That's quite a list! I have four of the roses you mention but don't know whether any experience I have would translate to your area where climate, diseases and insects are so different. Carding Mill and Cottage Rose are large bushes that stand up well to the heat, especially Carding Mill, with Carding Mill having continuous bloom. Happy Child is quite small with fairly unfading yellow flowers. Sister Elizabeth is the only one in the group that has very fragrant flowers is is also smaller than the first two and would probably do very well in a pot, as would Happy Child. I love the lilac pink color and the old rose shape of Sister Elizabeth. Hope this is some help to you.

Ingrid

I have Sophy's Rose. It is an own-root roses about 3yrs old, and lives in large container. Lovely small shrub that bloom in cycles. But the cycles are close enough together that it is rarly without blooms. (except when the JBs are here)

Sophy's Rose for the first time had PM but with spraying it went away. Very light scent.

Thanks guys. I am open to all considerations. I hope this mainly serves as a source of information dissemination for every else that is interested in some of the lesser spoken of/grown Austins. I know I left quite a few out as well. I'm really interested as I'm sure it could spark interest for many others that might have a new interest in one of the Austins.

I have had Crocus Rose and The Mayflower for about 4 years. I don't spray with fungicides. The Mayflower is disease free foliage-wise, but the flowers often fail to open. I have two in different locations and they both have the same problem. The scent is a wonderful old rose scent when they do open. I think I need to do a good pruning to see if that will help.

Crocus rose is my favorite so far. It gets little black spot and for some reason when some of the leaves do blackspot, they just turn dark, not yellow and hang on the bush, so you can't even tell. It is so free flowering - never out of flower and the spring flush was amazing. I love this rose. I'm a light pruner, so the bush is about 5 1/2 to 6 feet tall and about 4 feet wide and is arching in habit. Mine is very vase shaped. The only drawback is the scent is not that strong, but there is a moderate tea rose scent. I definitely will get another one when I make room.

I have had The Shepherdess for only a year, but it is virtually black spot free (maybe 1 or 2 leaves with a spot) and is staying pretty compact. The flowers are very cupped and similar in shape to Jude the Obscure, and are a very light apricot, pretty much cream colored in hot weather, but smaller. Moderate fruity scent to my nose.

I just planted Spirit of Freedom and The Alnwick rose, so I don't know about these yet. The Missouri Botanical Garden (Shaw's Garden) in St. Louis has 4 Spirit of Freedoms climbing on posts. They are very lovely, seem to be always in flower and I don't know about the disease resistance, because I think they probably spray. The flowers are gorgeous, nodding cupped flowers with a lilac tint. There is a nice scent, but nothing really strong like Jude the Obscure, my favorite scent.

The Generous Gardener is also at the Botanical Garden, and it is a huge climbing bush. I saw it when it had its spring flush and it was beautiful with large creamy loosely cupped flowers with a very nice scent - can't describe the scent though. However, when I've gone to the garden at other times during the summer, it never seems to be in bloom, so I'm not sure if it has good repeat.

I find in my climate, the English roses do very well and are quite disease resistant compared to some the hybrid teas I inherited. My Mister Lincoln and First Prize roses are naked with no leaves. A few feet away are my Austins, with almost no disease. I also have a Molineux that probably gets the most black spot of my Austins, but even it has only about 30% leaf loss. I also have some Bucks, Folksinger, Aunt Honey, Prairie Star and Quietness and Quietness is the only one that is disease free. Aunt Honey is beautiful but surprisingly quite a bit of BS, but never out of flower, so it is staying.

Rhonda

The square brackets with the img tag don't work on gardenweb, you need to use the greater than and less than with img src and quotes to get the pictures up.

I've got several on your very long list. For your climate look @ an own-root 'Wife of Bath', which is one tough little rose--even if it freezes to the ground it should spring back every year with new basals, and just the right size for a pot.

