Horrible !...

...sorry.. a great blooming rose, but a dreadful fading colour...

In the heat of the summer last year I saw his faded blooms at a nursery and I confused him for Boscobel. (I love Boscobel). I'm not sure if he gets even lighter than that, too. Im hoping to plant him this spring in a bed with all the colors....so maybe he'll be okay regardless of his faded or unfaded state.

Others that I plan on having in the background or nearby in the border: Boscobel, Lady of Shalott, Teasing Georgia, Munstead Wood and Jubilee Celebration. I'll have purple salvias and rainbow colored zinnia nearby too so maybe everything will be such a riot of color that matching is no longer an issue!

Marlorena your comment made me laugh out loud.

ha ha ha marlorena, hahaha oh no...what have I done. Libarian gardner, thats so interesting yours is like boscobel! I suppose worst case i plop it in the ground and move it in the fall if its a horrendous as Marlorena thinks ha ha!!

Hello there Westminster!

Benjamin is one of the hardest roses to photograph in my garden. It is very difficult to actually get the color variation and the vibrancy with any camera I have tried. The blooms are a very deep pink to red with some peach coloring on the inside of the blooms. To make it more challenging to describe, the reverse is almost silvery. I grow 5 Benjamin’s in my garden since my husband absolutely loves the vibrant blooms. He would blend in really well near Lady of Shallot, Boscobell, Christopher Marlowe and anything with some peach in it. Here he can fade to hot pink when the temps are in the mid to high 90s. I am in northwestern Alabama. I have some plants growing self supported and they are very large vase shaped, another one is on an obelisk. It could be a large bush or a nice small/medium climber. I’ll try to post pictures if the site lets me.

Dianela, I would love to see photos for sure. Wow, it sounds like such a unique rose. I am not a huge fan of hot pink fade, would prefer it to go warmer or even white but I guess best I can do is see how it does in the less than ideal spot, morning shade, afternoon sun. We get to about 90 degree stretches here in NY summer these days, so could be not great but I did install irrigation in the area.

wow beautiful thank you so much-- looks definitely fuscia but i adore that silvering on the outsides actually! so unique

Westminster I think it is a very unique colored rose for an Austin. My husband who thinks “all austins look the same” recognizes Benjamin and likes it’s intense color.

I had a Benjamin Britten for quite a while. Unfortunately it got rose rosette, and I had to dig the poor thing out. It wasn't easy. It did have plenty of flowers all season that opened a vermilion color that faded to a dark, watermelon pink. It also had some fragrance to it. The plant makes a big, thorny, octopus bush and could be used as a climber, so it needs plenty of room. Mine got 10 - 15 ft tall. It would have been better if the flower color hadn't faded, but it was what it was.

I agree w/ Dianela, Ben has a unique color, the center is a burnt pink that changes to pink as it ages. When I think of its color, Diamela’s #5 is what mine mostly look like. I really enjoy its fruity fragrance too. I originally had it in a tall teal pot, but swapped it to the ground since it gets tall.

the bustopher, i am so sorry to hear that. I am terrified of rose rosette. i live very close to the Brooklyn botanic garden which lost its immense rose collection to rr about 15 years ago. Thanks Nick, I think all your photos convinced me to put him more with pink friendly tones as opposed to hotter colors.

I recently got one of these, and was so lucky, as it has now been discontinued by DA. If I had known how much I would like it, I would have gotten two of them. All I can do is regret that I didn't grab that last one when I saw it. Almost no of photo of it that I have seen, even if the photos are very beautiful nonetheless, can really do it justice. Something about the brightness of the color and the way it just pops. It absolutely is just almost indescribably lovely, and I can see now why The Rose Geek has so many of them in her garden! One can wonder (again) why DA has cancelled so many of their most distinctive roses? Roses so unique in scent, shape or color, they blow your mind? The ones left available on the DA Europe website, are nice, but many of them are so banal.

What makes you say David Austin has discontinued Benjamin Britten? It is out of stock but it has not been removed from their offerings as far as I can tell.

See: https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/products/benjamin-britten, which is a message from DA headquarters, or this: https://www.pepinieres-dima.com/produits/rosiers/anglais/benjamin-britten, which is an official French producer saying that DA is redoing their product range and so they must follow DA's directives to no longer produce and sell it. And while it still exists as "for sale" on various web sites, it would not seem to really be in stock, so it is possible they have not updated their web sites and/or are perhaps being allowed to liquidate their last remaining stocks, which is how I found it a couple of months ago. But maybe there are some countries that can still produce it, or some nurseries that are producing unofficially, so never hurts to check.

