Judith, I have grown Evelyn own root from Heirloom Roses and Roses Unlimited. And I have now got David Austin Grafted. Here was my experience...

Heirloom’s Evelyn was a paler color and not quite as prolific with her blossoms, but a very lovely smelling rose.

Roses Unlimited was darker in color, more prolific with her blossoms, smelled wonderful and bloomed well on long canes.

My favorite has been the grafted plant. It bloomed very well the first year. The color was darker than Heirloom’s, a little paler than Roses Unlimited (it was it’s first year this year), and it was a blooming machine for a first year rose. It’s definitely a keeper. We have had a number of -26F nights this winter so far and it is totally unprotected in the worst part of the yard. However, I have planted the graft about 6-8” under the dirt. Spring will tell me how hardy it is. I realize you are in Texas and not concerned with temps like mine, but I thought I would include it as information for someone else who might need it. In my opinion, I would go with RU for own root or wait until next year for grafted.

We get summer temps of 90’s and 100’s. Evelyn enjoys afternoon shade here on the East side of my house. When I had her on the West side, she didn’t seem to grow as well and her color was much darker... a dark apricot and dark pink color that I really didn’t care for. I much prefer the afternoon shade color you see below.

Rebecca

I have Evelyn and Jude on Fortuniana, originally planted with an eastern exposure. Jude was really happy there, but Evelyn kept reaching toward the sun with thin elongated canes, so I agree, she really needs her full sun. Both were vigorous, ended the year at 5x5, Evelyn bloomed OK and Jude was excellent. I’ve relocated Evelyn to full sun for this year. (I hate transplanting a big rose, so many feeder roots are lost and now I’m worried that they’ll be significant setback).

Diane, I am gonna have to place Eglantyne on my wanted list. She is really beautiful. Such a light delicate pink.

Goodness Rebecca, are you sure that's a flower and not an edible dessert? lol..it looks like you could add some whipped topping and sliced peaches..yummy My Evelyn flowers never looked that good.

Ben I bet your Evelyn will recover ok in your zone. She might sit for awhile working on her roots, then take off. Did you get your Evelyn from K&M?

Here, all my roses are in mostly all day sun. Black spot can be a problem here and the more sun, the less disease problems here. In general, the more humidity in the enviornment, the more sun they can take.

Rebecca, thanks for the great information. I have 2 coming from Roses Unlimited and plan to get the grafted one from DA next year. I have plenty of full sun here in Texas so it should be very happy! Egad! Minus 26?? We have had a couple of arctic blasts that went down to 10 one night and usually 20-26 and we thought it was the end of the world!!

Judith

Sultry, that’s funny!!! I do love to shove my whole face into those roses as I walk by. The scent is incredble and the main reason I grow this rose. The rose form and color is the other. She is just a rose that I don’t want to be without.

I used David Austin Rose food on the roots at planting. That really seems to give them a boost. In following years, I switch to Osmocote on the surface...1/4 cup per rose, and scratch it in a bit. Our season is short, so I only fert once. My roses all get cut to the ground every year because of winter kill, so that gives them less cane with bigger blooms. The photo is taken with my iPad up close.

Judith, that’s the actual temp... wind chills were -43 F. Everyone here is pretty used to it. We are careful to take precautions against frostbite and travel with winter survival kits. Some of us have remote car starters to warm up our cars before we take off and wear warm clothes to work outside, which many people do. I remember one year we had -80 wind chills and had to go outside to repair an awning that broke in the wind, and was banging against the window... now THAT was a bit nasty. :)

Rebecca

Hello,

I have an ownroot Evelyn I bought as a 1gal from Heirloom Roses back in Summer 2016. She was kept in a large pot until Spring 2017, then planted into a raised bed that gets all day 106F summer sun. She seems to love the sun, but the flowers look more like pics I've seen of Tamora during the summer. Blooms are much bigger for me in the fall-winter. Some say she's a slow grower, but for me she grew lots of 4-6ft long canes quickly. She's about 4ft tall and 10ft wide right now. I'm trying to figure out how much to prune, since she's still young and ppl say not to prune much for 3yrs. She only get sprayed for mildew prevention here. Evelyn is actually pretty resistant, but my hybrid teas get such heavy mildew even with spray I just like to make sure it doesn't spread.

Evelyn in August

Evelyn in January

I live in a cold zone and unfortunately both of my Evelyns are grafted. However they surprisingly do well in my garden and is a star during the spring flush. I have posted many pics in other threads of Evelyn and I don't feel I should over post them again.

JJ, post away!!! I haven’t seen them yet, and would love to!!!

Rebecca

No overposting possible for me either jjpeace!

