First of all, you need advice from someone close to you. We can give you general advice, but the performance of David Austin roses (or most any rose, for that matter) varies greatly by variety, your location, and your conditions (summer humidity, summer drought, winter floods, 110 degree temps, soil condition, etc) .

We need to know pretty much WHERE in zone 9b you live, and which varieties of Austin roses you're considering. Also, we need to know the exposure, how much, if any, shade they might experience, and the the amount of sun and time of day (full sun all day, morning sun only, evening sun, dappled shade, etc). You also need to tell us if you're willing to spray for disease, or want a no-spray garden.

I will say that the newer Austin roses tend to be more disease resistant than the older ones, but I'm guessing that unless you're in California you will need to spray at least some varieties for disease. And I would never discourage anyone from growing roses, but it seems to me that starting out with 90 new roses is a pretty big undertaking, especially when you aren't familiar with how they'll behave in your garden. If it were me, I'd experiment with the varieties you want to use, planting one or two of each in a place it won't matter if they defoliate, and watch them for at least a year. Then you would KNOW which will work and which are dogs. Like I said, roses behave differently in different areas. What works in CA might not work in FL, and vice versa.

As for soil prep to 18", you might consider raised beds or berms if it's away from the house. For foundation plantings your only choice might be professional help. But my suggestion would be to roto-till the entire bed as deeply as possible, amend the soil with more organic matter than you think you could possibly need (too much is never enough!), then dig your 18" holes for each rose. HOWEVER, if you have clay soil, your only choice may be to replace the soil, as digging a hole in clay and amending what you put back in the hole is just creating a sump pond and asking for root rot.

Again, as much as I've written here, what you need is advice from someone in your own conditions. Be sure and tell us the things I mentioned above.

Sorry to be so long-winded! lol.

John

At this stage in your rose career, of every $100.00 spend on your new rose garden, $90.00 should be spent on the improvement of your soil. First, roses grow best in full sun, a minimum of 6 hrs. of direct sunlight a day. Second, they must have excellent drainage. Poor drainage can be corrected with French drains and/or raising the bed. Determine what type of soil you currently have and amend it where it is deficient.

You, or someone else has to do the digging. There's no away around it. It's work!

There are many thing that can cause leaf drop. The primary reason is the fungus disease, black spot, the terror of many a rose gardener. The second cause is lack of sufficient water. It is the rare rose garden that can rely on natural rainfall to meet the roses' needs. Hand watering or an irrigation system are called for.

Fortunately, the rose breeders are introducing new rose varieties that need no or little spraying for insects or disease, and safer, organic methods of insect and disease control are now being used. You could 't be starting in roses at a better time in rose growing history.

Study the different varieties of roses available and select your plants with great care. Start small. Give yourself time to learn about what is available. As your knowledge base increases your rose selections will reflect it. You may have room for 100 roses, but do not fill the bed all at once. You will be glad you proceeded slowly and avoid making many costly stakes. Patience is paramount in roses.

David Austin roses are only one of the many rose classes/varieties out there. Investigate everything available. You will find the kind of roses you like the best.

Do not limift yourself to purchasing roses from local sources. There are many online rose nurseries that sell excellently grown plants. The vastly greater selection of rose varieties you can grow through ordering roses in, opens up a whole new world to you.

Visit the public rose gardens in your area to see what you like and find out what grows well in your area.

Joining a local rose society may be helpful, too. Many well seasoned rose gardeners are eager to help beginners. The knowledge base of the old timers is incredible.

Finally, post your questions on this site. Don't be bashful. Keep your questions coming. There are Rose Forum members who are store houses of knowledge and are very willing to help. I have gleaned a great amount of wisdom from them.

Thank you for reading my post and giving me some feedback. I do plan on doing a no spray garden. I am planting on the west and east side of the house. So, the east side will have morning sun, there will be some shade but no much from a nearby oak tree. On the west side it will be afternoon sun with no shade from anything. The soil is about 30% sand, 60% clay and about 10% topsoil. I was planning to add about 1" of garden soil or some compost material on top of that . I have no one to consult with here to get their local experience. I do not know that LSU (state university) recommends English roses. I consulted DA and they recommended below varieties for my climate zone. I am close to Lafayette, Louisiana. Water is not a problem for us, We are on a water well and will install irrigation. In Louisiana too much water sometimes a problem but the house and the flower bed will be above natural ground about 4ft, so should not have drainage issues. I will also be planting insect beneficial plant between the roses hoping to avoid spraying.

