Graham Thomas has absolutely beautiful blossoms. Cut life is so-so. Personally I like the color and form better than Golden Celebration. It took a few years before I came to terms with the whole bush; canes at first not strong enough to support the large blossoms, figuring out how to prune to thwart the octopus habit...but overall and in the long term I really love him. BS a little worse than average :( Repeat is pretty good. I have Lady of Shalott in her first year and she looks like great rose. Holding up really well in a vase. Both have very nice fragrance.

I had picked the Graham T as my yellow but have read that the flower don't last long cut, this is the only reason I changed it up to the Golden C,
I'm very curious about Lady Shallott, is it a strong fragrance?

Lady of shallott is an amazing rose. Ive literally never had a rose that was this easy to grow so far. Only had it for one season, but the repeat is great, NO disease so far, grew the fastest out of all my roses and mine is own root from DA...ive bought grafted that are looking puny compared to her. As for the fragrance...its nice. Not TOO strong but its there. Then again I cant judge because it is my first year and im sure that will change as the plant matures. The color is amazing, I've gotten complements on pretty much only this rose so far, even though it sits next to WS2000, golden celebration and brother cadfael. You will love it - in short. Hope all works out.

This is great to hear! I'm very tempted by Lady Shallot, I love the color! What is the growth rate in a season for you?

I'm a bit confused in regards of the grafted stock.
I have called several local nurseries and one of them maintains they have own root plants whereas the others, many don't know for sure but the assumption is they are grafted.
In a few older threads here on gweb someone argues that the DA's are better on a graft as the they would not be hardy here.
If so , any ideas what kind of root stock to ask for?
The plants are about $40 each but I guess that's what I'll pay for shopping this late in the year. (replacing plants that got back ordered) But I'm thinking the head start I get on a established plant this summer will assure next next years filling out. We have a 70th birthday to celebrate and I want the yard to be exploding in color next year.

Lady of Shallot has a good fragrance both on the bush and in the vase. I'm only beginning to experiment with own root roses so can't speak to any long term results in zone 5. All of my DAs are grafted on Dr Huey and the rate of growth is quite fast in the first year leaving me a good strong plant to make it through the first winter. Since it's so late in the season I'd say go with the most mature, sturdiest plants you can find.

Here's what my Lady of Shalott looked like when it was brand new in my garden--its first set of blooms ever. It is a grafted rose from David Austin.

{{gwi:313653}}

I haven't taken any bush shots since then, but it had doubled in height by the end of that first season. Now a couple years later, it is about 4 ft tall x 3 ft wide.

Here is a recent bloom:
{{gwi:215629}}

Kate

I have Graham Thomas and Golden Celebration and love them both. They are very distinctly different. Golden Celebration gets very tall and has arching canes. The blooms are a deep golden yellow with many petals and nod a bit. Graham Thomas is more upright in growth and a little smaller. The blooms are a very clear yellow with no golden tones and a bit fewer petals than GC and do not nod. Both have a wonderful fragrance too. They are both cane hardy for me to the tips each winter. Unfortunately they are also both black spot prone.

my GC is a big healthy fragrant rose in my zone 5 garden. I tie it up as a climber. The spring flush is wonderful and the rebloom is good.
My DB is a lovely rose, not terribly fragrant but rebloom is good. Both of these are relatively clean for me until the very end of the season. Abe Darby is my favorite Austin, fragrant , huge blossoms, great color, but more BS than my other Austin's. of all of these you mentioned, Darcy is the the only one that has an Independent form. The others are bigger and floppy.

This post was edited by susan4952 on Sat, Jul 13, 13 at 21:08

this is so very exciting!
Thanks for the gorgeous pics Kate and Susan best sales argument ever!!

@zone6, you got me convinced and I will get one in addition to the others, my garden has just become a peach blue white colorway.. Not too shabby solution for the dreadful maroon decking and boring white siding if I may say so.

@ doghead, good advice! I have decided to not sweat grafted vs own stock at this point in time. I just need to have healthy shrubs by next year. And I am beyond excited to get my hands on these particular roses

@ Seil, I don't know what hardy to the tips mean, is it the tip of the canes?
I have changed up where the GC is going and half decided for a corner where the deck meets the house, it's right next to the glass door to the kitchen but I'm debating which growth habit would be best suited,
I heard of the nodding flowers of the GC and perhaps the GT with its blooms looking up would be better suited since the deck is about 4 feet above ground? (Railing not included)How much shorter is the GT?
How about thorns, how prickly are these two yellows?

Is the octopus legs referring to long spindly canes and not much girth to the plants?
This is fine by me as I got a lot of horizontal lines to break up and beyond the chainlink fence am running out of space.

In regards of the blackspotters, I'm going to cover up any unsightly foliage and undercarriage with lots of Clematis Viticellas who's impervious to blackspot.
The word is not even in it's dictionary that's how ignorant they are !!

A bit of disheartening news is that the roses in the beds flanking the deck is besotted in Japanese beetles. I had planned on moving out some lilies and put one DA adjacent to the infested patch.

Consulting my notes I realize it's only these two plants affected as of the last 5 years.
I got more roses in a separate bed but only 10 ft away or so and it's unaffected.
How could this be? These buggers clearly flies.

Can anyone advice me of the pros and cons of planting the roses in one place this summer and transplanting it to another location early next spring?
I'm thinking I need to replace all dirt in these rose planting and start spraying to be rid of the JBs.

I'll be heading over to the pest forum shortly but would love to hear the collective experience of these little marauders.