Ambridge Rose:
{{gwi:295218}}

Anne Boleyn:
{{gwi:295219}}

Barbara Austin:
{{gwi:295220}}

Belle Story:
{{gwi:295221}}

Brother Cadfadel:
{{gwi:295223}}

Buttercup:
{{gwi:295224}}

Carding Mill:
{{gwi:295225}}

Charity:
{{gwi:295226}}

Charles Rennie MacKintosh:
{{gwi:295227}}

Charlotte:
{{gwi:295228}}

Claire Austin:
{{gwi:295229}}

Comte de Champagne:
{{gwi:295231}}

Corvedale:
{{gwi:295232}}

Cottage Rose:
{{gwi:295233}}

Crocus Rose:
{{gwi:295234}}

Darcey Bussell:
{{gwi:295235}}

English Garden:
{{gwi:295236}}

Gentle Hermione:
{{gwi:295237}}

Geoff Hamilton:
{{gwi:295238}}

Grace:
{{gwi:295239}}

Happy Child:
{{gwi:295240}}

Heather Austin:
{{gwi:295241}}

Heavenly Rosalind:
{{gwi:295243}}

Huntington Rose:
{{gwi:295244}}

Hyde Hall:
{{gwi:295245}}

James Galway:
{{gwi:295246}}

John Clare:
{{gwi:295247}}

Kathryn Morley:
{{gwi:295248}}

Lady of Megginch:
{{gwi:295249}}

Leander:
{{gwi:295250}}

Lichfield Angel:
{{gwi:295252}}

Lillian Austin:
{{gwi:295253}}

Ludlow Castle:
{{gwi:295254}}

Malvern Hills:
{{gwi:295255}}

Mary Magdalene:
{{gwi:295256}}

Mayor of Casterbridge:
{{gwi:295257}}

Miss Alice:
{{gwi:295258}}

Mortimer Sackler:
{{gwi:211494}}

Noble Antony:
{{gwi:295259}}

Peach Blossom:
{{gwi:295260}}

Pegasus:
{{gwi:295261}}

Perdita:
{{gwi:295262}}

Port Sunlight:
{{gwi:295263}}

Portmeirion:
{{gwi:295264}}

Queen of Sweden:
{{gwi:295265}}

Redoute:
{{gwi:295266}}

Rose of Picardy:
{{gwi:295268}}

Rose-Marie:
{{gwi:295270}}

Scarborough Fair:
{{gwi:295272}}

Sister Elizabeth:
{{gwi:295274}}

Sophy's Rose:
{{gwi:295276}}

Spirit of Freedom:
{{gwi:295278}}

St. Alban:
{{gwi:295279}}

St. Cecilia:
{{gwi:295280}}

St. Swithun:
{{gwi:295281}}

Strawberry Hill:
{{gwi:295282}}

Sweet Juliet:
{{gwi:295283}}

Alnwick Rose:
{{gwi:295284}}

The Countryman:
{{gwi:295286}}

The Generous Gardener:
{{gwi:295288}}

The Ingenious Mr. Fairchild:
{{gwi:295289}}

The Mayflower:
{{gwi:295291}}

The Shepherdess:
{{gwi:295292}}

Wenlock:
{{gwi:295293}}

Wife of Bath:
{{gwi:295294}}

Wildeve:
{{gwi:295295}}

William Morris:
{{gwi:295296}}

Windflower:
{{gwi:295297}}

Thanks a bunch hoov!

John Clare is a good performer in my garden. Doesn't "throw" long canes very often. I have 3 which I easily keep at about 4 ft. tall and 2-3 ft. wide.

Jeffcat

Please email me. You can email me via "my page"

Liz

I grow several from your list --in my Zone 6 (Kansas) garden.

Anne Boleyn--exquisite but smaller blooms, pastel peachy pink with a hint of yellow. Mine do not have that darker pink color shown in the picture above. Bush has delicate sprawling/arching shape, not full-bodied look. This smaller rose would probably work good in a pot. The only real down side is that the flowers shatter rather quickly in heat/sun.

Happy Child--this is one of my favorite flowers--gorgeous full bloom, but not bright yellow as shown in the pic above. Lovely more pastel yellow blend. My only problem with it is that it doesn't recover from winter very well--spring growth is slow to start and rather weak. I think every spring that it is going into decline and will die before the season is over. This year I really pampered it with every goody I could think of. The cane growth is weak and short--but it is pumping out those blooms. Next year will be its third year--I do hope it takes off--I really love those blooms.

John Clare--nice bright pink semi-double blooms, but rather slow on the rebloom. That might be because it could use a bit more sun, but I have no better spot open to move it to. It is a bit taller than wide.

Mortimer Sackler--This one would like to be a climber, but I keep trimming it back, telling it to be a taller full bush about 6 ft tall. Nice pastel pink blooms, but the edges fry in the hot sun and the blooms don't last too long. However, it blooms generously, although a bit slow on the rebloom.

Queen of Sweden--I just moved this rose this spring to a sunnier and less crowded spot, so my response will have to be somewhat tentative. So far, it is a taller (4-5 ft), narrow, very vertical growing bush, although starting to spread a little bit in its better location--but I think it will still be a very vertical looking bush regardless. The pale pink blooms aren't very large, but in the full sun, it is a generous bloomer and the light pink has amazing carrying power across the garden. Really full bloom--exquisitely pastel pink.

The Mayflower--I don't really love this rose, but appreciate its virtues. Blooms a lot, fairly fast rebloom, blooms early in the season--really dependable. What is aggravating about it is that the blooms are often reluctant to open because the outer petals too often brown--some kind of fungus, I guess. I have to gently rub them back so that the bloom will open. It's not as much of a problem when it gets hotter by midsummer. Smaller sized blooms, and not as pink as the pic above shows.