Olivia rose austin
Boscobel
Harlow Carr
Darcey Bussell
Lady of Sharlott
Molineux
Lichfield angel
Golden Celebration
Cardinal mill
The poets wife
Queen of sweden
heritage
Benjamine Brittan

L D Breaithwait

Ancient mariner
Young Lycidas
Mari Rose
Jubilee Celebration
Charles Darwin
The Lark Ascending
Sophiy's rose

I would seriously rethink the Austins if you want a disease resistant garden. LD Braithwait and Carding Mill are not disease resistant here in central NJ, and defoliated without treatment for blackspot. Roses that are suitable for your climate aren't necessarily disease resistant.

Try posting over in the Antique Roses forum, you'll get quite a few recommendation on roses with the form that I think you are seeking, that would be more resistant.

I would strongly. strongly advise against buying a "complete packet" sold by David Austin Roses. It is clearly,as far as I have observed,a very, very commercial buisness oriented above all things to sell as much as possible and make as great a profit as possible,and that's IT. I'm not saying don't get any Austins, but there are FAR too many better roses available. You seem to be maybe a bit new to roses, or am I wrong? Keep your options open! Explore and experiment! Filling up your new garden all with Austin roses would be like a very young and beautiful boy or girl with some patrimony throwing themselves away by marrying a flashy but fundamentally untrustworthy person who does not love or care for them at all, but is merely interested in their money. That is my opinion.

i live in the houston texas area (about 15 miles from the coast now) i've found that a few austin roses do well in this area, my favorites being abraham darby and ambridge rose...they are my favorites because they've taken less care and are healthier than the other half dozen i've grown, but i've found old garden roses particularly chinas and old tea roses do better in the continual heat and humidity we have here, even now in late october nighttime temps are over 75 all my roses are in raised beds due to gumbo soils we have here if you do go ahead with your austin gardens, i hope you keep us updated on your favorites..

Antique Rose Emporium is a great resource on line and over the phone. I think they have roses you would love that are suitable for your area. Heat alone can defoliate some roses in hot areas mid summer, but not all. "Earth Kind" roses seem to be less fussy in the right area.

Don't buy Golden Celebration, it has no disease resistance whatsoever. Sophy's Rose does very well. If you have just built the house, maybe the areas surrounding the house will have loose soil. Still, it's probably not great so I would add amendments and try to mix them in as much as possible. And also amend the rose holes when you dig them.

Here is a Rose trail that was done in Georgia and includes some Austins

http://ugatrial.hort.uga.edu/index.cfm/fuseaction/home.showpage/pageID/26/index.htm

It depends totally where you live. I lived in Galveston area for 10 years and most Austins grew well for me. Where do you live?

As far as soil, it is likely compacted from construction so you will need to break it up.

I am in south east Texas with a very similar climate to yours. I have few Austins and they tend to do fairly well but are water hogs and do better with regular watering. Evelyn, Tamora, heritage and Molineaux have been good Austins for me. But the roses that do the absolutely best and thrive in our heat and humidity are tea roses. There are several good teas that were actually found growing in Louisiana, Maggie, she's not a actual tea, bourbon I think and The Mclintock tea are just a few. I would highly encourage you to call the Antique Rose Emporium and ask for advice on roses that will do well in your part of La, it could save you some time and money on growing roses that don't do well in your climate. Good luck and have fun choosing all those roses!

Sorry missed the Lafayette comment. Lady of Shallott did great for me, as did Heritage, Falstaff, Abraham Darby, Scepter d Isle, albrighton rambler, I didn't grow it there, but I would imagine that crown princess Margaretta, Munstead wood, and Olivia austin would all grow well. Other roses that did really well in that area of state, Climbing Lady Hillingdon, Belindas Dream, Elizabeth Taylor, Don Juan, Mr Lincoln, Ducher, Duchess de Brabrant, mons Tillier, Cecile bruner, new dawn, Ebb Tide, Twilight Zone, Chrysler Imperial, easy Going, easy living, Lady banks, Heart o Gold, Julia child, love song. Had several teas and such from antique rose emporium but didn't have them long enough to judge.

