Protrade handbook 2023

Handbook for GARDEN DESIGNERS, LANDSCAPERS AND TRADE

Market-leading roses and support to the garden industry

MARKET-LEADING ROSES AND SUPPORT TO THE GARDEN INDUSTRY

OUR PEOPLE OUR SERVICE

365 DAYS

CONSULTANCY

Not only rose variety experts, our team can advise on the many ways to use roses to compliment a design, from wildlife garden settings to companion planting.

YEAR-ROUND AVAILABILITY

In addition to bare root roses available from November to April, we offer potted roses all year round delivered by courier on an overnight service*.

OUR COMPANY

We are a family of ROSE GROWERS

FROM PASSION TO PROMINENCE

TRADE PRICING WITH A LOW MINIMUM ORDER QUANTITY

We accept mixed variety orders of as few as five potted or five bare root roses.

YOUR CHOICE OF 120 OR MORE ROSES

Our trade range includes over 120 roses from English shrub and climbing roses to ground cover. In addition, we offer discounted pricing on the wider David Austin Roses bare root rose collection.

In 1961, David Austin Snr. introduced his first rose ‘Constance Spry’. Now, over 60 years on, his collection of English Roses are celebrated throughout the world, winning a plethora of awards for their exceptional beauty, delicious fragrances and outstanding garden performance.

Continuing the legacy left behind by David Austin Snr., our rose experts are still absolutely passionate about developing new varieties of English Roses, continually striving to create an ever more beautiful, garden worthy rose.

BREEDING EXCELLENCE

5 YEAR GUARANTEE

If any roses are damaged on receipt or fail to grow, we will replace them free of charge.

Our roses are still grown on our family farm in Shropshire using traditional techniques, many still carried out by hand. Each English Rose goes through twelve years of trials and development before being released, to ensure we provide only the very best roses to compliment your projects.

USING OUR ROSES

PLANTING COMBINATIONS

English Roses are some of the best-loved, high-performance flowers in the garden. Their graceful, bushy habit and repeat flowering makes them perfect for the mixed border.

Here are a few of our favourite planting combinations

Lady of Shalott ® (Ausnyson)

English Shrub Rose

4ft (125cm) 4ft (125cm)

Paired with Geum ‘Lady Strathenden’

Vanessa Bell ® (Auseasel)

English Shrub Rose

3½ft (110cm) 3ft (90cm)

Paired with Verbena bonariensis

Princess Anne® (Auskitchen)

English Shrub Rose

4ft (125cm) 4ft (125cm)

Paired with Agastache ‘Cotton Candy’

Size: Medium shrub 3½ft (110cm) 3½ft (110cm)

Color: Mid pink Flowering: Repeat

Fragrance: Light-medium, fruity Bloom Size: Medium

Planted with Alchemilla mollis, Nepeta x faassenii ‘Kit Kat’ and Astrantia major ‘Hadspen Blood’.

A fantastic all-rounder, Olivia Rose Austin is the ideal mid-pink for a show-stopping and easy-to-maintain mixed border.

Mixed Border Rose Hedges Cutting

Shady Areas Pots & Containers

dormant is vital, but also focus on using plants that perennials such as work well, but gives you a second wind for creativity come autumn. or add movement and structural interest with grasses like

“Create a tapestry of different colours and textures.”

USING OUR ROSES

WILDLIFE FRIENDLY

It’s not just wild species of rose that help create wildlife friendly gardens. Many of the English Roses have single or semi-double flowers, ideal for pollinators to thrive. We have a range of roses to encourage bees and beneficial insects.

FEATURED ROSE

TOTTERING-BY-GENTLY ® (Auscartoon)

English Shrub Rose

Size: Medium shrub 4ft (125cm) 4ft (125cm)

Color: Yellow Flowering: Repeat

Fragrance: Light-medium, musk Bloom Size: Medium

With simple, pollen-rich blooms Tottering-by-Gently is perfect to help create an environment where bees, including honeybees and bumblebees, can thrive. It’s also ideal in a cottage garden design.

Mixed Border Rose Hedges

Attracting Bees Rose Hips

Scarborough Fair (Ausoran) English Shrub Rose 3½ft (110cm) 3ft (90cm)

Delicate and tough in equal measure with large sprays of old rose scented blooms.

