Hi Diane -- I saw LDB at a local nursery and it's definitely not my rose. Thanks for the feedback!

There aren't many red Austins. It looks like the LDB that a friend used to grow. Check the Austin US and UK web sites.

Thanks Diane - I did check the websites and concluded it might be Tess but wasn't sure.

It looks a lot like my old Austin Shakespeare not the Shakespeare 2000.

Thanks for the photo! It does look like your rose but mine has a bit more purple in the color. Also, I don't think that DA is selling the old WS anymore and I just got this rose in 2014.

Darcey Bussell?

Hi Kachana -- Thank you for the photo! I think you may be right. My first guess was Darcey Bussell but the DA website says it's a 3x2 which is a lot smaller than my shrub. But Calif grows roses a lot taller than average. What do you think of your DB? I'm considering giving mine away because I'm not crazy about it and I'd like to make room for Lady Emma Hamilton.

Best,

Ann

yes it looks like Darcey. Mine is close to 5'x4; the DA website describes UK size not CA size. DB blooms frequently, but not much fragrance. I like it but don't adore it. It is more reliable than enchanting, but reliable is a virtue also.

Thank you for your comments. I'm a fragrance nut so it wasn't a rose I would have picked. I understand "reliable" as well - my floribundas are the definition of reliable and I really appreciate them. Thanks again!

Ann,

My DB is about 3x2, but she's been in my yard less than a year. I love her for she's always with blooms despite being her first year, and despite our triple digit temp. I only have a few roses at the moment, so I'd say she's my best DA rose this year. She smells pretty good to me...very similar to Belinda's Dream in terms of fragrance intensity. Now that it is cooler, she's taken on a different shape...more 'structured' as oppose to free form:

Yes that does help - thanks!

I'm late to the party, but it's not often I can offer any help from my small selection of full grown roses. So many of mine are still babies. Any way I agree. That's the first thing I thought of when I saw the picture. Darcy Brussell. My DB is about 3 years old. She has turned out to be my smallest DA rose, bush wise. She's about 3' high by about 4 1/2' wide. She blooms pretty often but never to the point where the bush is loaded with blooms, often 10 or 12 at a time. The scent is petty light, and I find the flowers to be on the small side. I kept thinking they would grow larger with time, feeding, or cooler temps. So far that has not happened. Do any of you who grow it find that the blooms are a bit on the small side? Now that the weather has cooled, I am seeing a few clusters of 3 at the end of canes.

Darcy's blooms are a cool red with violet undertones. They last a day or three in the vase. I like her, but wish her blooms were larger, smellier and lasted longer cut. On the plus side she has come through the heat and drought unfazed, has shown not one iota of disease, and always has a bloom or two. A keeper for me!

Hi Lisa -- Thank you so much for your comments. I completely agree with you on DB's good points and what you wish for. I learned from having this rose that if a rose doesn't have sufficient fragrance, I can't love it enough to keep it. So it will be going to a friend's house soon. I've ordered two Lady Emma Hamilton's which will occupy this valuable sunny spot. I only wish I could drop DB off with a rosarian who would love it, knowing what a DB is.