All the above are quite disease-resistant (which is one major reason why I chose them), with Mayflower and Queen of Sweden probably being the best (don't think I've ever had to spray them for blackspot) and Anne Boleyn and Happy Child being more susceptible to BS, though they never have any major problems in that respect. The others are somewhere in the middle, but they are all quite good in terms of disease-resistance.

I don't grow roses in pots so I'm not sure what you have in mind, but my guess is that most of the above (other than Boleyn and Happy CHild) would not be likely candidates for pot-growing.

Kate

Thanks Kate. I am interested in growing some of these varieties in pots. Many of them, I have heard get quite large and are not suitable for pots, but I am curious to hear more about them anyways as I do not know much about some varieties of the Austins. I'm typically a big fan of cupped blooms like Queen of Sweden, although I really can't say there is any Austin that I have ever seen that I would turn down. Like you said with the Mayflower...they all have appreciative qualities that add something by theirselves or as part of a larger garden.

What was that line in that song from the 80's: "everything she sees is everything she wants......." or how about this one: "each one more beautiful than the last". They all look gorgeous in the pictures!

Although I thought I read that a lot of the older Austins aren't as vigorous as the newer ones?

Lynn

Hoovb,
WOW...What a collection! Thank you so much for sharing your excellent pictures of gorgeous flowers. Pure perfection, as always.

Jeff:

I have Mary Magdalene and she is a paler color than the picture. She is quite thorny but she may be a good rose for a pot - not too big (4'X4'?). Mayflower is too big in my garden for a pot (5'+X3'). She is a good bloomer and fairly disease resistance, as is Mary M. I think DA recommends Anne Boelyn as a rose for a pot. Good luck in your search.

I had Portmerion, but it didn't make it's first year in my yard. Probably because of the drought.

I have Perdita and love it. My blooms are more cream than the pink shade shown in hoovb's picture. It's a lovely bloom. Reminds me of Heritage.

I also have Sophy's Rose. It does tend to PM a bit, but it's an almost constant bloomer. No scent though.

Oh, I forgot Redoute! I have him as well. The rose is a sport of Mary Rose and very similar, just the blooms are a much lighter pink. It does well, has good repeat. I do spray all my roses, but none of these seem particularly prone to BS as many Austins are.

Hoovb, those are outstanding. They are absolutely beautiful. I am so glad that I clicked on this post.

Jeffcat, in Oklahoma many of the Austin roses do get blackspot. I have had success with Cottage Rose and Sophy's rose. Lilian Austin is doing well also. I don't know if any but Sophy would do well in a pot.

SAmmy

The pics are all via David Austin's site....not the greatest quality, but they provide quite a showing anyways. ;)

I know some of these roses are of the newer varieties, but I have actually tried searching through a lot of engines and even helpmefind and plantfiles and have found almost nothing in terms of pics or info on Port Sunlight, William Morris, Mayor of Casterbridge, Charles Rennie MacKintosh, and various others. I'm almost tempted to grow some of the unheard and unseen varieties simply because they make me curious. I hope everybody gains some input from everybody else's experiences....but at the very least you saw a post with rose pics anyways. :)

I grow a number of the roses on your list.

Miss Alice would work in a pot. Mine is only about 18 inches tall, should get taller in a warmer zone. It has a strong sweet scent, very good repeat bloom.

Barbara Austin- this rose is fairly new to the garden planted one year ago. It seems to have a rather upright, narrow growth habit, so far. The Austin catalog describes the fragrance as a mix of lilac and rose. It is strongly fragrant. The blooms are a very nice, with a charming button eye.

Geoff Hamilton- I really like this rose. It has lovely dark foliage, and charming cup shaped blooms with a sweet scent. It grows to about 4 1/2 feet tall, 2 1/2 feet wide, with an upright habit.

James Galway- This is a taller growing rose. It's over five feet tall, about 3 feet wide. Lovely blooms with lots of petals, and a lovely sweet fragrance.

Mortimer Sackler- This is a very graceful and lovely shrub. It has a very nice fragrance. This rose reminds me of of a Noisette. It grows to about 4 to 4/ 1/2 feet tall in my garden setting, and less wide. It has an upright habit.

The Alnwick Rose- I have three of these, love this rose. Mine are about 3 or 3 1/2 feet tall. Superb fragrance, wonderful cupped blooms.

The Ingenious Mr. Fairchild- This rose is new to the garden, planted this spring. The blooms have beautiful pink shadings to them, with a lovely scent. A little hard to say how the growth habit will be when it matures, but for now it appears to have somewhat round habit.

The Mayflower- I really like this rose. Repeat bloom is rapid, fragrance is exceptional. I used to have a problem with the buds balling up, but this June it bloomed well, so I'm hoping that this will continue in upcoming years.

The Shepherdess- This is new to the garden, planted this spring. Fragrance is very pleasant, a mix of fruit, Tea and soemthing candy-like, to my nose. (Not sure how the growth habit will be when it matures...)

Krista, do you spray fungicide? How about winter-protect?