The Lark Ascending ® (Ausursula)

English Shrub Rose

5ft (150cm) 5ft (150cm)

Large heads of up to fifteen nicely spaced semi-double flowers to offer an inticing place for pollinators.

The Lady’s Blush (Ausoscar)

English Shrub Rose

4ft (125cm) 3½ft (110cm)

Semi-double flowers of pure mid pink with a creamy white eye and a fine cluster of golden yellow stamens.

Buttercup (Ausband)

English Shrub Rose

4½ft (140cm) 4ft (125cm)

The flowers are loosely cupped and a little more than semi-double; their colour being a lovely pure yellow.

The Generous Gardener (Ausdrawn)

USING OUR ROSES

15ft

CLIMBERS ON STRUCTURES

The Pilgrim ® (Auswalker)

English Climbing Rose 12ft (3.75m)

The colour is a soft yellow, the petals paling towards the edges. It will quickly reach some height and produce flowers and leaves lower down the plant.

Wollerton Old Hall ® (Ausblanket)

English Climbing Rose 12ft (3.75m)

A wonderful climber. Flashed red buds open to beautifully rounded, chaliceshaped blooms with a warm myrrh fragrance.

Strawberry Hill® (Ausrimini)

English Climbing Rose 10ft (3m)

Bears small clusters of mid pink, medium-large, cupped rosettes with a strong, delicious myrrh and heather honey fragrance.

FEATURED ROSE

MARY DELANY ®

(Ausorts)

English Climbing Rose

Size: Medium climber 12ft (3.75m)

Color: Light pink

Flowering: Repeat

Fragrance: Light-medium, old rose Bloom Size: Medium

Our pick for climbing on multiple structures is Mary Delany. Delicately beautiful with loose double flowers produced over a very long season, this exceptionally healthy and almost thornless rose is ideal rose for obelisks, fences, doorways or arches.

TOP TIP - TRAINING ROSES

For pillars, train the stems in a spiral around them to encourage the flowers from the ground upwards. Tie-in at 8” (20cm) intervals, attaching the rose to the pillar.

For obelisks, train a couple of the main stems straight up to the top of the structure. Then spiral the other stems around the structure, tying-in as you go - this encourages flowers from the ground upwards. Once the stems have reached the top, regularly prune to keep them within bounds.

USING OUR ROSES RAMBLING ROSES

There are few more magnificent sights than a rambling rose in full flower covering architecture or grown up a tree. With a choice of over twenty varieties, some of which repeat flower, these roses are a great addition to designs.

Exceptionally tall and vigorous bearing rosette-shaped flowers held in large, open sprays. Although it is only once flowering, its blooms are born in great abundance, making a magnificent display.

Malvern Hills (Auscanary)

English Rambling Rose 15ft (4.5m)

A repeat flowering rambler, bearing fully double, soft yellow blooms held in medium to large clusters.

Super Fairy

Rambling Rose 12ft (3.75m)

Fully double, mid pink flowers produced in great abundance. Lower growing and manageable. Repeat flowering.

Adélaïde d’Orléans

Rambling Rose 20ft (6m)

Semi-double flowers, which quickly fade from cream to white hanging gracefully rather like the blooms of a Japanese cherry. Once flowering.

FEATURED ROSE

FRANCIS E. LESTER

Rambling Rose

Size: Tall Rambler 20ft (6m)

Color: Pale pink and white Flowering: Once Fragrance: Strong, musk Bloom Size: Small

A beautiful rambler smothered with huge bunches of small, single blooms reminiscent of apple blossom. Whilst only once-flowering, Francis E. Lester is our top choice based on its sheer quantity of blooms, health and strong musky fragrance which carries over a wide area.

Large Arch Pergola Large Structures

Shady Areas Rose Hips Attracting Bees

USING OUR ROSES

ROSE HEDGING

Olivia Rose Austin ® (Ausmixture)

English Shrub Rose

3½ft (110cm) 3½ft (110cm)

Early flowering, beautiful cupped rosettes with a strong fruity fragrance. Vigorous, healthy growth with excellent repeat flowering.

Desdemona ® (Auskindling)

English Shrub Rose

3½ft (110cm) 3½ft (110cm)

Beautiful, white, chalice-shaped blooms with a strong old rose fragrance held on an attractive neat, rounded, bushy shrub.

