At least the good is very, very good. :)

Thanks Carol! I’m hoping it’s just related to the weather or something. We had such a long cold, wet spring - which most of the roses didn’t seem to mind - but this followed by high heat and the new roses blooming later than others may have contributed to it.

Lily, those blooms are perfection. Absolutely gorgeous. I had no idea this rose was so lovely. I need to do some checking on Emily Bronte, I guess. Please post more photos of this rose if you have the chance. Diane

Lily, I agree with Diane...wowza!!! That last picture is breathtaking!!

Lilyfinch, your pics of EB are wonderful! Thanks for sharing :)

Blooms, your first photo is lovely, too, which I forgot to mention. Love Emily's "eye". I wonder if the second bloom doesn't show some thrips damage--brown edges often are an indication of this. That should disappear as the season progresses. Thrips love many petaled, light colored roses, though I have some dark roses that get thrips. We have had a long, cold, wet, and windy spring, interspersed with short heat waves--what a combo, and it's still going on. That kind of weather, some of which you've had, will produce brown edges, scraped up and damaged blooms. Other roses ball up and won't open in cold and rain. I hope your weather improves because those of us up north don't have a long season to make up for a bad start. Diane

Diane I think you are on the money. My first blooms from Emily have been completely disfigured and browned from thrips and the photo posted here looks like thrips damage to me.

Lily I also wanted to say your blooms are perfect and soooo delicate that I am drooling hopping the thrips will leave mine alone. I think this rose would blend in with just about any other color in the garden. What a gem! Thank you to the David Austin team for producing such a beauty and BTW 100 percent clean of blackspot here so far also no spray.

Thanks for your input, Diane and Dianela! I do love the bloom form and the fragrance is strong and wonderful and so whether it is thrips or weather related, I’m sure it’ll improve with time. I hope your weather improves soon, too, Diane. I agree - the growing season is too short.

I’m glad you’ve liked my pics ! I hadn’t taken too many , and none of the shrub shape (just your average shrub ! ) but here’s the others I have .

This butterfly bush was in a pot and I took the pic to see if I’d like the colors together. It’s “Prince Charming buddleia “ and it’s did get a spot near by .

Really fantastic camera work above! Lol

These next two are from my plant that gets more shade

Honestly the fragrance is so incredible

I LOVE it! I don’t even have any good blooms and it is becoming one of my favorites just by looking at pictures

I love it, too, and would love to smell it. I also love Lily's butterfly bush's bloom. Prince Charming is one I'll have to check out (that sounds weird). Is the Prince from Proven Winners? Diane

How did your Emily do later in season? Did it repeat well?

I have not had a single bloom since ! Lol however maybe shade is to blame. I am also curious what others say about repeat . I so want this rose to be incredible.

It looks like the breeders are aiming for new levels of refinement, with something of the charming perfection of the Scots and other old roses. A welcome development. I'd like to see this, and some of the other new ones in person. From the photos and descriptions they look like they would be worthy to be "only plants" in the garden.

@Lilyfinch z9a Murrieta Ca, I also want this rose to do well! I need a rose like this to be healthy and highly fragrant! I so so wish Abe Darby and Evelyn were healthy... I dont know why but I am hoping Emily would be very fragrant and desease resistant.

@Lilyfinch z9a Murrieta Ca Mine only bloomed in the late spring as well and is 5-6 feet tall now. I may have to move it if it’s going to be that tall. I’m hoping once it gets settled in it will repeat better.

Any updates for those in warm climates? Im thinking of giving her another try for next year.

Just placed an order for two with David Austin. She's stated to be hardy and healthy. I have Olivia Rose and she is by far my healthiest, hardiest Austin and puts out nice repeat. If only she had a scent she'd be perfection. I hope mine are as lovely as the ones posted here.

Sharon

Hello all - I've been lurking on this site for a while as a newbie and have gleaned so much good info on roses. Have just planted two areas with roses - beginning last year finishing up this Spring. I'm wanting to dip my toe into the David Austin's and had settled on 1 of the new introductions this year, Gabriel Oak, and of course it is sold out. I'm considering Emily Bronte. It' so hard to decide. I'm in the NW. We are having a very cool, wet, beginning to Spring. The area I will be planting the DA get full day sun. Much of the info I've seen says that DAs need afternoon shade. Any recommendations on David Austin's which can tolerate all day sun?