Mad, your photos are luscious. I love the coloring on the second one!

Mad, I’m wondering the same thing. My Evelyn is ownroot from Heirloom and only about 1 1/2 years old. She’s throwing these long octopus canes out in every direction. Some of them are about 8F long. I have her in full, all day sun, so she’s not reaching for anything but her neighbors! I’d like to prune them by half. It’s pruning time here now. She sure is a beauty! Lisa

JJ, over-posting is not possible!

Mine are no-spray own-root in full sun in Z8 and are very vigorous. Thanks to Nanadoll that I even bought them though because I read somewhere that they were difficult, which has absolutely not been the case.

But I am paying attention to the comments about the shade because I planned on buying more for the shady areas where Austins usually do so well in our high heat.

So, I've enabled you, LL. I'm glad it's turned out well because sometimes enabling can backfire-heheh. I think in your more southerly location with its extreme heat, you could plant Evelyn in some shade and be fine, but here it's best to avoid almost all shade for her.

Now, I shall over post some Evelyn pics. Diane

Wowsa, those are fantastic, thank you!!

Ok that is a tough act to follow, Diane! They are gorgeous. It always amazes me that you live near a very dry area growing gorgeous roses.

Of all the roses I have grown, I think the individual blooms are the most beautiful. I usually take close up shots of this rose. As I have mentioned before, one of my nieces is named Evelyn, so I will always love this rose the best.

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One of the things I have noticed is that the colours of my Evelyn is much more lighter than Diane's. I am not sure if it is the camera but mine doesn't have the deeper colour compared to Diane's.

JjPeace... Gorgeous!!! My Roses Unlimited Evelyn was darker than my DAR Evelyn.

Diane, did your Evelyn come from Roses Unlimited? Gorgeous, as well!!,

Rebecca

These pictures are the epitome of a David Austin Rose! Just stunning. Mad, I love your Arbor. What roses do you have planted on it?

Thanks, Rebecca and jjpeace. Three Evelyns are from David Austin directly, and one is from my favorite local nursery, but came in a five gallon Austin pot with Austin tags, so I guess they all hail from the same place, Texas, where they were actually grown. They are all on Dr Huey. Three are 13 years old, and the newer one about three years old. They have always been variable in color--some very pink, some pale, and some peach and almost apricot. I have no explanation for this. I know the camera and light conditions can cause some variation in a photo, but that accounts for very little of this color change.

Jjpeace, your photos are just lovely--it's hard to take a bad pic of such a gorgeous rose, and you do her proud. I have to mention that I grow my Evelyns in honor of my late mother in law, and my granddaughter, Clare Evelyn her namesake. Isn't Evelyn a great rose to grow in honor of someone? Diane

I've posted this photo a number of times, but I love this pale pink Evelyn's little proliferation; she's part of a bouquet of Sarah Bernhardt peonies.

Evelyn here is a dark peach color.

Nanadoll & JJpeace, your pics are gorgeous and so enabling : )

I do notice that for me, fresher/new blooms are darker and more apricot colored. Then as the bloom ages, the yellow disappears and it fades to pale pink for me.

Sultry_Jasmine, yes, I much prefer her look in the cooler months, too. In the summer, the roses that are a bit shaded further down in the bush look similar to those in winter, so I'm planning to eventually try another Evelyn in a slightly shadier spot to see if summer bloom form improves.

Lisa Adams, lol, yes, she does like to reach for her neighbors. I have mine in a raised bed with 2 other roses, and she's so much bigger, she's throwing off the balance! But, I love her too much to put her somewhere else so I'm slowly going prune her into a more rounded shrub. Plus, after waiting for months to get this rose back in stock, and then Heirloom Roses' recent price hike, I don't care what I have to do to keep this plant happy. I've just gone ahead and pruned only crossing canes and some of the the longer, wind damaged, spreading canes for now. She grew a lot of basals last year, so I decided to wait to see what it does with it's secondary canes this spring.

Vaporvac, thank you, I only have three young roses on it so far...The Impressionist, Eden, and Polka. I'm working on adding more climbers, I have space for 5 more, but trying to decide on which ones is so hard for me.

Such amazing pics of Evelyn everyone! I think Evelyn is perhaps the most beautiful Austin, and among the best and uniquely scented, too. I had asked FragranceNutter, who also grows an amazing Evelyn in an extremely hot climate over an endless summer, and she said her Evelyn was in full all day sun. (Hopefully she’ll post?)

It’s my experience that if Evelyn isn’t in full sun she’ll lean and grow tall and scrawny trying to reach for more light. (Other roses planted in the same light were fine, but Evelyn started mocking the Leaning Tower of Pisa). She might shut down or bleach to off white in the hottest part of summer, but the plant itself really wants that sun.

