While I don’t have personal experience with these, I can say I’ve consistently heard good things about Roald Dahl. The Lady Gardener is gorgeous but I think the blooms get bleached out quickly in hot summers and LoS can become a huge, thorny, gangly beast in warm climates. Roald Dahl is supposedly BS resistant but that’s all relative in a sticky East Coast climate. I’ve also heard he stays relatively small. Hope this helps!

I have read Roald Dahl is exceptional in many ways, but not big on fragrance. I would like to get Roald at some point , but would rather fill the garden with fragrant roses first. If scent is important to you, that's an aspect to consider.

Beautiful dianela !!! And solid advice . Roald is definitely the nicer hedging front of the border rose. It is lightly pleasantly fragrant but nothing to swoon over .

Lady gardener.. I had no luck with. I don’t know how other people do have luck with it. Lol mine faded so fast and never looked like the catalog pics.

Good point about fragrance berry pie! :)

Dianela - Gorgeous bushes and roses!!! You grow them to perfection! :)

I love all David Austin roses and have grown them in Calgary and now in S. BC a much warmer spot but still great luck with very few issues I think the trick is to not crowd them I see my friends here with issues that I don’t have and the big difference is mine a spread apart more. Also no watering late at night .

This thread reminds me wonderfully of my visit to David Austin rose gardens in Shropshire 2 years ago, in late June, the height of their beauty. The photos don't do it justice because you can't smell them. https://eu.davidaustinroses.com/pages/david-austin-rose-gardens

I have lady gardener and she is one of my best roses. I’m also in NJ, this is my first year with roses tho. she Reblooms super fast, does not burn on the heat, her blooms last a while on the vase. i actually like that she becomes more of a pink peach color as I’m not a fan of the peach/orange color. Mine is pretty small still, but right now loaded with buds. No disease (I haven’t noticed any BS on any of my first year roses) but thrips tho love her

Wow! Such thorough, helpful responses. Thank you, everyone, for your input! I really appreciate it.

Dianela and CeresMer -- your roses are gorgeous. Thanks for sharing!

I think I've decided to go with Roald Dahl, for its disease resistance and more compact size. Its tidy habit will be better suited for the front of the border.

For those with experience with Roald Dahl, do you find that the 4' x 4' size listed is accurate? And if I were planting a group of 3 of them, how far apart would you recommend spacing them?

Partim - My husband and I went to Englad a few years ago to take my daughter there to study abroad....we went the opposite way from the airport than Austin roses. We went to Exeter...and we just didn't have the time to go back, past London and further on to Austin's place. I was so disappointed! What a wonderful link!! Thank you!

Ceres - GASP and SWOON!!!! Those blooms are gorgeous!!!! Oh my!!

i grow and like Lady of Shallot. Fragrance is medium to strong, bush grows to around 5 1/2 feet in my Chicagoland zone 5 garden. Repeat is good. No disease but I spray.

Really...LoS has med to strong fragrance! Sounds like a great rose!

Neither of these two seem particularly fragrant to me here, but maybe it will take a few years for LoS to show her scent.

I shouldn't have looked at this thread because I clearly need all of these now. I thought I was done adding DA roses lol.

I have both RD and LOS. In my zone 5b Garden, RD has outperformed LOS in disease resistance and repeat despite being a 2nd year new comer. The only downside is the lack of string fragrance.

Claire

pippacovalent, I hear ya! I actually laughed out loud when I saw the subject line of this thread - how can you choose??? I can't. Not with DA roses. I actually resisted opening this thread till today. I also now need all three of these...

:)
Dee

I'll update my Lady of Shallot post to include that she has a mannerly habit, and a nice shape. No octopus canes shooting this way and that. Repeat was good last year in less than full sun.

I love my Lady of Shallot. She is a good middle row Joe. I keep her octopus arms in check and she forms a round shape.

I will pass on a rose that is named after someone that I am not a fan of so Roald is not one that I would choose.

If you are thinking of group plantings, you might just want to look at Carding Mill. Nice, upright, bushy habit. No crazy octopus arms. A really good David Austin variety.

Kristine thanks for mentioning that you're not fond of RD the person. I liked many of his books as a kid but since then I have learned that as a person he was very problematic to put it diplomatically. I also would not want. aa rose named after him