I've tried Othello a couple of times here and my impression is that he's a fussy rose in our zone. I've never been able to overwinter him, same with Prospero, so give him a very protected spot and hope for the best. I wouldn't expect him to get tall because of the extent of winter die-back in our zones. Maybe 3' if you're lucky is my guess. I'd pick the spot more for protection than for height given his relative weakness compared to other Austins, at least for me (most Austins overwinter very well and can be cane hardy).

Cynthia

Thanks for the info. I'm planting a few discount, zone pushing roses in a garden bed that has proven to be good for other tender roses. It is slowly becoming just a rose bed! I could not say no to 2 & 3 gallon potted roses for $4.00 & $6.00! Almost as cheap as annuals.

Here, it always seemed to be one of the hardier Austins. Five or six feet straight up, even after winters that hit more than -20.

I planted mine three years ago and it doesn't do well at all. This year is the worst as it looks like a miniature rose. I didn't have the heart to sp it and it is too late in the season to find another rose for the spot. So far, it is the only austins that I have who doesn't do well at all.

I had him for a while in by z4b area & my experience mimics mad_gallica's.

Paul Barden wrote about this rose on his old website, which is worth looking at:

http://paulbardenroses.com/austins/othello.html

Thanks for the comments. So between them all it could go either way. Thanks for the link, I had read it when I was searching for more info. I planted Othello in the rose collection bed, towards the back. I'm being optimistic that it will have a bit of height. Also due to the thorns already I wanted it farther in the bed where no one will get snagged. It's already putting out some growth and buds!

Othello is a stunning hardy beauty in zone5 Canada

It really repeats well with long lasting bloom on bush and on vase

the best fragrance among all my austins

The only problem is being extremely thorny , so plant it away from kids and passers

Fadi, your Othello is beautiful. According to Paul's website, one of the parents of Othello is Lilian Austin. Lilian is an exceptionally good rose here for me. I am going to give Othello a try.

Here in central MI, Othello was a four cane octopus. It only had two flushes a year (spring & fall), the flowers don't have a stem long enough to really cut, and the thorns...oh yes, it rusted badly too. I had to tie down the long canes or it would only flower at the ends. It usually had at least 3' of live cane every spring. I shovel pruned it after four years. It sounds like you are getting it for a good price though, so it would be worth a trial.

Sunny

I got my Othello last year

the plant had almost 8 thick thorny canes and was dormant in the Fall. We get a huge snow cover in the winter and that's really helps with winter survival.

all canes survived with no problem ; it started growing like crazy in the spring and it has been flowering for the past 4 weeks

I got it at 14$ ( end of season sale).

No blavk spots or rust so far

but I had a small problem with aphids in all roses

i will try to beg the canes for more flowers

some canes have only one flowers and other canes have 2 or 3 flowers I guess depends on plant maturity

I ended up planting it in the back of the garden. It can do whatever it wants there. I've had some great blooms from it already. It is growing well in it's spot. Made it through winter fine. I'll report back in fall & let everyone know how the rebloom is.

Did your Othello survive...do you have any pictures please

That is one crazy beautiful rose

My Othello survived. I did end up moving him last year late in the season. I loved the bloom so much I wanted to give it a better spot. So after our terrible winter I was a bit worried. He did die down to the ground, but he is growing now. Just a tiny guy right now. The move & winter really set him back. As for the blooms this year they have been ok. The weather has been insane, it got super hot, then cool, then hot, etc. So even all of my rose blooms have been unusual this spring. But he has been putting out multiple blooms too.

Blondie. What a beauty. One of the cool things about this forum is seeing rose's that you've never seen before and then of course wanting to plant it yourself when you have no room.

Wonderful post! Othello was the first rose I bought after much research or as much as one can do without the internet, but had to dig it up when we redid my upper yard. I thought about getting it again. I remember it used to sport to a striped rose that was like variegata de bologna and was so attractive.

I see Othello, and I want it. Then I see Prospero and I want it. Then I see Falstaff and want that one too.

I would say to stop tempting me but boy do I love seeing all of your beautiful David Austin's

Another bloom today. It is a big bloom! I should have shown something for scale. It's like 5 inches across.

Wow, wow, wow. Love Othello

I confess to being very fond of 'Othello', even with his faults. I think his thorny canes have character. This discussion has given me hope that I might be able to grow him in my zone 5 garden. HalloBlondie, is your 'Othello' own root or grafted?

I'm pretty sure it's grafted. But I'm not 100% sure, when I replanted it, I planted it much deeper than I did in it's original spot.

On another note about Othello. I was at my favourite garden centre early in spring and they had quite a few potted Othello & Charles Austin roses. So I was chatting to one of the more knowledgeable staff there and I asked about them and he told me that the supplier/grower of these ones was a local woman and that she only grew robust & vigorous plants. If they were puny/disease prone she wouldn't grow them. So I will see how it does. Of course I picked up a second Othello & Charles Austin!

I want to Vandermeer nurseries this week and grabbed two Othello and a fiserhermans friend....Three HT roses Double delight , Golden scepter and Henry fonda..all rose were on sale for $18:99 I couldn't resist.

I adore this one (so far)... I have an own-root and it actually seems to like part shade? And it can have a mix of so many colors, even a bit of yellow?