Touring the David Austin Rose Garden | A Bloom Paradise 2025

Hi, I hope you're having an wonderful day, Dr. Mac here and today we're at David Austin Rose Garden to tour this magnificent garden and see these roses while they're in full bloom. I've been at this garden before but not during full bloom. Today this is going to be a magnificent experience. We're going to talk about how these roses can be planted in your garden, some companion plants and we're going to see them at their very best. So let's go tour David Austin Rose Garden. It's exciting to see so many roses in one place. These are roses that are yet to be sold just out here in the growing fields. There are growing and test fields here as well but these roses are just waiting for their day to shine and find a new home. The tour of the garden will start here with the potted roses. There's a wonderful selection of potted roses. This really displays the wide depth and breadth of what you can do with David Austin roses. I love them in pots. I have them in pots at home. Of course, you have to have free-draining pots and pots with enough soil to give those roots enough room to expand. A new rose for the year 2025 is the King's Rose. This rose is dedicated to King Charles. It is a beautiful rose, bicolored with pink and white striping. It's very unusual, semi-double. You don't normally see this coloration from David Austin but this is a very striking rose and would be a wonderful addition to any garden. Here's a very fragrant David Austin rose which is Desdemona. There are four roses planted in this pot. That is how you get that full look. So if you want a really full look in your large pots, you have to get multiple roses in each pot. Here's Princess Anne, a beautiful rose but there are four plants planted in this pot as well. Of course, irrigation is a necessity in this case because when you have that many roses in one pot, free-draining, you have to worry about the plant drying out. All the plants can dry out. I see they have irrigation on this one. If you're not going to irrigate, you have to water quite frequently. Fertilizer will also become an issue for this many roses planted. Also, the last thing you have to be concerned about is the amount of air flowing through. You could get some fungally problems with this many plants planted close together that may not have proper air flow. So those are things to consider if you're going to put this many roses in one pot. But it does produce a magnificent look. Along the back wall is Belvedere. Now this is a beautiful rambling rose. You can tell that this is a really old rose. It's trellised up against the wall and you'd have to have a very strong and sturdy wall to support the weight of a rose this large. It's beautiful with small petals, floribunda, really small petals, really small blooms. But it's a very attractive rose and extremely large. Now here's a great look at Ronald Dahl. It's a beautiful rose, but you can see that there are three distinctive plants in this one pot. They spaced them out in a triangle shape to give them space around the roots. But they planted three in here and it looks really good, but also a little bare. The others have four plants in them and those were more filled in. This one has spaces, so three may not be the way to go. If you want a more complete look, again, the more you pack in there, the more you're going to have to make sure that you're taking care of watering and fertilizer and enough aeration for those plants. This is Emma Bridgewater, a beautiful rose. It almost has a coppery interior, but I love the fact that this rose fades out in color. It gets a more pastel color as the roses blooms get a bit older. It is a wonderfully multi-petal rose, new for 2024. I think this is a magnificent rose, a great coloration, and the way the roses fade out produces a really unique look. Of all the roses that are grabbing my attention here in the potted section, Rambling Rosie, a beautiful red rose, floribunda, really small petals that appear to be a semi-double as well. The thing about this is that it is a rambling rose, so you would have to place a trellis inside of the pot for the rose to climb, but it produces a magnificent look and wonderful coloration, Rambling Rosie. If you love the multi-petaled and curved rose, then you're going to love Donahue. This beautiful pale gold color is really wonderful. I've grown this one at home. It is a great rose to have. It's really fragrant, and it packs on a lot of blooms. Moving past the patio potted roses is the lone garden here at David Austin, and this is where you're going to get to see some beautiful Rambling Roses and also Bedded Roses. In this bed, you have a perfect example of what your roses will look like year one. So when you put in a beautiful bed like this, this is the look that you get, but that first year, those roses will not be completely full. Here's the King's Rose. In year three, you'll have a beautiful plant that will be about four feet tall and three feet wide. So when you're planting, you have to think about that consideration for size. That rose, or this section of them, will fill this complete space in about two to three years. And in roughly three years, you'll have a look very similar to this Elizabeth Rose