Harlow Carr (Aushouse)

English Shrub Rose

3ft (90cm) 3ft (90cm)

Perfect, shallow cupped blooms with a strong, pure old rose fragrance. Very free flowering from early summer to late autumn.

FEATURED ROSE

QUEEN OF SWEDEN (Austiger)

English Shrub Rose

Size: Medium shrub 4ft (125cm) 3ft (90cm)

Color: Light pink Flowering: Repeat

Fragrance: Medium, myrrh Bloom Size: Medium

A bushy yet upright shrub, the Queen of Sweden rose is tough and particularly healthy with shallow cups of the purest pale pink. An ideal hedging rose whose blooms hold their form extremely well and stand proud and tall, almost soldier-like.

Mixed Border Rose Hedges Cutting

Shady Areas Rose Border

TOP TIP

In order to give the illusion of a knitted together hedge, we recommend planting most small to medium shrub roses around 50cm (18”) apart. This allows the roses to grow in to each other and weave a dense structure. Larger roses can be planted slightly further apart, but planting a little closer than half the mature width will give you this effect.

CONSULTANT FAVOURITES

RICHARD’S TOP THREE ROSES

LIAM’S TOP THREE ROSES

1. THE LARK ASCENDING ® (Ausursula)

English Shrub Rose

“Wildlife friendly, this very long blooming rose is both healthy and reliable. It makes a great hedge or border rose. I grow Verbena Bonariensis with mine, the soft apricot and the blue look wonderful together.”

2. STRAWBERRY HILL ® (Ausrimini)

English Climbing Rose

“With healthy, shiny foliage and medium sized mid pink flowers produced over a long period Strawberry Hill is one of my favourite climbers. I often pick flowers off this at Christmas! It’s ideal for small arches, fences and obelisks.”

3. DESDEMONA ® (Auskindling)

English Shrub Rose

“A beautiful off-white shrub that has almost irradiance to the petal coupled with a beautiful scent, long flowering and health. It mixes well with apricots and orange pinks in mixed borders. A great hedge and also good planted in containers.”

BREEDER’S FAVOURITES

CARL’S TOP THREE ROSES

1. EMILY BRONT Ë ® (Ausearnshaw)

English Shrub Rose

“Emily Brontë has the most exquisite flowers with an unusual, but pleasing colouring. A robust variety with superb disease resistance and strong fragrance.”

1. DAME JUDI DENCH ® (Ausquaker)

English Shrub Rose

“Free flowering and healthy with an arching and informal habit, the Dame Judi Dench rose is useful in mixed borders and can also be grown as a small climber. She is very versatile and pairs well in my own garden with Clematis viticella ‘Polish Spirit’ on an obelisk. Also, try Verbena rigida to clothe the legs when grown as a shrub.”

2. SCARBOROUGH FAIR (Ausoran)

English Shrub Rose

“Another extremely free-flowering, reliable and very healthy rose. Peony shaped blooms that work well with herbaceous perennials in front of a border, Scarborough Fair also produces good hips. A good tip being to leave some of the flowers after the first flush un-deadheaded to allow a good crop of hips. Pairs well with silver flowered groundcover type perennials like Stachys byzantina ‘Silver Carpet’.”

3.

English Climbing Rose

“A very healthy and vigorous, soft pink climbing rose that is a fantastic choice for a north-facing wall. The new growth starts out red in colour and is one of the first signs of spring for me. Dark green foliage clothes the plant and holds for a long period. If left un-deadheaded, the plant goes on to produce large, orange hips. The Generous Gardener has a wonderfully strong and complex fragrance and pairs well with the deep red flowers of Clematis ‘Kermesina’.”

2. JAMES L. AUSTIN ® (Auspike)

English Shrub Rose

“A variety of outstanding beauty. It has compact, upright and close growth which makes it ideal for the border, pot or hedge. Seldom is it without flower and is very healthy”

3. TOTTERING-BY-GENTLY ® (Auscartoon)

English Shrub Rose

“A rather simple, yet pretty rose that lights up the border. Perfect for all aspects in the garden making it truly diverse. Also attractive to pollinators, it is a very healthy variety with a pleasing, light fragrance.”

