Kate, this rose is beyond lovely! I'm completely taken with it. If I had a spot for it in my garden and knew it would do well in my hot location I'd buy it in heartbeat.

Ingrid

Ingrid, I have this climber growing out in full sun--almost all day--but this has been a cooler summer than usual. If the temps zoom up, I'll let you know how it does in heat. But we might have to wait until next summer for the real test: 100+ degrees during July and August, if the summer is typical.

Kate

I think The Pilgrim is one of the loveliest of the Austins. Unf., here, it wanted to grow 15-canes. I got one flush of bloom in the spring -- then it just hunkered down and became a one-plant jungle.

In a climate with more extremes, I think it may do much better.

Jeri

Kate,

How beautiful! It's so wonderful to have lovely blooms this time of year, isn't it? I grow The Pilgrim as well and, while I agree it's one of the best Austins (in my small experience), I have had very different results from yours! In your picture, The Pilgrim seems to show warmer shades of yellow. When mine blooms it is icy yellow. And a late summer, early autumn flush?? I had one bloom in early August about an inch and a half wide. I'm fine with that though because the spring flush in my area is more than enough to keep me happy. And if I ever have blackspot on this rose, it is only near the bottom. I'm happy to hear you are having such wonderful experiences! Beautiful, Kate :)

Sidos--twenty-four hours later and the more apricot center of my Pilgrim has receded on the two blooms featured in the previous photo. The top bloom is the newest one to open--it still has some apricot in the center. I think Pilgrim is moving more towards the "icy" shades you mentioned. I do take my pics usually early in the morning when there are more shadows in the picture--I'll bet if I took the pic after the sun manages to get over the top of my neighbor's very large oak tree (and thus eliminated most of the shadows), my Pilgrim would probably look more of a pristine mellow yellow with white around the outer petals.

The Pilgrim--24 hours later
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The Pilgrim is new in my garden, so I'll be studying its blooming patterns now that it has finally decided to bloom. : )

Kate

The Pilgrim is lovely, very elegant.

Two new Austins in my garden are The Generous Gardener and Young Lycidas.

The Generous Gardener

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Young Lycidas

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It's so beautiful, Kate!

Kate. That is a lovely picture of The Pilgrim. I grew it in the U.K. I miss it here.
I have been really enjoying your photos of your garden with red roses on the main site.
You have a gorgeous garden.
More photos please.
Daisy

Thank you for your comments, everyone. And thanks, Krista, for those pics of your new Austin blooms. I'd love to see both of those in real life--they are so lovely in pics and seem to be quite popular with many rose growers.

Anyone else have some new Austins they'd like to show off here?

Kate

I'd really like to put in a good word for Scarborough Fair, which was new for me this year. She's been on my list for years and I ordered six because I wanted a soft pink, low growing rose to repeat several times along the front of a new bed. It has been a hard year on my roses: several runs of serious deer damage, two entire months of Japanese beetles, lots and lots -- oceans -- of rain. Through it all, Scarborough Fair refused to cease blooming -- and blooming heavily -- and laughed off black spot (only a couple leaves here or there). She is one of the few of my DAs that look as good in this southern late wet summer as she did in the spring.

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That is quite a testimony for a lovely Austin! I can see why you love this rose!

Thanks for sharing.

Kate

Delete duplicate post.

This post was edited by dublinbay on Mon, Aug 19, 13 at 13:53

A GW poster in my hot hot climate recommended The Pilgrim for this area. I bought it from a reputable nursery bare root last winter. Unfortunately, it died after a couple months in the ground, before it even got hot here. That is fairly unusual and I'm not sure what caused its death. However, it had made me cautious about this particular rose so I probably will not replace it. I was disappointed as it is such a pretty rose.

How I long for a relatively heat-free climate (can you tell I'm fed up living in this climate!).

jasper, I can empathize with your geographical disgust. That was how I felt when I lived in west Texas for 3 yrs (sorry, Texans, but I hated it). However, if you checked the summer temps in Kansas (most summers, anyway--just not this unusually cooler summer this year), you would find you were still gardening in a HOT region--last summer, 2 months straight of 100+ temps! LOL

Sorry to hear about your Pilgrim.

Kate

Kate, I loved your pictures of The Pilgrim. I'm considering buying this rose but I need some more information. Are the canes stiff or more pliable? Does the rose grow mostly upright or is it wide and spreading? I'm considering this for a spot on an 8 ft tripod. Can you imagine this rose wrapped around or through something like that or is that not a good idea? Please advise and if anyone else has any information on The Pilgrim's growth habit, I would really appreciate your input. Thank you! Shelley

My Pilgrim is still so new, shellfleur, that I'm not sure how much help I can be. I can definitely claim that the canes are pliable--very pliable (at least as a young plant). Not sure if it will grow upright or wide and spreading since it is turning out to be a very slow grower. From Austin's description, however, I got the impression that it might be more bushy rather than long and lank.

I sure hope it will do fine on an 8 ft tripod. Mine is growing on an 8 ft pillar--wrapped around it. Seems to be working fine so far. Again, I had the impression from Austin's description that it is not a real tall climber, so I think the 8 ft pillar is going to be just fine for this rose.

What I'm mainly noticing its first year is that it is a slow-growing and not very vigorous rose that has only put out a handful of blooms its first season. This may be one of those climbers that takes 3-5 years to really mature. As long as we don't get impatient, I think this will turn out to be a very nice climbing rose--in time.

Let me know next year how yours is doing.

Kate