I have 7 different Austin roses and Olivia is the most diasease resistant for me. I live in central Texas

I have 7 different Austin roses and Olivia is the most diasease resistant for me. I live in central Texas

Since you live in Louisiana, you might consider contacting the staff at the American Rose Society which is located in Shreveport, LA. They would be a great resource on how well various roses grow in your climate.

The American Rose Society

Ann

thank you all!!!! You are awesome. And I do appreciate everything communicated back to me. It looks like those who have DA roses are happy with how they perform. Nobody said that the roses get to be naked. I would hate to have a flower bed full of sticks in summer. I also realize that I might be making a mistake getting this many roses at the same time but I SOOOO want to. This could be the biggest fiasco and money loss. I am still waiting for the quote and I might have to do this in stages after all. I will reach out to the American rose society to see what they think of Austins in this area.

Question, own root or grafted? If the same rose is offered as either which one would you go for? I am thinking own root where offered, I do not have to worry about hard winters, but from growth standpoint and what ever else how would you decide?

Most of mine are own root except where I could only get them as grafted. I mainly order from David Austin America, Antique Rose Emporium, or Roses Unlimited(only place I can consistently find Climbing Lady Hillingdon). I in truth haven't had a bad Austin yet and have not found them to be any more water hoggy than other roses. Some do better in drought, but they all bloom better with good watering.

With where you live, you might consider joining the Houston Rose Society, you wouldn't be able to attend their meetings, but they have a monthly rose newsletter that is very good.

The other thing I will share about DAs, is many of mine seem to be similar to climbers in that they take a little bit to get settled in but then take off. The two main mistakes I have made and learned from were planting them in too shady of a spot or planting them near some big ole live oaks. In neither case did they grow particularly well.

Own root can live the longest. Sometimes grafted roses go own root later but not always.

Many Austins are good and lovely roses, and if you like them I don't see any reason why you shouldn't try them! But I must say, I would suggest going slowly, and I really wouldn't recommend starting with an expensive pre-planned garden. Even if the folks at DA do a great job recommending varieties that are good in your area, there's no accounting for taste, and you might find (I know this has happened to me) that some turn out to be perfectly good roses that just ... don't make your heart sing! Even with the disease resistance issue, if you are relatively new to roses, you might want to explore what your own tolerance level is. For me personally, I want my roses to look spectacular in late May/early June, but I can forgive some BS in the heat of the summer, so long as they shrug it off by fall/next spring (some of the better ones for me BS-wise are Sophy's rose, The Herbalist, Young Lycidas, Mortimer Sackler, Harlow Carr, and even my beloved Gertrude Jekyll isn't terrible). Your milage may vary: you say you don't want total sticks (understandably!) but you might find you can live with a little bs here and there, particularly if you add some other plants to distract the eye. But you won't know til you have lived with them a bit. My suggestion would be - why don't you make a small "test garden" to start with? You could buy one specimen each of the roses (DA's or otherwise) that you are interested in, and live with them for a year. The ones you completely fall in love with, well, you could get lots the next spring (or since you are in zone 9b, probably the following fall)! And the ones that are sort of "meh", well, you haven't made a huge investment of time and effort. Plus that way, the work of preparing the soil for them wouldn't be too daunting to start with. Just my 2 cents - anyway, I do hope you don't feel like those of us who are suggesting caution are raining on your parade! Its so exciting to start a new garden, and I wish you all the best of luck, whatever you decide!

Hello, I am similar in which I like to jump in full force as well! All or nothing, right? My DAs do fairly well here until about September when most things are covered in BS. Not totally naked but splotchy yellow yugck... I have highly alkaline clay soil. Your soil will make a huge difference!! Pat Austin is completely BS free and healthy (loves alkaline soil apparently)..My others have a fair amount with Darcy being my worst.

Sophy's rose-good disease resistance for me

Jubilee Celebration

Scepter D'Isle

Winemere-awesome fragrance, great disease resistance, wonderful repeat, but blows really fast 2-3 days..

