You are right, ilovemyroses. I look out my window: Scepter d'Isle has 2 blooms and countless buds. Blooms last 3 days in the vase, not bad. Scepter d'Isle is very productive like Evelyn in my alkaline soil, 90-100 degrees summer heat.

The stingy bloomers in my alkaline soil are: Eglantyne, Charles Darwin, and Crown Princess Mag. They are only 3 months-old own-roots, hopefully they improve next year. My problem with all Austins in summer heat are: fading colors to either dinky-pink or dirty-white, scents that go away, octopus canes that need constant trimming, and thistles WAY UP TO the flower that prick me badly when I dead-head or cut for the vase.

Forgive my quibbling, but it's spelled "Scepter'd Isle," an island ruled by a scepter (per Shakespeare).

quibble away but I think it is actually Sceptred Isle - once a pedant....

thanks for straightening me out on the spelling! ugh! :)

Anyway, the name means "Island of the Scepter" (England, ruled by kings) rather than "Scepter of the Island." Richard II, act 2, scene 1.

thanks for the info! can't imagine how this sweet pea of a rose got such a formidable name...but there it is!

I agree scepter is a blooming machine.

..michael, i thought for sure you were mistaken on the spelling, because it's not correct French (the d' is a contraction of de (of)-- the e is dropped when the word that follows begins with a vowel or h).
... But i about fell off my chair when i referenced the DAVID AUSTIN site. Indeed they sell scepter'd isle.
Googling around it turn's out it's Shakespearian English. (possibly from Richard ii). Thanks for quibbling! I learned something new.

Richard 2, it certainly is -'this happy breed of men', and all that. A phrase beloved of Blake also.
Austin's marketing team are simply indulging in a bit of 'ye olde england' stuff - they love that sort of fantasy 'merrie england' and it goes down well in the US.

Lola, it's a contraction of "sceptered" rather than of "de isle." Or not exactly a contraction, just an indication that "sceptered" should be pronounced with two syllables rather than three. Shakespeare is counting ten syllables per metrical line.

"This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle."

Sceptred Isle. ScepTRED

Sorry, Michael but you started this.

See spelling at David Austin UK site.

pthhht!

Yes, "sceptre" is a modern British (vs. American) spelling of the noun, but Shakespeare invented the verb and is entitled to his spelling. Besides, it seems that "sceptred" would pronounce wrong. But then I guess You People manage to pronounce "centred" despite that spelling.

Here is a link that might be useful: Scepter'd Isle

Okay, guys, please explain:
D'
DE
DU

meaning/pronunciation to an ignorant monologuist.

Doesn't the apostrophe stand in place of the elided "e" just as the apostrophe stands for the elided "o" in isn't? I mean the apostrophe has nothing to do with French nor with de in any form? ... Just to keep this thing rolling.

Cath

i would guess it doesn't mean anything on DA's site - they are marketers, not English majors. Accordingly, their spellings may be completely self-invented - more of ye olde worlde stuff, I guess.
Also, in my Shakespeare copy of Richard 11, it is always spelt Sceptred. But hey, if you want to get all nationalistic and You People about it.....
We have moved on to metres and centimetres too but in deference to the US, I try to keep to feet and inches.

Campanula, actually I was bluffing. Nobody knows how Shakespeare spelled it. As you know, spelling was fluid in his time. Today, "sceptre" is correct in British and "scepter" in American English. The only real point here is that the rose's name is not French and does not mean "scepter of the island."

Bluegirl. here's a French lesson linked. _d'_ is how _de_ appears when it precedes a vowel. In that case, the _e_ is not pronounced. When the _e_ is pronounced, it sounds like "uh."

Here is a link that might be useful: de and du

Both in my Oxford dictionary of quotations and my Complete Works it is spelled "scepter'd isle" in Richard II, and also in Richard III "scepter'd office". Both books are British editions.

ah, no sweat, Michael.
Mariannese - my Oxford dictionary and my Chambers edition both refer to Sceptred - in fact there is no such word as Scepter listed in either(apart from pronunciation guide. Digging out my old Macmillan edition of Richard11, I see Sceptred is spelt as is in this edition. A quick perusal on google such as Wikipedia will also agree. There are caveats though: unless we have access to the original contemporary writings of almost anyone, once through a coven of editor's hands, anything becomes possible. We certainly cannot rely on a garden catalogue as a spelling authority.

However, it is not usually my style to nitpick on other people's spelling but, if someone else wants to bring it up first, then fair game.

Campanula,

Interesting. My copy of The English Oxford Dictionary of Quotations second edition (I like used book stores), Oxford University Press BUT printed in the United States p. 474 quote 22 has "scepter'd isle". Perhaps the spelling conforms to the preferred spelling in the country in which it is printed....And now I will stop stirring the pot.

Cath

More pedantry--based on the Oxford English Dictionary:

"Sceptre" was a French word that entered Middle English in the 1300s with that spelling being most common. Later, around the time of Shakespeare (1600), the spelling "scepter" became most common, and "septer" also appears. The Elizabethans spelled mostly phonetically. When spelling became standardized in the 18th c., the English reverted to preferring "sceptre, " I guess because of the word's French origins made that spelling seem more correct.