I grow Lady of Magginch, but she is new for me this year. The flushes seem a little far apart and she seems very sensitive to heat. Droops very easily. I haven't really seen the orange tone Austin talks about, she seems just deep pink, but it is a very nice color.
I grow Brother Cadfael but he also is new, I've been very happy so far.
My neighbor grows Noble Antony, and he doesn't seem to bloom very much, I'm afraid.
I grew Wenlock in Zone 4, in the High Desert and loved him. He was very vigorous and bloomed a lot, I thought the flowers were gorgeous. Some people have described him as "coarse", and there was maybe some Cardinal Richelieu in his background, but I loved the vigor.
I don't have much sense of smell, so I haven't noticed much aroma on any of these, but it could just be me.

Greenhaven, I don't spray fungicides. The only winter cover the Austins get is a few inches of mulch piled at the base of the plant.

Hoovb,
WOW...What a collection! Thank you so much for sharing your excellent pictures of gorgeous flowers. Pure perfection, as always.

Oh dear, those are not mine. They were in Jeff's original post and didn't come out because the [IMG] tag doesn't work on gardenweb. I just changed the tags so they would show.

Barbara Austin starts out the color shown in the picture and quickly fades to a nice white with a pink tinge on the petal edges. Barbara has the famous strong scent and healthy foliage, at least here in the northwest. She is a fairly strong grower but not building into a huge bush.

Buttercup is a nice smaller Austin with nice fairly strongly yellow blooms. They fade to lighter yellow and have a nice if weaker scent which is sort of sweet. The foliage is medium green and the canes are smooth with few thorns.

Lance

Hoov....just buy them all and you can say they are yours. ;)

I'm really glad to hear info from everybody, especially on the larger varieties as well.

So far, I'm contemplating Alnwick, Mary Magdalene, English Garden, and quite frankly...about every other one. English Garden.......but narrowing this whole choice down to 2 roses...is not impossible.....but almost cruel to try and pull off. I can pretty much guarantee from researching and looking up others of the smaller-mid rose variety, that I will say that I will only buy 2 roses...but then end up buying 6-7 and not having enough room to place pots...I'll find a way to make it work though.

I have 11 roses on your list. Here are my observations so far.

Carding Mill - first year; plant appears compact and bushy; flowers apricot in cool weather, pink in hot weather. quite fragrant.

Claire Austin - first year; bush may want to get rather tall and lanky; flowers have more yellow to start with than what I would have expected before turning white. Some fragrance.

Crocus Rose - 5th year; plant is bushy, large, and spreading, but not overly tall. Foliage is small. Lots of flowers and repeats well. Needs at least 4 years to get established to where it really gets going. One of the better Austins.

Happy Child - have 2 plants, a first year grafted and a 4th year own-root. Own root plant still no more than 6 inches tall with small flowers. Grafted plant about 8 inches tall and in a pot. Has nice yellow flowers. I don't think it cares much for this climate. It did better in Pacific Northwest.

Lichfield Angel - first year plant; so far looks promising with white and apricot shaded flowers.

Peach Blossom - plant at least 4 years old; made big display this spring, plant still smallish. Trying to repeat bloom now, but not many flowers. An iffy performer for me.

Perdita - second year plant; had one flower so far, and it is open now. It may not have liked some of our late freezes. It may need a while to get going like Crocus Rose. Jury still out.

Port Sunlight - first year plant; plant on spindly side, with small flowers of nice apricot color that fades easily. Flowers are quite small so far, only about 2 inches, and quite fragrant.

Queen of Sweden - 2d year plant; plant tall and cylindrical; flowers small to medium size in light pink; seems to be doing okay; nice variety.

Sweet Juliet - plant 5 years old; flowers very fragrant and nice when it bothers to have any. Plant is tall and large. Not very high on my list of best roses in my garden.

I hope this is helpful.

I have an interesting question. Does David Austin circulate his floral bred roses for us to all buy? I believe I've seen Emily circulated, but what about his other floral roses like Patience, Miranda, Juliet, and Rosalind? Can these roses be purchased and grown and if so, are they hardy enough to survive if taken care?

Here are the roses I am speaking of taken from DA UK bouquet site.
http://www.davidaustinroses.com/english/Advanced.asp?PageId=2151
http://www.davidaustinroses.com/english/Advanced.asp?PageId=1974

Also, if anybody wants to discuss some Austins that are not listed and becoming extinct, feel free to do so. Here is a list.