where they have four to five planted here, four or five roses of the same kind, all planted together creates a magnificent display of color. Little Rambler is a beautiful Rambling Rose, small blooms, floribunda, and nice pale blushy colors fading between pink and white. A beautiful white, pale, creamy rose is Lichfield Angel, but it appears that the blooms are so large that the stems can't support them properly. This may be a rose that would look really great if you cut off some of those blooms and bring them in, set them in a bowl, they will look really wonderful because the blooms are very attractive, but on the plant, they're all facing down. Vanessa Bell is a beautiful rose, yellow, pale yellow, with upright blooms, floribunda head, could add a really wonderful bright color to any garden. Here's a Purple Rambler, you don't see many Purple Ramblers in David Austin, but this is a magnificent Purple Rambler, and you have the beautiful color contrast with the purple blooms and the yellow stamens, it's a wonderful color combination. One of my favorite David Austin roses, very upright bush, upright plants, and very upright blooms is Queen of Sweetie, it has a wonderful incurved, multi-petaled bloom, and I really think that it's very attractive, great for cut blooms because of those long straight stems are wonderful for cutting. I love roses that give you multiple colors in one plant, you can see the opening blooms are dark orange, fading into a lighter orange, almost to a pale, pale yellow. Lady of Charlotte is a wonderful rose, upright growing habit, also a magnificent rose, but will be tall, up to six feet tall, so this is one that you really need to give space when you put it in your garden. A rose that excels in blooms is Elizabeth, beautiful pink fading into white, multi-petaled, that beautiful yellow interior, not in the stamen, but actually in the petals, I love the color change, and I love the absolute abundance of blooms of Elizabeth. I love roses of a beautiful bronzy color, this one is a coral colored Summer Song, it's going to be about four feet tall and four feet wide, reddish orange color, the roses, the blooms almost look papery, I love the coloration, but it does appear that the blooms are a bit heavy for the plant, as you can see the blooms are pulling down, and they're all facing downwards, so that's something to keep in mind, maybe better as a cut flower. There's just something special about yellow roses, and Bring Me Summer is a magnificent English rose, four feet tall and about three and a half feet wide, yellow orange, it starts out more orangey, ending up with a pale yellow, I love the coloration, I love the deep petaled look in this, the fact that it's a Floribunda means that you can get a lot of blooms off of one plant. If you have the space and strong supports, rambling roses on trellises or pergolas are a beautiful addition to any garden. One of the most impressive purple roses, it's gone over a little bit here, so the blooms are a bit old, but Tuscany Superb, dark purple rose, fits in really wonderful amongst this mass of roses. More of a magenta red than purple, but I love the interior, the stamens, yellow, that gives a great color contrast, all within one bloom. Cottage Maid is a beautiful rose Floribunda, striped with white and pink blooms, multi-head multi-petaled, really beautiful, and right next to it is Snowdin, now this is a wonderful white rose with some speckling of red at the base of the blooms, however, as the blooms go over, you see that look of the petals not falling off, not as attractive, and since the plant, in essence, the plant is so large, you may not be able to deadhead it, so that is a look you'd have to consider if you get Snowdin. One of the largest rambling roses in full bloom right now is Wedding Day, five petals, white exterior, yellow, dark yellow stamen interior, but with some blushy pinks mixed in as well, so you get a wonderful color combination with this massive rambling, climbing rose. And here's another section of bedded roses, very young roses, just put in this year, and it demonstrates what your rose gardens, if you do a bed, what it'll look like in that first year, it's not going to have that massive growth that you're seeing with some of these other roses, the blooms will be beautiful, but they will take time to grow and mature. Susan Williams Ellis is one of the most clear and cleanly white roses that I see, before it blooms out, it does appear to have some outer red on those blooms, but once that blooms fully out, it is white with just the faintest hint of a creamy interior, but it's one of the most clean and clear white roses that I've seen here at David Austin. Two roses that go really well together is this beautiful golden rose next to this more magenta, purple, Tuscany rose. Those two roses growing together is a great color contrast. Now here's a rose that I see that looks very similar to a lot of the roses that I see in the U.S., this is center stage, a small ground cover rose, pink blooms, a single petal, it's really nice, in the right conditions, it would grow great in a garden along the front of a border, I think it would be a beautiful rose to add into a smaller space. We're now entering the Victorian garden, beautiful roses bedded