding full time.
One after another, the nursery growers he asked to grow his roses for retail turned him down. They called his “new old rose” idea silly. “Who’d want them?” they asked.
So, in 1965, Austin opened his own nursery devoted to breeding, growing and selling what he now called “English roses.”
Just as he went his own way when breeding roses, he would forge his own path for selling them. He sold direct to consumers locally, and then by mail order nationally.
Despite these efforts, his new type of rose was not an instant hit. It wasn’t until 1983 that Austin had his great breakthrough. That year he introduced three important varieties — Heritage, Mary Rose and Graham Thomas. All three were spectacular but it was the truly groundbreaking Graham Thomas that stole the show at London’s Chelsea Flower Show that year and vaulted Austin and English roses onto the world stage.
Today, Austin’s roses are known for their charm and unique character. English Roses are available in a wide range of pure, glowing colours, from the softest blush pinks to the deepest, richest crimson, plus soft creams and ecru, yellows, apricots and copper.
His English roses have also become renowned for the strength and complexity of their fragrances — including the old rose scent, the scent of myrrh, tea, musk plus other lovely fragrances, including fruit scents.
After a long and productive life, Austin died Dec. 18, 2018, at his home in Shropshire, England, at the age of 92. He will be remembered as the creator of English roses.
For the past two decades, David Austin Roses Ltd., has been helmed by Austin’s eldest son, David J.C. Austin. Each year the Austin team makes 50,000 crosses between April and July to germinate more than 250,000 seedlings the following year. Each final selection must satisfy strict criteria for Austin’s signature attributes of romantic colour, fragrance, repeat bloom, a full bush and good health. Disease resistance proved to be the ultimate challenge.
Following the initial selections, the most outstanding seedlings undergo up to eight years of field trials. Each year, only two to four new varieties earn the title of English rose.
David Austin Roses has introduced more than 240 English rose varieties for the garden. Rich variation is seen throughout the collection with a surprisingly broad range of different flower forms, colours, scents and styles, plus varied bush habits and types including shrub roses, climbers and ramblers.
Austin always felt it was the breeder’s ultimate responsibility to capture the beauty of a rose at all stages.
“Nature, left to her own devices,” he said, “finds it hard to produce anything that is ugly. The work of the plant breeder should always be to enhance nature, not to detract from it. We should strive to develop the rose’s beauty in flower, growth and leaf.”