Superb! Here’s to continued success!

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Great, Sara Ann. For me, Austins are not difficult, and they are more cold hardy than a lot of my other roses. Also important to me is Austins don't seem to get cane canker like some non Austins of mine do. So just treat them the same as any other of your roses and enjoy their beautiful blooms. Diane

That's great news, Sara! I've never thought of them as difficult but they are a bit of water hogs. Keep them well watered and they should do fine for you. They also never grow the way they say they do for me. I stopped looking at the size and growth habits in their catalog because mine never do what they say, lol!

Thank you so much everyone. The fact that they don’t seem to be difficult for others is why it’s bothered me so much that I’ve had problems. I’m hopeful that these newer ones will do much better, and so far it looks like they’re going to. I always enjoy pictures of both your Austins, Diane and Seil.

I think its a matter of finding the ones that do well for you; when they're good, theyre very very good, but they can be unpredictable - Charles Darwin has always been a bit awkward for me, and stayed a bit undersized, still only around 2.5 foot, even at 4 years old, but generally healthy enough. Until this summer, when he shot out an 8 ft tall cane!

Its still there, waving around...I keep meaning to trim it off. Very strange...I wish that energy had been dispersed a bit more evenly over the rest of him. I still have a few Austins, and am very fond of some of them; couldnt do without Mary Magdalene and Redoute :)

I have better luck with Austin’s than hybrid teas. Kordes however have been even better for me, however for some reason the Kordes roses never seem to have the romance and delicacy of Austin’s. Heaven on Earth, Earth Angel and Bliss are all gorgeous though. But boy, do I love my Austins.

Thanks! I appreciate the encouragement. I do think Austins are among the most beautiful roses, I am anticipating good things from them this season.

My problem with some of them is, I think they are not only water hogs, but heavy feeders as well. I seldom get around to fertilizing my roses, and several of my DAs don't do much of anything. I did manage to put some basic 20-20-20 fertilizer on them a month or more ago, and I notice some of the ones that haven't done anything for yrs are suddenly pumping out new growth. I'm hoping to get some blooms maybe this yr!