in parterre. Buttercup is a beautiful, deeply yellow rose, I love the coloration, the fact it's a floribunda, semi-double blooms held up right on the plant, it's a great addition. Olivia Rose Austin is a magnificent rose, beautiful pink colors that hold that coloration throughout the life of the bloom. Floribunda, a smaller, shorter rose, but I love the dark green of the leaves contrasting with that beautiful pink of the petals. A really attractive rose is William and Catherine, floribunda, deeply petaled, slightly incurved, I love the fact that this rose has this, not quite white, but a very pale, creamy color to it, contrasting against the dark leaves, it's a beautiful rose. Here's an impressive display of Donahue, I have grown this rose, but I've never seen it quite like this. This is this rose at it's best, you can see the wonderful coloration, the dark, almost coppery color orange, fading out to a pale, coppery color, almost pale pastel, whitish yellow, and I love the coloration changes across the bloom or the life of the bloom, and I just love the fact that this rose is something that is unique amongst the other colorations that I've seen here. Lady of the Lake English Ramblin' Rose is a nice rose, it is, again, a bit of a yellow to whitish color, multi-semi-double petals, floribunda. I love the fact that it's going from a pink to yellow in the coloration of the blooms, it's a nice color change and a beautiful rose. I love roses that produce an abundance of blooms, and I saw Harlow Carr from across the garden, it's a beautiful rose, multi-petal floribunda, the rose blooms are a bit smaller, but still very impressive. And here's another beautiful display of Bring Me Sunshine, the yellow color just grabbed my attention, fading from that dark, dark yellow to a more pale yellow coloration. It's a beautiful floribunda, a shorter plant, but very impressive. The Lady Gardener produces a very large bloom, it almost appears as though it is a peony, multi-petaled, upright floribunda, a lot of blooms on one plant, and the blooms are absolutely, magnificently large. If it is ever desired to make a statement, planting Harlow Carr en masse will absolutely make a statement. It's a beautiful rose, I love the fact that it is a very low-growing rose, but the amount of blooms that this one plant put out is absolutely impressive. Now here's a shrub rose that is giving me the impression of some of the rambling roses that are blooming here, this is Kew Gardens, single-petaled, almost a species-type rose, very classic, upright-held blooms, floribunda, I love the fact that it's the outer color is a bit white, fading into a yellow interior and a deeper yellow statement. The middle of the floss, the blooms are deeply pink and then it fades out, there appears to be a bit of striping on it as well, I wish I could see a larger selection of this rose, I wanted to say that it's impressive, but I'd like to see more of it to get a greater appreciation for the blooms. Blue for you, I've never seen this particular David Austin rose before, I love the color, it is a semi-double, but the blooms are held upright, I love the fact that the petals cup inward and the deep interior, the yellow statement, it fades from a darker purple color down to a pale color before you get to the beautiful, deeply colored statement. It's a nice rose, it almost appears as though it's a hybrid tea, but I'm very impressed with this rose, it would be a nice addition, it doesn't appear to be very large, it's going to be a small plant, three foot by two foot, but it's impressive. A whiter shade of pale, it's a wonderful name, it fades from a blushing pink opening up to one of the largest blooms I've seen here, and it's a white, multi-petaled, but very open-faced bloom, it's really impressive. Another selection of Bring Me Sunshine, fading into Golden Celebration, putting two yellows right beside each other, you can get some color contrast there and then bloom contrast, and then right beside that is a magnificent white of Nye Bevan, it is a golden yellow fading into a wonderful creamy white. Now something to keep in mind, when you get a bloom or a flower or rose that has many, many petals, multi-petals, such as Wild Eve here, you can see some of the blooms are not as deeply petaled, and that depends on the year of the plant, the age of the plant, how things are going, the health of the plant, not every single one of the blooms are going to give you the most deeply petaled bloom. Thomas A. Beckett is a beautiful rose, you can see how vibrantly colored the blooms are, it's red almost fading into a fuchsia color, it is such a vibrant coloration, so if you have a mass of this, as you see here, this rose bush will stand out across any garden. Here is the Poet's Wife, it's a beautiful yellow rose, multi-petaled, I love the fact that it's a golden color, small rose, and you get a really great coloration out of it, it's a wonderful color contrast between those deeply brightly yellow colored blooms and the slightly darker green colored foliage of the rose. Trellis and Roses is a wonderful way to get a lot of height out of roses, if you don't do tree roses, trellis and roses brings those blooms up to eye level, and it's a great way to add roses to your garden. The