Constance Spry 1961
Chianti 1967**
Gypsy's Wine Cup 1968
Scintillation 1968
Shropshire Lass 1968
Canterbury 1969
Dame Prudence 1969
Honeypot 1969
The Friar 1969
The Knight 1969
The Prioress 1969
The Yeoman 1969
Wife of Bath 1969

Chaucer 1970
The Miller 1970
Charles Austin 1973
Lilian Austin 1973
Red Coat 1973
Yellow Button 1975
The Squire 1977
The Countryman 1979
The Reeve 1979

Glastonbury 1981
Yellow Charles Austin 1981
Admired Miranda 1982
Charmian 1982
Fair Bianca 1982
Hero 1982
Leander 1982
Prospero 1982
Proud Titania 1982
Wise Portia 1982

Cressida 1983
Cymbeline 1983
Dapple Dawn 1983
Graham Thomas 1983
Jaquenetta 1983
Lordly Oberon 1983
Lucetta 1983
Mary Rose 1983
Moonbeam 1983
Perdita 1983
Pretty Jessica 1983
Sir Clough 1983
Tamora 1983
Troilus 1983

Belle Story 1984**
Bredon 1984
Dove 1984
Ellen 1984
Heritage 1984
Hilda Murrell 1984
Mary Webb 1984
Wenlock 1984
Windrush 1984

Abraham Darby 1985
Autumn Leaves 1985
Emanuel 1985
Mountain Snow 1985
Sir Walter Raleigh 1985

Allux Symphony 1986
Claire Rose 1986
English Elegance 1986
English Garden 1986
Gertrude Jekyll 1986
Othello 1986
Robbie Burns 1986
Warwick Castle 1986
Wild Flower 1986

Fisherman's Friend 1987
Red Mary Rose 1987
St. Cecilia 1987
Swan 1987
The Nun 1987
William Shakespeare 1987

Charles Rennie Mackintosh 1988
Financial Times Centenary 1988
Francine Austin 1988
LD Braithwaite 1988
Potter and Moore 1988
Queen Nefertiti 1988
Winchester Cathedral 1988

Bibi Maizoon 1989
Sharifa Asma 1989
Sweet Juliet 1989

Ambridge Rose 1990
Brother Cadfael 1990
Kathryn Morley 1990
Lilac Rose 1990
Peach Blossom 1990
The Prince 1990

Bow Bells 1991
Cottage Rose 1991
Country Living 1991
The Dark Lady 1991
The Pilgrim 1991

Dr. Jackson 1992
Emily 1992
Evelyn 1992
Glamis Castle 1992
Golden Celebration 1992
Immortal Juno 1992
Proud Bride 1992
Redout1992
Sir Edward Elgar 1992
The Alexandra Rose 1992

Happy Child 1993
Jayne Austin 1993
Mrs. Doreen Pike 1993
St. Swithun 1993
Tradescant 1993

Charlotte 1994
Eglantyne 1994
John Clare 1994
Molineux 1994
Radio Times 1994
The Herbalist 1994

Heavenly Rosalind 1995**
Jude the Obscure 1995
Noble Antony 1995
Pat Austin 1995
Pegasus 1995

A Shropshire Lad 1996
Morning Mist 1996
Mayor of Casterbridge 1996
Scepter'd Isle 1996
Snow Goose 1996

Ann 1997
Barbara Austin 1997
Charity 1997**
Geoff Hamilton 1997
Heather Austin 1997
Marinette 1997**
Mistress Quickly 1997
Rushing Stream 1997
Sophy's Rose 1997
Trevor Griffiths 1997
Windflower 1997

Buttercup 1998
Dr. Herbert Gray 1998
Mary Magdalene 1998
Teasing Georgia 1998
Tess of the D'Urbervilles 1998
William Morris 1998

Anne Boleyn 1999
Blythe Spirit 1999
Falstaff 1999
Portmeirion 1999

Cordelia 2000
Crocus Rose 2000
Crown Princess Margareta 2000
James Galway 2000
Ludlow Castle 2000
Malvern Hills 2000
Miss Alice 2000
William Shakespeare 2000

Alnwick Castle 2001
Benjamin Britten 2001
Charles Darwin 2001
Comte des Champagne 2001
Corvedale 2001
Grace 2001
The Mayflower 2001

Christopher Marlowe 2002
Jubilee Celebration 2002
Mortimer Sackler 2002
The Generous Gardener 2002

Janet 2003
Rose-Marie 2003
Scarborough Fair 2003

Carding Mill 2004**
Hyde Hall 2004
Queen of Sweden 2004
Rosemoor 2004
St. Alban 2004
The Ingenious Mr. Fairchild 2004
Wisley 2004

Darcey Bussell 2005
Gentle Hermione 2005
Harlow Carr 2005
Lady Emma Hamilton 2005
Lochinvar 2005
Rose of Picardy 2005
Spirit Of Freedom 2005
Summer Song 2005
Wild Edric 2005
Wildeve 2005

Lichfield Angel 2006
Sister Elizabeth 2006
Strawberry Hill 2006
Tea Clipper 2006
Windermere 2006

Bishop's Castle 2007
Claire Austin 2007
Huntington Rose 2007
Lady of Megginch 2007
Munstead Wood 2007
Port Sunlight 2007
Princess Alexandra of Kent 2007
Skylark 2007
The Shepherdess 2007

Names in Bold are sold by David Austin Roses

** Available from DA USA branch only

Other roses may be available from other vendors

Thanks for reprinting my list Jeffcat...