Samuel Johnson's 1755 dictionary spells it "sceptre." Johnson's dictionary had a great influence on what was considered correct spelling.

dublin...it blooms like crazy!! :)

ilovemyroses--I kinda figured you liked this rose! : )

How is it on disease-resistance? Do the blooms shatter quickly? How large are the blooms? Color? height? You know, all that stuff.

Kate

I like it too....for an austin, it is one of the most graceful and pretty.

dublinbay, I was replying with some sarcasm, as the thread has done cartwheels since...

ok, mine is two years old, I don't cut the flowers, so I don't know how they shatter in a vase, but they last on the bush five days or better? pale to mid pink with yellow creeping into lower part of petal and strong yellow stamens are what I like. Can't categorize the flagrance, but a nice scent that I pick up walking by! Height for me is around four feet, flower size right now is a bit small, being 110 degrees! but a fairly simple slightly doubled 1 1/2 inch to 2 inch flower. does not self clean. Fully foliaged to the mulch and a nice, evenly shaped bush.

my best looking and performing Austin right now.

Thanks Michael. Sorry for the hijack, but I get very intimidated trying to pronounce rose names. Plus I read various pronunciations recommended for the same name.

I am with you bluegirl

I hate trying to pronounce the names!

I wish helpmefind included an audio of the way to say the name!

Like 'Souvenir de la Malmaison'

I could go on and on

Mall-may-zoh(ng)

Similar to the O is "song" but you don't pronounce the NG, just the vowel.

Just here to plug this rose. I put in a gallon from RU in April of 2010. It is a magnificent, bushy bloom machine.

Jerome, how big is yours (tall/wide)?

Kate - it is one of my favorite Austin Roses - Because it reblooms so well. It really is almost continous blooming. I grow a group of 3 - Flowers are about 3 inch wide - and can be anything from a blush pure pink - fading to two-toned - almost white in hotter sunnier weather. The flowers are cupshaped but open during the days - showing yellow stamens. And close the flowers during night - very charming. Flowers last about 2-3 days before they shatter - and petals fall. It gets a little PM - but very little BS - and I have not seen it get Rust. I spray it once a month. They have a strong mixed Myrrh/old rose fragrance.

In this picture they can be sen to the left ..

{{gwi:290868}}

Close-up of one of the first flowers:

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Wow, lovely rose. Fragrant?
Kippy: "GOOGLE TRANSLATE" has an audio pronunciation link--at least for the stuff I've plugged in (just remembered)

I have tried that Bluegirl, but I always wonder how good it is for something like a plant name. I use it regularly to comment on my Danish relatives posts on FB and to read it (google translate)

But I have to wonder about the audio, Jeri will relate, a street like Calle Real(common in CA) or a town Lompoc can come out a interesting.

I messed my example up. (been one of those days my mind is moving faster than my fingers)

I meant to say, Calle Real (Re Al) comes out Real on translate

Just like Lompoc comes out Lom Pock on translate, we say Lom-Poke It is a dead give-away you're from out of town is you ask for Lompock

Just like the commentator on the Olympic (Mary Carillo) is driving me nuts with her name, we have a street Carrillo and the double LL has a Spanish pronunciation

Thank you for the additional info on Scepter'd Isle--and the pics.

On the second pic, what is that shorter, darker pink rose to the right of Scepter'd Isle? It is lovely too.

Kate

bluegirl - They have a strong mixed Myrrh/old rose fragrance.

Kate - That is Princess Alexandra of Kent.

Thanks for those great picture, Niels. You are right on what you wrote, "fading to two-toned - almost white in hotter sunnier weather ...Flowers last about 2-3 days before they shatter - and petals fall." That's my problem with Scepter d'Isle in full sun at 80 to 100 degrees. We finally got down to 60 degrees in the morning, and Scepter looks pink instead of white.

I will move my Scepter to partial shade - its bloom bleaches out to completely white and shatters in hot sun. Compare that to "Deep Purple" floribunda which retains its color and bloom lasts 10 days on the bush, and 5 days in the vase. Scepter d'Isle, like most Austins look magnificent in cool and wet weather below 70 degrees, but really faded out and scents go away in hot summer. I understand that your summer in Denmark is much cooler than my Chicagoland, right? The heat is here until after Labor Day, September 3, then I can say good-bye to fans, and look forward to better colors and better scents on Austins.

Really nice pictures of Sceptre'd Isle roses. It sounds like my Wisley 2008, blooms get bleached and shatters in hot weather in just 2 or 3 days. Like Strawberryhill just said, looking forward to longer lasting blooms in our coming cooler temps.

I like this rose as well. Heat has not slowed it down like some others.

We had fun with our Garmin trying to pronounce Spanish street names in Los Angeles with an English accent.

Ask 'em how to pronounce "Refugio", then give them whiplash by telling them how Texans pronounce "Amarillo" and "tortilla"
We're nothing if not inconsistent.

Okay, I'm out before I get kicked off to "conversations"

You mention spraying once a month - what do you spray with?