Generous Gardener, I love the fact that the buds are deeply pinkish, almost red color, but open into a blushy pink, and this is a nice climbing rose. One of my favorite sections here at the David Austin Rose Garden is where you have your roses blended in with the companion plants. Here we are in late spring, so I knew peonies would be a great addition to have with roses. Alliums poking up through the foliage is another wonderful color combination, a lot of David Austin roses fade out between yellow and pink and gold, and those are wonderful colors to contrast with beautiful purple alliums. Although the peonies will not bloom as long, it will hold foliage throughout the entire year, and they will do a great job at coloring the bases of roses which can be a bit bare. This purple Sedum will go really wonderful at the base of a nice golden rose, such as Bring Me Sunshine, the color contrast would be magnificent. And here you have some larger headed alliums poking up through those roses, it's just a great combination anytime you put those together. Geranium is another wonderful companion plant to place at the base of your roses, it'll cover up those feet of the roses, and if you get Roxanne, you get a nice colorful blue colored bloom, purply blue, and you could add that up under a nice white rose, fading into a pink or yellow would be a great color combination. And as I mentioned, many of the David Austin roses are a pale white, pastel colors, and they go great with these strong purple colors, more vibrant colors of purple. I love to see alliums poking up through the roses, but the purple foxgloves are a great addition, irises, delphiniums would also work, sedums at the base, and those are some great companion plants for roses. Height is a great consideration, these irises stand very tall, many irises are not this tall, so you want to get irises that stand tall, and you can get those blooms right up there, level with the rose blooms. You can't beat the color combination of Bring Me Sunshine with purple foxgloves. Now here's a combination that I haven't considered before, Clematis with a nice last, which is a climbing rose. So climbing rose are the white, pinky, pale colors. Clematis come in multi-colors, so you can do some great color combinations between climbing roses and climbing clematis. Here's another example of a tall geranium with the blooms poking up around the roses. Clematis, foxgloves, geraniums, alliums are wonderful plants that you could add to your roses that don't take away or detract from the roses and bloom. You blend roses with a lot of companion plants, you end up with what would be considered potentially a cottage garden appearance. You have to be careful not to let it get wild, but it is a wonderful color combination, a lot of flowers all blooming in one space. And we're talking about color combinations between companion plants with roses, but you can also blend roses with roses. A taller rose or a smaller rose, color combinations between a darker purple-y type colored rose with a golden colored rose, or white with a yellow. So you can get really creative when you're adding your color combinations together. Think complementary colors on the same side of the color wheel, or think contrasting colors on opposite sides of the color wheel. Rambling rector is a nice climbing rose. I don't think they're blooming, so you may just get that one beautiful burst of flowers early in the season, but the plant will look great year-round. Climbing roses are a magnificent addition to any garden. You have to think about the weight of the plant, though. The rose bushes will get larger and heavier as the years go by. Birds may build nests in them. Everything will add weight to it. You have to consider all those things as you're building up those trellises for your climbing roses. Here's a climbing version of the pilgrim. Wonderful rose, nice pale yellow colored, multi-petaled, but it contrasts wonderfully with slightly pale colored foliage, lighter colored leaves. Again, one of the more upright roses is Queen of Sweden. It's one that I've grown many times, and it's a great rose for cutting. Penelope Lively is a beautiful rose. You can see that it's a more fluorescent colored pink to really bright pink, and it holds that bright color all the way throughout the life of the rose. It's a floribunda, deeply petaled. It would stand out in any garden, definitely with the darker foliage and that bright pink. If you want a showstopper, Penelope Lively would be a great addition to your garden. This has been a magnificent walkthrough of David Austin Rose Garden. However, the weather has turned on me, and I'm getting rained out. If you like this and you really appreciate this, please do like and subscribe. Follow along, leave a comment, and say, stay out the rain, Mac, and I'll try to stay out the rain. I hope you enjoyed this video. I really enjoyed coming to this garden. We've seen these in full bloom. It's my second time here, and I think every time I come, it just gets better and better. The two roses that impressed me the most, Bring Me Sunshine and Harlow Carr. The one that I'm taking home, Harlow Carr. That rose produced so many blooms. It's undeniable, and I want that in my garden. Until next time, take care. Bye.