Here are some more:

Alan Titchmarsh 2007 (aka Huntington Rose)

Sir John Betjeman 2008
Wisley 2008
Young Lycidas 2008

Kew Gardens 2009
Lady of Shalott 2009
Tam o'Shanter 2009
The Wedgwood Rose 2009

Thanks, Deco for the updates to the list. I just finished looking at the images for Wisley 08. Definitely a rose I am interested in simply based upon the form alone.

No-spray gardeners might want to look at 'The Generous Gardener.' An unsprayed plant in a public place here has no blackspot at all after several years in the ground. It is around 8 x 7 with dense dark foliage and no sprawling. It was covered with attractive creamy flowers in a spectacular first flush. Now it is covered with large hips and not making new growth as the other roses are in a second flush. I don't know if it would repeat well with deadheading, but it is a handsome shrub.

Does anybody know from their experiences which of these Austins tends to have blooms on the larger size? I know Abe Darby has large blooms and I'm happy with the size of my Pat Austin and WS2000 blooms. I don't mind smaller blooms, but I'd prefer some bigger ones. One of my choices for the potted roses will mostly be some form of a yellow Austin.....which can be categorized as MANY....Charlotte, The Pilgrim, Charles Darwin, Golden Celebration, etc, etc. I like the globular blooms of Charles Darwin but they seem to be quite small from the published amounts and I also like the flatter blooms of The Pilgrim. I'm mostly interested in size of the bloom and fragrance, although my preferences for blooms are kind of just "I like what I see" rather than specific categories. This applies to most of the roses I'm looking at. I'll probably try to go with 1 of every color......which is quite a tussel with the color ranges and variations of Austins.

I buy every Austin I see,hate to say it,my favorite would prob. be Malvern Hills! It really repeats well in Tampa Bay, I got it the first year it was offered and she looks like she wants to be "swagged" chained or whatever you want to call it. Now, she does not give hardly any pollen, and I have not had luck with any seedlings from it but no blackspot ..not a lot of smell in my garden ... but I am a smoker so that doesn't help.

Of your list(s), I have: Ambridge Rose, Belle Story, Charlotte, Grace, Mayor of Casterbridge, Noble
Antony, Spirit of Freedom, The Generous Gardener, Bredon,
Chaucer, Heritage, Abe Darby, Mary Webb, Bishop's Castle, Harlow Carr, Morning Mist, The Dark Lady, Robbie Burns, Pretty Jessica and Graham Thomas. (Other Austins I didn't see that I grow are: Winchester Cathedral, Falstaff, L.D. Braithwaite, Windermere, Cymbaline, The Alexandra Rose, Wm. Shakespeare, Eglantyne, and Gertrude Jekyll.)
I have loads of photos of these so if you would like to see any specific rose, I would be happy to post them.

Since you wish to grow them in a pot, there are several that have a lanky habit of trying to climb (but are great roses). The Generous Gardener is bulletproof in terms of disease resistance for me but it needs some form of support, as does Falstaff, Graham Thomas, Morning Mist, and Spirit of Freedom. I grow these as short climbers here. My Heritage also can get really tall. Charlotte is a healthy, cold-hardy yellow but she needs to be pruned to keep her bushy since she can grow fairly big. I love all of my Austins and only a couple give me trouble no-spray: Bredon, Grace, Ambridge Rose and Mary Webb tend to blackspot here. All my others are healthy.
For a pot, my recommendation would first be Pretty Jessica since she stays under 3 feet and is very bushy, very fragrant and full-petalled. The Dark Lady, Ambridge Rose, Noble Antony, Windermere, Eglantyne and Grace would probably do well in a pot. I don't grow any of mine in pots due to my severe winters, but with pruning many of
the Austins would be good candidates. If you have any questions on any specific Austins that I grow or photos from my garden, let me know. For some reason, Austins do
extremely well here for me in zone 4 and many of them are
surprisingly winter hardy. I am one of those who loves Austins and I order at least a couple more each year, esp. the older ones.

Celeste

Jeffcat--In my experience the Austin with the largest blooms is Evelyn. Unlike most Austins, Evelyn has stiff upright canes which is a good thing because the blooms are very heavy. Evelyn needs to be disbudded aggressively--she makes lots of side buds which can be too heavy for the cane and they crowd the flowers and ruin the perfect form. Disbudding makes the remaining flowers even larger. You can expect flowers 4 to 5 inches across.

Golden Celebration makes large flowers, but I see you are interested in growing the rose in a pot. Golden Celebration is a large rose. I don't know how it would respond to growing in a pot but I think you would need a very large pot.

