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maddyda

David Austins In A Container

MaddyDA
10 years ago

Hello, I've been bitten by the "rose bug", David Austins in particular and have been planting roses earlier this year.

I now have no more room to plant any more in the ground but i really want to get the following DAs:

- Abraham Derby
- Buff Beauty
- Crown Princess Margareta
- Evelyn
- Golden Celebration
- Princess Alexandra
- The Alnwick Rose
- William Shakespeare

Would these be suitable for large containers? Or do they need to be in the ground for them to really prosper.

Any help would be appreciated. i am a novice gardener..still learning and this forum has already helped me a lot.

Comments (14)

  • dublinbay z6 (KS)
    10 years ago

    Buff Beauty (which is NOT a David Austin rose) is a rather big sprawling bush/climber with big tough long canes--and sharp prickles. Mine in the ground gets about 7-8 feet wide and 5 ft tall. That said, BB is a beauty and I wouldn't be without her--at the back of the lot next to the alley fence (although I mostly let her sprawl and take up a lot of space back there).

    William Shakespeare 2000 (there was an earlier version of W.Shakespeare, so it's best to add the 2000 for the current one--it is an Austin) doesn't strike me as a good candidate for a pot. It is stiff and tends to extend a bit awkwardly to the sides--5-6 ft wide. Mine gets about 4 ft tall. If you like that shade of red-purple, maybe think of Munstead Wood--one of my very favorite roses. It stays more in the 3 ft range and, to me anyway, would work better in a pot. It is a wonderful rose.

    The other roses you list I know only by reputation, so you'll have to wait for others to comment on them.

    Good luck.

    Kate

  • racin_rose
    10 years ago

    Lady Emma Hamilton does well in a pot and is gorgeous with my favorite fragrance. I would think the Alnwick would also do well, but it grows very upright. Pretty rose, it's on my short list.
    David Austin's site lists his roses most suited to containers. I have a couple more in pots but will have to roit prune them next year if they're to stay.

  • amberroses
    10 years ago

    I have an own root Alnwick in a medium sized pot, smaller than it should be, and it is doing great.

  • nanadollZ7 SWIdaho
    10 years ago

    Evelyn and Golden Celebration get very large, especially, GC for me. GC is about seven feet tall and six feet wide. Evelyn is somewhat smaller for me (in too much shade), but has stiff canes than can shoot out in an ungainly way--but the blooms are worth putting up with it. I just don't think of her as pot "material". Princess Alexandra of Kent is just over a year old in my garden, and is well on her way to being a big girl, so again she might be iffy for a pot. I would recommend Munstead Wood as Kate did, and Tamora as a sub for Evelyn in a pot. Diane

  • jerijen
    10 years ago

    In our garden, Evelyn grew 15-ft. canes, and only wanted to bloom at the top. The blooms were lovely, but if I were to try it again, I would grow it own-root, and pray that it would be smaller. It is in no way suited to a container.

    Nor is Golden Celebration. In our garden, it is also about 7-ft tall, and wider.

    As noted above, Buff Beauty is not an Austin rose, but a 1939 Hybrid Musk, Int. in the UK by Ann Bentall. It's a huge plant, and very floriferous, and would not be happy in a pot.

    Here, you see it in the Sacramento City Cemetery, where it is disciplined by use of low rebar arches.

    Jeri

  • nanadollZ7 SWIdaho
    10 years ago

    Oh that is so gorgeous. I wish I had the room to try something like that. Diane

  • Terry Crawford
    10 years ago

    ' CPM' is a beast and not suitable for a pot.

    I grew 'Munstead Wood' until it fell victim to RRV and had to remove it this Spring. It was grafted on multiflora rootstock, and had big, heavy canes, massive blooms, and was one big huge shrub....so heavy the shrub would want to heave out of the ground. It was a very thorny plant...reminded me of Gertrude Jekyll but very heavily scented. I just could not imagine growing this one in a pot either.

  • monarda_gw
    10 years ago

    English rose grower John Scarman's book "Gardening with Old Roses" (1999), has pictures of two Buff Beauty roses growing in (very) large containers, so anything is possible. He claimed it was a good rose to grow in pots. Scarman was growing them in England and has his own, controversial to some, way of pruning. I don't know whether his methods would be transferrable to this country, whether or how the pots would need to be protected in winter, etc. I also doubt it would save all that much space, but again, nothing ventured nothing gained. Scarman is now based in Germany. I am attaching a link. There is a little British union jack on the top left that should give you the English language version.

    Here is a link that might be useful: John Scarman's website

  • jerijen
    10 years ago

    I think that would work fine in Germany, and probably in parts of England.

    I would not expect it to succeed in milder climates.

    But it's one of those things where, if you truly want to do it, go ahead and do it. You won't be satisfied until you do, and who knows, your microclimate might allow it. If not, at least you KNOW.

    Jeri

  • Annalyssa
    10 years ago

    Wow, that is ONE Buff Beauty plant?
    That is... big.
    And beautiful.
    I love how BB looks next to lavender and other silvery-light purple things.
    Sigh! So many roses, so little time...

  • jerijen
    10 years ago

    Well, it demonstrates what a BIG rose BB is. Big and beautiful. I have a little one down in the garden which I hope one day will look that impressive.

    Things grow more slowly, here.

    Jeri

  • mzstitch
    9 years ago

    I agree with others Evelyn just doesn't have a good growth habit for a potted plant. Jerijen mine is own root, and still has that same groth habit of putting all its energy into certain cains that just take off way longer the rest of the plant. Beautiful blooms though, so I'm keeping her, but if I had known I would have chosen something else for my garden.
    Not on your list but I have Benjamin Britton in a pot and the plant has a lovely form for a pot.

  • Adam Harbeck
    9 years ago

    Pretty jessica, munstead wood and glamis castle all did well in pots for me. Benjamin Btitten also did well in a big pot.