Gorgeous!!! Love the color and the form.
Does it have any fragrance? Inquiring minds want to know. :)

I can see you have gardener's hand (i.e. dirty). Mine never seem to get clean all summer. LOL

Carol

Hiya Carol,

It has a delightful, strong fragrance. I have it next to Abraham Darby. If there's any heat at all the fragrance wafts around the patio.

I do have gardeners hands. I have to do the dishes or wash my hair to get them clean during the summer.

M

Here is a link that might be useful: Summer Song on David Austin's Site

Boy, that rose has a gorgeous color, and like Austin's catalog said, a very unusual one, too. Love it. Diane

Oh my! That is BEAUTIFUL! I'm suprised if your rose growing neighbor doesn't fawn over that beauty! Quit making me want to move to Ireland! :P

Sereniti

it is a rubbish rose here in East Anglia - this is its 3rd year and have counted less than half a dozen blooms (4 actually), which sag and flop, go over almost at once while throwing out ferocious ungainly canes. Clearly, this is the reason why DA has chose to keep this rose unavailable in the US (and you should be glad he did).
Fail!
A rose destined for the compost -and they have to be absolutely atrocious before a cheapskate such as myself gets the spade out.
Not begrudging your joy, though, Mirenda.

Oh Campanula, that is sad. It's a lovely rose for me. The battle with black spot hAs been brutal, but it's only in its 2nd year. I'll keep firing vermicompost at it until it develops a better immune system. I sprayed it earlier this year and may have to again if the weather stays wet.

I assumed SS would do well in both Ireland and the UK.

funny enough, Carolyn Knight is healthy. It's a sport of SS and new to me this year. I havnt had a bit if bother out of her. She's growing vigorously and not a sign if black spot. I put about 6 cups of vermicompost in when I potted her. I believe that my homemade compost & vermicompost Makes my roses stronger.

Which Austin grows best for you?

M

Oh rats! I have coveted this rose since it first came out. First it was totally unavailable in the US. Then when I did finally find it at Palatine it was perpetually sold out. Now I here it really isn't one of Austin's best so I'm torn. It's so dang gorgeous!

I actually have three of them. I have found that they do marginally okay for me, but there are other Austin oranges that do much better. Summer Song is quite pretty in the spring, but it doesn't like our summer heat. It sulks and goes to sleep. It can come out again some in the fall, but it is prettiest in the spring. It is quite fragrant, but it will throw long canes. Neither the color nor the flower size holds in summer either if it has any flowers at all. It fades badly to a sickly pink on a bloom no bigger than a miniflora. They all have black spot issues also. Lady of Shalott does much better in terms of all-season flower production, and Lady Emma Hamilton has a better growth habit, beautiful color, and nice fragrance. Although Lady Emma does not have large amounts of flowers at any given time, they are regularly produced. I suspect that Summer Song is rather picky about where it likes to live, and I think it would rather be somewhere else other than here in tornado alley.

M, it is very pretty. Maybe it will be better for you! I love so many Austins and most of them do so well in Chicago.
Rubbish? Really?

very nice post especially the images shared are extremely great.

Here is a link that might be useful: mind mapping software reviews

Susan, you're in Chicago. I think I've mentioned that I moved here from Bloomington. I can imagine the challenges roses would pose in Chicago.

Summer Song has bloomed for me all season. It's a beautiful rose at the moment. Ive been lucky this year and had sizeable blooms in the first flush. The subsequent two flushes had normal size blooms. There were always a few blooms in between flushes. The rain didn't rot the blooms either.

Summer Song took a bit more care than my other roses but it is well worth the extra effort.

I got Summer Song from Palatine and tried it 3 different times here in Texas. I gave it a prime spot each time because the color looked so beautiful. Each time, after throwing ungainly long arms, few blooms [glorious though they were] and wimpy growth, they all died in the heat - even with afternoon protection from the sun. In frustration I called the David Austin office - they told me it is not offered in the US because it is a very poor rose for this country. With that, I gave up. I was actually glad it was not my fault - it was quite disappointing to fail so miserably with a rose I really wanted. Maybe Carolyn Knight will be offered in the US and will do better. Congratulations to those who can grow this rose well - the color is just wonderful. Alas, not in Texas.
Judith

MJ, iI think all areas have their challenges. How did u end up in Ireland? Lucky you!

Susan,

My then husband was working on mainframes for Mitsubishi. A company over here stole him to work on thier mainframe. I love it here. The culture suits me - I miss sunshine though. I'm a singer by trade. It's easy to be a musician here. The culture supports musicians, artists and the like. I couldn't support myself with music in Bloomington.

Despite the cloudy summers, Roses grow well here. I can't grow the heat loving roses. My Austins are happy and all of my patio roses grow like gangbusters.

I have all I need, culture, music and roses. Life is good here :-)

I got my plant from Hortico several yrs ago, and it got off to kind of a slow start. But it seems to be a pretty consistent bloomer now, if I keep it deadheaded. It's is in a giant ceramic pot next to a metal arbor and has taken to climbing up and over the arbor. The blooms were a good bit larger than usual this yr. So maybe it just takes some time to get established & do its thing

Awesome, MJ. Always wanted to live in Britain ; London favorite place. English roses you know. Beth, I think we need a picture! Sounds beautiful!