The Prince can have large blooms. Its variable sometimes he produces many smaller blooms and sometimes fewer large blooms. You could disbud for fewer larger blooms. I mention The Prince because I do have experience in growing him in a pot. He did very well for a couple years but then seemed to slow down. I transplanted him into the ground this year and he is doing well and producing very large blooms.

A yellow rose that does well in a pot, at least for a couple years, is Julia Child. Not an Austin, but has a nice old fashioned look and good fragrance. I grew her in a pot with blue lobelia cascading over the sides.

I'm pretty much convinced that I am going to get Evelyn as one of my potted roses, even though it's rather high maintenance and gets quite large.

Deciding on the others will be quite another challenge though. There is no way I will only get 2-3 potted Austins now after researching them all more. There are many that I can eliminate due to lack of interest, or the growth manner is too large, but even after eliminating many it still leaves me with an absurd amount to choose from.

Celeste, I'm sure everybody here, including myself would be very interested in seeing more pictures of your Austins. I really love the plentiful petals of Spirit of Freedom, but I believe it is too large for a pot and based on reports I've seen, it's rather light in fragrance compared to other Austins. Charlotte is one of the yellows I am considering.........amongst MANY. Ideally, I would like to get one of every color which makes it difficult as some are borderline shades of many colors. Yellows to note are Charles Darwin, Charlotte, Charity, The Pilgrim, English Garden, Molineux, etc. etc. making the decision for just one of the color....sooooo hard. I have the same dilemma with the apricots, pinks, and whites as well.

I have given serious thought to Pretty Jessica if I can find her available. I have heard she has larger blooms which is what I am looking for and I am a sucker for globular cupped blooms with dense petal packing like my romantica Red Eden. I've also heard Pretty Jessica is fragrant. My problem of ambivalence is whether I should sacrifice my desire to also have other beautiful pinks like Redoute, Harlow Carr, Mayor of Casterbridge, Eglantyne, and the other borderline pink/purple shades like Huntington Rose. How has your experiences with Mayor of Casterbridge been in terms of bloom size and fragrance?

everyrose, I'm considering The Prince, prospero, transcendant, and the squire. I already have WS2000 in the ground and am more than pleased with WS2000 in terms of color and am pleased with it's intriguing scent. I would like to purchase a "red", but I know The Prince is more of deep red/purple, so I am somewhat torn as to whether or not staying with WS2000 or experimenting with a deeper red or more of a true red like the Squire. Like many of the others it will come down to bloom size and fragrance probably.

Some day.....some day I tell you.....I will work an entire other job to make sure I never have this problem and just buy every Austin and Romantica ever released so that way I won't have to limit my decisions to so few. :) It feels like I am asking which one of my children do I like the most and should keep.

jeffcat,
Since you are considering 'Charlotte' for one of your yellows, I'll share some pics from today of her. This
rose is really healthy, winterhardy, and blooms well. The fragrance for me is mild/moderate tea...not real strong, but there.
Also, you should still consider 'Pretty Jessica'....of all the Austins, she is the most compact and could easily fit
in a large pot happily. She definitely has the globular form and strong fragrance you desire.
You are right about Spirit of Freedom....it wouldn't be well-suited to pot culture, being extremely gangly and wanting to be a climber. Not much fragrance, either, but perfection of form...a real stunner in the looks dept.

I never hear much about Mayor of Casterbridge, and I can't figure out why it isn't more well-known or grown. I absolutely love mine! It gets to about 3/12 to 4 feet tall each summer with only about a foot of winter dieback here in zone 4. The blooms remind me of the most desirable of the old roses, with cupped and very full petals and a cute button-eye. And I went out just now to sniff the blooms so I could report back to you about its
fragrance....and it is strong....old rose with fruity notes. I haven't had any issues with disease with mine
and it remains quite healthy all summer. I don't know how it blooms in other parts of the country, but during my short summers I get excellent flower production.

I enabled a lot of folks into Pretty Jessica.....
I guess I need to start promoting Mayor of Casterbridge! LOL

Have you considered 'Grace'? Mine doesn't get very large and it is yellow with apricot tones. I got mine in honor of my oldest daughter named Grace but here in zone 4 it
is one of my least winter-hardy so it never gets more than 2/12 feet tall. But its a really pretty rose and unusual.

Celeste

MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE.....(FROM TODAY)

{{gwi:295298}}

{{gwi:295299}}

{{gwi:295300}}

CHARLOTTE...(FROM TODAY)

{{gwi:295301}}

{{gwi:295302}}

GRACE.....

{{gwi:295303}}

PRETTY JESSICA....