Oh wow! a local nursery has a Benjamin Britten, maybe I should go snag it!

Carla in Sac

If I could grab a second one, I would.

I saw myself on the UK website (https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/products/benjamin-britten) that it was retired. It suggested Gabriel Oak, which coincidentally I was browsing that day in my local nursery. It didn't really pop for me too much, but only 1 or 2 blooms were out so it wasn't much of a fair look. I found it would vary greatly in colour depending on the heat. In cooler weather it seemed more deep orange pink, when it was mid summer it would be more pinkish pink, if that makes sense.

I was a big fan of Benjamin Britten. I liked it so much when I sold my house I dug it from the ground and potted it to take to my condo. It lasted 4 years till I killed it by pruning it too early then got a cold spell.

I also think factors beyond that roses quality spelled it's downfall. The fact that the man the rose was named after turned out to have had some troubling relationships with adoloscent boys is problematic.

My Gabriel Oak tanked, and only ever gave me one or two small flowers, and all the canes just basically died except for one straggly one, so I SP'd it. And there is a less than favorable review of GO here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QUxDCxd5go. However, a friend of mine in CA does not seem to have issues with it. The BB rose is much more luminous, just glows. I just looked up its name sake, and I didn't know that about him as he is not much talked about in the countries where I have lived, but perhaps they could change the name if they wished? I think there are other ones that have more than one name, like Mortimer Sackler, which was renamed Mary Delany, apparently due to scandals in Big-Pharma?

Thats the perfect word to describe BB, luminous.

I may ask the person that bought my old house tp let me get BB. I had 5 and only one remains since they dont want roses. I was not aware if his controversial history with adolescents but I can separate the rose from the name.

Would’nt hurt to ask

Here is my BB (in the middle), with Abraham Darby, The Prince and Lady Emma for contrast. They all smell amazing!

Three years on and I have BB in a large pot with full sun and continual seaweed feed. He does --ok-- but I am definitely not smitten or in love. The blooms are anticlimatic and don't last long, so I will probably put him in the this fall.

Rose Paris, how gorgeous is Abraham Darby! It has quickly become one of my beloved roses, although prone to black spot so I grow salvia carradona very close to it to conceal here bare ankles.

I love my AD too! Really unique blooms, which, when at their best, are multi-colored swirls that smell wonderful! Too bad that one has also been discontinued (at least as concerns DA Europe and DA headquartiers in the UK). But sometimes you can still find it around here, under AD or its other name, "Auscot", much more so than BB at this time.

OK SO, I have decided to part with my Benjamin Britten-- hes interesting, but simply not my color palette. He is a healthy 3 year shrub in a large pot. Not sure if this kind of thing is done here, but I would be open to trading with someone for one of their other austin/antique rose cast-offs! I am in Brooklyn.

Given how much some people dream of some of these discontinued Austins, it's a nice thing to exchange! :) Plus, it's good for the planet!

A warning, BB wants to be a good sized climber in some climates. Here he is, a 5th season own root in my garden.

I'm 5'9

That's Teasing Georgia on the arbor behind him. BB is tied loosely to a dead tree trunk.

WOW if mine looked like that I would keep him!!! I think its the pot situaton for me that is making him sortof meh.

I agree, Westminster. I think he wouldn't be happy in a pot. He wants to be so big! I have such limited space that I have to grow roses in pots, too... On my giant driveway 😂 I'm still learning which ones put up with bring in a half wine barrel or 15-20 gallon pot.

My Benjamin Britten has turned out so great, I wish I could get my hands on another one. Mine is also growing tall. To me, it has a reall unique fragrance, a bit like candy, cherry candy or coughdrops (the old-fashioned ones that were essentially sugar). It is really sad that David Austin has cancelled this one as mine has been really healthy. If anyone has any ideas on how to still find one in the EU?

Librarian gardener, I'm focusing on your dress! I love that fabric! It looks like A William Morris print

Glorious pictures Librarian. I love all the roses. Benjamin Britten is a very underrated Austin.

Wow I love BB's unusual coloring. Librarian you really grow roses beautifully! All your photos are aways gorgeous! You said the magic word/phrase, BB wants to be a climber. I need big roses here :) If Austin releases more BBs I am going to order one.

I look forward to its cherry candy fragrance ♡

David Austin US has Benjamin Britten on its preorder sales for spring 2025 if anyone is looking.

Cynthia

@nippstress - zone 5 Nebraska that is awesome! The same thing happened with Evelyn. I hope they bring them both back now in Europe!