Golden Celebration-smells wonderful but is completely defoliated as of now..

Beautiful pictures and more wonderful feedback. I do not have any hard feelings and totally OK with everyone giving me a caution light. But I am all or nothing.... it really burns me to hold back. The roses were suggested to me by DA rosarian, he also proposed a formation for the rose boarder. So, now not only I want it all at the same time but I also feel like I owe the guy for the advice and time spent thinking this through. I actually was told that DA roses like 6-7 pH soil.... I guess this is something I need to do, I need to test and see where I am. I will be ordering in December, I already got a quote from them so now I just have to wait and get digging going to prep the area. I wrote to a Rose society people but did not hear back yet. Can not wait till next spring

Personally I wouldn't worry too much about soil pH. It's hard to truly ammend the pH of a soil without continously working on it. Your roses should do fine regardless of pH. As far as the soil, get a soil test from the extension service and see what it tells you than start building up the organic matter and nutrients. I use a product called Lady Bug rose soil which does a great job for me when putting in a bed.

kingcobbtx7b, if pH is not that important then I guess I should be OK. as I mentioned before we have about 60% clay, 30% sand and about 10% topsoil (the layer of soil that was delivered to us was scraped and had grass in it so it is organic somewhat). We also have a compost pile, that has a lot of leaves in it. we brought those in this April so they are not decomposed yet, but what I was thinking of doing is: 1) loosen up the soil where roses would go. I guess I am doing it with a shovel. the rosarian told me that I need to go 18" deep. 2) I was going to put about 2-3" of those leaves, grass clippings and what ever else we have in that compost pile and leave it in the bed till January. I was thinking that if the soil we have has any organic deficiency having leaves sitting there for about 3 months would do it good.

If you dig in those leaves a bit, they should be decomposed come Spring.

Yullya B, nothing improves soil as good as well composted manure. It does so much in so many ways, and you will have a hard time overusing it. It conditions the soil as well as fertilizing it, not to forget to mention the abundance of microbes it holds that brings your soil alive. Disease resistance is greatly enhanced in your roses directly as a result of applying manure. Always use well composted manure.

I agree with Moses, I was also going to suggest adding manure to your soil along with the leaves. I use black kow from Lowes.

What roses did the DA people suggest for you?

thanks. The suggested roses are in the first post in this thread. I will definitely check into manure as well. How much of it to use though? If I buy bagged, do I spread a 1" thick layer or less?

1" minimum, 2" is better...as much as you can afford. Mix it in good. Don't just top dress it and let it sit on the top of the soil or the nitrogen in the manure will be absorbed out into the atmosphere. You don't want to fertilize the air! Make sure it is well composted. And if bought bagged from the store, make sure it is pure composted manure, no fillers like sedge peat or top soil.

I would first dig a 18 to 24 inch hole, fill it with water, and determine how good of drainage you have. If water is still sitting in there after 6 hours or overnight if done in the evening you have more work to do. Part of that clay soil would have to be removed and replaced with compost, some manure, etc. What preparation you put into each and every planting hole will impact the plant's productivity and health.

Are you planning on planting bareroot or potted roses from DA? This article from ARS has some great advice in it, whether you plan on bareroot (full article) or potted (ground prep) roses.

http://www.rose.org/rose-care-articles/from-bare-root-to-bloom/

I would also urge caution as well as some roses grow MUCH larger than expected, some varieties may not do so well for you in your setting, some varieties may not interest you in the end, and...the worst of all...you'll always find more varieties you just have to grow. Yes, it's addicting! I just don't want you to be burned out your first year - I enjoy watering, fertilizing, deadheading, etc - spending time in my garden - but when you some disease, pets, etc and the number of roses you are working with it can compound the frustrations and lead to burnout.

There are some great disease resistant Austins many already mentioned. A few of the most disease resistant ones I grow: Teasing Georgia, Gentle Hermoine, Claire Austin, Spirit of Freedom, and James Galway. However, Abraham Darby, Crown Princess Margareta, Munstead Wood, and Olivia - this group new this year - all have done quite well.

Best of luck!!!