I had a chat with a rep at DA Usa, I sensed a hint of defensiveness while discussing grafted versus own root and the stock, Dr.Huey but it was very informative, she told me these roses are meant to be enjoyed in the garden but also emailed me a list of the ones known for good vase life.

I'm about to go spend $40 a pot to make up for the sold out roses I never got to dig down this spring. I'm not getting nearly as many plants as I initially planned but I will have blooms going next July when we have a big family event.
I'm confident that I have made the right choices, which remains the same as my original posting with the addition of Lady Shalott, Darcey Bussell, and Graham Thomas.

These are the ones suggested as most suited for cutting:
Charlotte, Darcey Bussell, Eglantyne, Golden Celebration, Graham Thomas, Jubilee Celebration, Lady Emma Hamilton, LD Braithwaite, Molineux, Munstead Wood, Queen of Sweden, Sir John Betjeman, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, The Alnwick Rose, William Shakespeare 2000.
I will try to post pics as the plants come home but it's doubtful anyone is in bloom, I'm ok with that as I want roots before flowers.
Thanks all!
K

Graham Thomas can get quite tall. I have measured a cane at 12'. That's the octopus reference you hear - and such canes are often out of balance with the rest of the bush. If you get canes that grow like that just trim them, which will also encourage bushier growth.

Transplanting a 1 year old rose is pretty easy. Do it in the spring as early as possible before the new leaves begin to grow.

Hmmmm. My Darcy is not what one would consider a traditional cutting rose.

Hi guys!
I don't think any of the DA's was intended much for cut life,
I read in old threads here and there reference's and some info about DA now beginning to take this aspect in to consideration when working on new hybrids.
The lady in Texas told me the varieties mentioned above as having about 3-4 days in the vase.
That's enough for me,

As it happened I picked up the GC and a GT from a local nursery, there were several GT full of buds, I decided against them and went with one without. I won't be planting it for another week almost and wanted to stress it the least since were having a heatwave this week.
I wonder if I made a mistake now, the shrubs full of buds looked glorious.
One of the pots had a 3' cane shooting out of it all gangbusters healthy looking but same again, I decided against it.

The GC however was a different story, Rather sad looking in it's shroud of blackspot.
I drove a pretty hard bargain and got a $18 markdown.
It seems healthy enough but is nearly naked and I'm not sure if I should cut the thin canes back?

What about the GT, are the canes bendable?

With the emergence of the Japanese Beetles I feel I must abandon my original planting scheme.
Several of the locations for the new Austins are simply too close to their route.
I don't know why they are not eating every thing in sight since I only find them on these two old rescue roses.
Not getting the DA's this year is not a option.

On I'm off to pick up the ADarby and the WCathedral on Wednesday and then on Sunday I'll round up the Lady Shallot
and possibly Darcy Bussell.

One final question: what you guys think about a A Darby mixed with Clematis Viticella Luxurians or possibly Betty Corning?
Neither has no issues with blackspot and should be safe to comingle.
I'm not confident enough to trust my minds eye.
Everything looks great but it don't translate to reality all the time.
Thank you!

Clemmie, I only have one word for you. YUM!

Either clematis should look fine, but to me, Betty Corning is a more interesting--prettier color-- clematis than Viticella Luxurians. But I think Vit. Lux. will climb much higher and fuller and is probably a tougher clematis of the two. Actually, either one should work.

I don't know how much you know about clematis, but it can often take several years for the clems to really settle in and begin to produce blooms.

Kate

I grown clemmies for about 10 years, I stay clear of the most fickle ones but have a nice small collection.

I'm a little nervous that I actually ended up with two GT's instead of one GC..
The GC has small buds that will open later this week and I can see small formations on the GT that will open in a few weeks so time will tell

Are the flowers pronouncedly different between the GC and the GT even on a young plant?

From here the color is awfully similar on the two different plants but how could I know on such young specimens ?

I tried peeking on the canes but theyr'e very similar in growth habit although the GT is much healthier looking.

Well, GC looks dreadful, she's naked save for a few brave buds!
(the buds don't droop)

May I bounce two more options for ADarby with you guys?

How about clematis Venosa Violacea or Ashva?

I have to say, fretting over gardening is by far my favorite kind of headache.
Kerstin

Pardon the multiple postings, this became quite the adventure..
Below is the Golden Celeb, not looking her hottest.
I really really am hoping for lots and lots of advice, I got sooo many questions but here's my very first DA in any case..

Golden Celebration

Golden Celebration holding on to it's buds
What would be best care to get her rejuvenated and healthy before fall ?

See the dried up crack in the hardwood at the tip of the pen?
It looks like it would did someone prune a tree but didn't quite know what they were doing and cut too close to the trunk as opposed to leave enough bark to seal the scar, is about 2" long and definetly had the pith (?) exposed.
It's a callused or healed over wound, sorry best I can describe it.. Do I need to worry about this?

Graham Thomas!

Graham Thomas,
In much better shape but still showing signs of stress and plenty of blackspot. I'm not too worried about the blackspot, I seen plants resist better once they had a chance to settle down.
I'd like to hear what you guys think about the frame work?
Do I need to cut anything back, if so where? Should I thin the ( super skinny ) canes? They both look awfully wispy whereas the graft is the biggest I seen so far.. don't sa much since I'm brandnew but wow, what a gnarly knot that is.
Advice is to sink the graft a few inches under ground, whats your take on it? I rather be rid of Huey if it's able to root its own base but then perhaps, not the most hardy in my zone5?
Ok , community I have high hopes of being showered in your collected knowledge!
I wanna hear everything, 1, 2 ,3 ... Dish!