I find this very interesting that there are "two" Evelyns so to speak. Mine has always looked soft and dainty. Then again, I only had it for three years so that may change. Well with a warm winter last year, My Evelyns was almost as tall as Teasing Georgia. I bought a second one whom I planted nearby and will see if it is any different. Glad you guys enjoy the pics. Sometimes I feel embarassed posting so many of them...

Never, NEVER too many pics of Evelyn. EVER. Don’t care if I’ve seen them over and over. Every spring I stick my nose in her blooms and say, THIS IS WHY I GROW EVELYN!” Seeing photos of her reminds me of that. She’s just an all time wonderful rose.

Rebecca

I agree! I can never see too many pics of Evelyn, Eden, or Abe...rose porn at its finest!

Thanks for the kind words everyone! Well Rebecca, if my two Evelyns survived this winter, there is going to be loads of pictures. My first plant will be in its third year while the second plant in its second.

All this mention of Evelyn being discontinued made me panic and order a second one (finally found and paid out the nose at Heirloom). My original is on it’s secod year, and she lost her two new basal canes to a freak windstorm. Typically, the spot she’s in is fairly protected from our crazy winds. The tiny 1’ of growth from last year has been putting out some big fluffies in spite of this, and 2 new basal are growing as well.

So beautiful!

Am unable to locate any Evelyn rose plants for sale. Please, can anyone help? I am in southern California. Thank you

Have you tried ottos Sheila?

Sheila
I have Evelyn, I could try and start one for you, since we're both in California

Carla in Sac

Carla, that would be awesomely kind of you ♡

Thank

Lilyfinch, where is Ottos?

Sheila
Here, it doesn't look like it's in stock, you could call!

https://ottoandsonsnursery.com/product-category/rose-class/david-austin/

Thank you!

Left a message for Ottos in Fillmore about Evelyn; Fillmore only 2 hours away, is much closer than Sacramento.

I am in Apple Valley.

Patience, even if I must wait a year...

And Ottos Fillmore Rose days is coming up. Fingers crossed🤞

No Evelyn's this year, said Ottos.

However, in my search for Evelyn, I stumbled upon Marianne (in honor of my mother) and Conrad Ferdinand Meyer (a heritage thing) which were delivered today. Connie is in bloom right out of the box. Scent is extraordinary!

No Evelyn's this year, said Ottos.

However, in my search for Evelyn, I stumbled upon Marianne (in honor of my mother) and Conrad Ferdinand Meyer (a heritage thing) which were delivered today. Connie is in bloom right out of the box. Scent is extraordinary!

My Evelyn is covered in buds after I draped it over my mailbox this spring, so I will start some. PM me so I can contact you if one takes.
Carla

Wow!

Thank you Carla. Your Evelyn is so beautiful.

Hi. Everyone's photos of Evelyn are gorgeous! I know this is a long shot, but is there anyone in North Texas who would be willing to share some cuttings of their Evelyn? I am obviously late to the Evelyn fan club. 🫣 Thank you for any help!

(Pic of my Star of the Republic for attention)

PSA: evelyn own root and grafted for sale now Grace Rose $95 YMMV but thought Id let you all know

https://hngm.app/d2C3V3

Thanks! I ordered yesterday - so excited!

Thanks, they did send me an emailat 10:03am, if not without this thread, i wouk look at the email. So i ordered one, not coming until 2025.

Yikes--$95! Time to sell my Evelyn plants. I recommend getting Evelyn grafted if you have a chance. Here are some recent Evelyn photos I've been posting all over the forum. Sorry for any repeats. Diane

Diane, i just checked, it’s bareroot and must be grafted. i have a very sunny spot in my front yard for Evelyn.

Gorgeous photos, Diane! She's beautiful! Any reason in particular for grafted over own root? I have heavy clay so avoid grafted if I can. I ordered an own root from GRF. 🙈

The bare root option is grafted, but the potted option is a 2 gallon own root. Jumbo bare root expected to be at least 3 years old at the time of shipment.

Wow, i didnt know that, i just clicked and ordered, i look at it this way, it will bring me many years of happiness. I have ordered 3 DA roses from Freedom Gardens, he won’t be able to tell me whether he can ship them until the end of August. He may not able to root any. I ordered 2 AL with him and he couldn't root them, so I got my refund.

I agree! I've been drooling over pics of this one for so long, so I'm thrilled to have one on order, with a set timeframe (although, now to wait patiently for a year and a half, lol)...and one that won't be a tiny band! So excited!