{{gwi:295304}}

WOW!! Thanks a bunch Celeste. Those are the best pics I have ever seen of Mayor of Casterbridge to date.....The blooms are amazing.....a very strongly supported cup with tufts of exterior petals outside the cup and moderately and artistically packed interior petals. The contrasting button eye fits it well. My one question about MOC was whether or not the blooms were large enough, but going from the proportion of the blooms in comparison to your hand, they look HUGE. How large would you say MOC's blooms are? I have only heard a few vague reports that they were small, although like yourself, I have heard so little about Mayor of Casterbridge. I was only going to get 1 pink.....but now I have to kill one of the children and choose between Pretty Jessica, Mayor of Casterbridge, and the other pinks. I have a feeling I might end up getting 2 of the pinks....which would still make the decision terribly difficult. After 3 days of viewing and researching, I have only decided on a white in winchester cathedral. :)

I'm still looking over yellows at the moment and my top 2 so far are Golden Celebration and Charlotte, although I would have probably chosen Charles Darwin as it has big cup shaped blooms, but it doesn't look as if Roses Unlimited carries him. That is going to be a toughy decision there. Happy Child is still a possibility as well, although it's a little more lemony color rather than a yellow that I am leaning more towards at the moment.

Grace is a unique Austin. The bloom form is unique from the others. I havn't looked at the apricots much yet, so it's hard saying off hand which ones I am seriously considering. I know I saw Carding Mill and really enjoyed it's appearance or substituting it for an orange blend like Lady Emma Hamilton.....or going off the wall and choosing The Alnwick Rose...although I've heard the blooms are quite small. Still have a lot of research to do on Apricots, Oranges, and Alnwick itself.

I still have to choose on one of the "reds" too yet. :) At least I have Evelyn and Winchester Cathedral down though....assuming they still have them in stock.

FWIW, 'Wildflower' is a smaller Austin (plant), or was for us. It produced light yellow single blooms in modest clusters. It did not suffer from rust, and was only occasionally touched by mildew.

'WINDRUSH' also a yellow single, had more color, slightly larger blooms, in sprays of a bit more size. The sprays were well-shaped, and there was some vase life.

It was for the most part disease-free here, but of course, in both cases, this does not say a thing about blackspot, which is an infrequent visitor here.

'The Wife of Bath' was a weak grower here, and is long gone, but it had mildew problems here.
'Charles Rennie Mackintosh' was VERY prickly, with thin, wiry stems. It had no particular flaws, but neither had it many striking virtues, and it is also long gone.

Jeri

I checked with Roses Unlimited and not surprisingly, they are out of many of the roses I was considering. However I may still strive for a Mary Magdalene as I don't hear a ton about her here and she is very pretty. Radio Times is another one of interest.

Does anybody know where I could swoop up a 1-gal Evelyn still?....or am I pretty much just out of luck till next spring? I know she is a rose in hot demand.

I really like the Austins, but of the three varieties I currently grow, 'Pretty Jessica' is the most satifying.
If you have a large garden, there are many Austins to fit the bill. But Jessica is the perfect rose for a small garden or a well-tended container.

'Pretty Jessica'
{{gwi:209993}}

Jeff, I have WS2000, the Prince and Tradescant. The Prince is a deeper truer purple than WS2000. Tradescant is a true red. I'd put WS2000 right in the middle of those two colorwise. The Prince has a nicer bush form than Tradescant. I don't have Prospero so I can't compare. But I love all 3 I mentioned above. Do you have to pick just one????

Unfortunatley, buford I get to pick none as far as the "reds" go. After looking around and seeing what was out of stock, I am content with going with Golden Celebration(just purchased), and I have Evelyn and Winchester Cathedral coming in the mail via High Country. My WS2000 just recently opened up it's 2nd flush and the wonderful scent is back, and while I was picking up a 2.5gal Golden Celebration, I saw 1 WS2000 hiding amongst all the other roses......absolutely amazed he was still there. I was VERY tempted to pick him up and have him as a potted rose as well, so that I could take him with me when I eventually move in a little over a year....but I held back. I pulled him out into an open space so somebody else could appreciate his beauty and scent and could enjoy him.

How would you compare The Prince and Tradescant's fragrance to WS2000's? I will hold off on them until next year...hopefully my nursery has one of them...if not I will get one online somewhere. Prospero comes to mind as well. They all have unique qualities and color variations from what I have seen. One I rarely hear from.....is one of the originals......The Squire(77'). He seems REALLY red on some goofy looking foilage, but the bloom looks nice as well. Like many of the Austins.......the "reds" will be no different. I will have to blindly fire at my toes and see which one is left after it's all said and done.

Thanks everybody for the suggestions. I received my Evelyn and Winchester Cathedral yesterday from High Country and they looked great, so I potted them up. I also purchased a 2.5gal Golden Celebration from the nursery and potted it. And finally.....I bit the bullet and saw Heirloom had their sale, so I picked up the widely admired Pretty Jessica and Sharifa Asma for pots as well. I hope they get here and turn out alright. Lots of baby rose watching and managing to do.

Jeffcat, that's great that you were able to nab a 'Pretty Jessica' from Heirloom. Nurse that tiny baby along, and most likely some day it will become one of your favorites.
'Sharifa Asma' too, huh? Very nice!

Randy