Cathie, I think it depends on where you live as to whether any afternoon shade is beneficial. What zone do you garden in? I think all my Austins like all day sun here in zone 7, SW Idaho, desert--I've grown Austins for decades, and some are real sun worshipers, as is Evelyn, for example. It sounds like your area isn't all that sunny and hot. Diane

I am in Washington State zone 8b and our summers are actually pretty hot and dry - not as intense as yours I'm sure! We've been getting hotter over the last 20 years, and the last rainy summer I recall was in the 90s. We get plenty of rain the rest of the year of course. :)

So you're west of the Cascades and maybe south of Seattle? You are even farther north than I am in your latitude. I think your roses will be fine in all day sun. It's better to have a little too much sun than not enough and not get many blooms because of it. The Austin rose The Prince is the only one I grow that burns some in the heat, but I think it's more the dry air than actual heat, and this rose is very dark. Diane

Mine, grown in Europe, in a similar climate to the UK, was a healthy plant and quite tall, but it had one flush (was a one-time bloomer), even though it got enough sunshine, water and food, and apparently, according the exchanges in the comments here, I am not alone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkykwEjCSHA. I also did not find it to have a particularly strong or memorable fragrance compared to other roses like Lady Emma Hamilton, the Prince or Jude the Obscure, but I know that is very subjectve.

Here is a picture of Emily this summer. She is doing better in her new spot (and as a two-year-old). She is on a Northeast fence that is less sunny, with afternoon sun, whereas she had a Southwest exposure before so full sun most of the day. But she has more room, and she has many more blooms than last year. Still very healthy, even though she is situated next to mildew magnets. The scent is stronger but not necessarily a "knock-your-socks off" kind of thing, in my opinion, but like refined expensive soap. And that being said, I find that some roses that had almost no scent in years one or two (like Olivia) have really stepped it up in year three so maybe she will do so as well. Now the question is, will she repeat bloom?

Rose Paris - The colors in your EB bloom are wonderful! Such a very beautiful rose...I hope she does you proud and repeat blooms this year. :)

Just to update... After her new spot in the NE exposure (afternoon sun), on a fence exposed outward to wind, rain and sun, I can confirm EB had about 3 1/2 - 4 flushes, the last one being now in the first week of October. The second one, which came 6 weeks after the first, was a bit of a dud because of the extreme heatwave we had (35-37 degrees C and lack of rain). Some buds just shriveled up before opening, so this may be one that is not a fan of heat, given that she is doing better in the NE than the SW exposure. While the third and fourth flushes were rather sparse, the marvelous fragrance has grown and grown on me, and it's one of those, I think, that when it's good it's really good. And unlike many others, it did not defoliate or get any autumn blackspot, mold or etc. Its foilage is still alive and healthy, here in the fall, as others "twig out". It is also rather upright, and it does not completely flop over onto the ground (like some Austins do), but it is tall, at least grafted on laxa as mine is here in Europe (purchased as a bare-root from authorized DA breeder). Given EB's increased productivity in this, its second summer, I have every hope that in its third year, it is going to knock it out of the park, and now, have even aquired a second one (this time in a container directly from DA). Rose-growing definitely requires patience!

i received a free EB from david austin this year because they could not supply my graham thomas. it was very leafy and after several attacks by bunnies i had to chicken wire cage it, which has allowed it to bush out. remained the shortest of my bare roots, despite being grafted. for instance, winchester cathedral outgrew it and flowered all summer, and st swithun and james galway outgrew it as well. with the frost coming in i'm interested to see how winter hardy it is. the local specimens at the landscape arboretum and the rose garden were not very impressive at all, but i get the impression the gardeners there do not fuss over the english roses and let them sink or swim.

So to update: in year three, my first EB (above) has an amazing second flush, perhaps around 40-50 buds or blooms on it right now (only part of the plant is in the shot). It still doesn't like the high heat, but doing better than last year, when all the blooms shrivelled in the July flush before getting off the ground. iI is also in dry, hard ground, on a fence on a NE exposure, exposed to everything, in a spot where it's hard to water. So it's really more than tough. It's over 5 feet tall. Blooms are a bit smaller than in first flush, likely due to heat. My second EB (below), which is in a more humid and shadier spot, was acquired last fall. It already has a second flush in its first summer, whereas the first one was a one-flush wonder at first. But I got that one as a potted rose, rather than bareroot like the first one, so maybe that's the difference. Also, plant 1 started in a SW exposure. The fragrance is really addicting and competes with classics MW or Evelyn, for sure. The thing I am learning more and more is just how much some plants really need time--even my mulberry bush is finally kicking it year three, after not producing one edible berry for two years! Go figure!