ENGLISH SHRUBS

Boscobel® (Auscousin)

Buttercup (Ausband)

Charles Darwin (Auspeet)

Comte de Champagne (Ausufo)

Dame Judi Dench® (Ausquaker)

Desdemona® (Auskindling)

Emily Brontë® (Ausearnshaw)

England's Rose (Auslounge)

Eustacia Vye® (Ausegdon)

Gabriel Oak® (Auscrowd)

Gentle Hermione (Ausrumba)

Gertrude Jekyll® (Ausbord)

Golden Celebration® (Ausgold)

Grace (Auskeppy)

Harlow Carr (Aushouse)

Hyde Hall (Ausbosky)

James L. Austin® (Auspike)

Kew Gardens® (Ausfence)

Lady of Shalott® (Ausnyson)

Lichfield Angel® (Ausrelate)

Lochinvar (Ausbilda)

Molineux® (Aumol)

Morning Mist (Ausfire)

Noble Antony (Ausway)

Nye Bevan® (Auspital)

Olivia Rose Austin® (Ausmixture)

Port Sunlight® (Auslofty)

Princess Alexandra of Kent® (Ausmerchant)

Princess Anne® (Auskitchen)

Queen of Sweden (Austiger)

Roald Dahl® (Ausowlish)

Royal Jubilee (Auspaddle)

Scarborough Fair (Ausoran)

Scepter'd Isle® (Ausland)

Silas Marner® (Ausraveloe)

Sir John Betjeman® (Ausvivid)

Skylark (Ausimple)

Summer Song (Austango)

Susan Williams-Ellis® (Ausquirk)

A QUICK USES GUIDE FOR ENGLISH ROSES

ENGLISH SHRUBS

The Ancient Mariner® (Ausoutcry)

The Country Parson® (Ausclergy)

The Lady Gardener® (Ausbrass)

The Lady’s Blush (Ausoscar)

The Lark Ascending® (Ausursula)

The Mayflower® (Austilly)

The Poet's Wife® (Auswhirl)

Thomas à Becket® (Auswinston)

Tottering-by-Gently® (Auscartoon)

Tranquillity® (Ausnoble)

Vanessa Bell® (Auseasel)

Wildeve (Ausbonny)

William and Catherine (Ausrapper)

Wisley 2008® (Ausbreeze)

Young Lycidas® (Ausvibrant)

VARIETY

ENGLISH CLIMBERS

Bathsheba® (Auschimbley)

Claire Austin® (Ausprior)

Constance Spry (Ausfirst)

Gertrude Jekyll® (Ausbord)

James Galway (Auscrystal)

Mary Delany® (Ausorts)

Shropshire Lass

Strawberry Hill® (Ausrimini)

The Generous Gardener (Ausdrawn)

The Pilgrim® (Auswalker)

Wollerton Old Hall® (Ausblanket)

ENGLISH RAMBLERS

Malvern Hills® (Auscanary)

The Albrighton Rambler® (Ausmobile)

The Lady of the Lake® (Ausherbert)

Port Sunlight® (Auslofty) English Shrub Rose

4½ft 4½ft

Medium,Tea fragrance

HEALTH FLOWERING

The Lark Ascending ® (Ausursula) English Shrub Rose

5ft 5ft Light, Tea/Myrrh fragrance

FLOWERING

FRAGRANCE

Desdemona® (Auskindling) English Shrub Rose

3½ft 3½ft

Strong, Old Rose fragrance

HEALTH FLOWERING

Kew Gardens® (Ausfence) English Shrub Rose

4ft 4ft

Light fragrance

HEALTH

Tottering-by-Gently® (Auscartoon) English Shrub Rose

4ft 4ft

Light-medium, Musk fragrance

Molineux® (Ausmol) English Shrub Rose

3ft 3ft

Light-medium, Tea/Musk fragrance

Buttercup (Ausband) English Shrub Rose

4½ft 4ft

Medium, Musk fragrance

FRAGRANCE

Golden Celebration® (Ausgold) English Shrub Rose

4ft 4ft

Strong, Tea fragrance

FLOWERING

HEALTH

Roald Dahl® (Ausowlish) English Shrub Rose

3ft 3½ft

Medium, Tea fragrance

Lichfield Angel® (Ausrelate) English Shrub Rose

4½ft 4½ft

Light, Musk fragrance

HEALTH

Susan Williams-Ellis®

(Ausquirk) English Shrub Rose

3½ft 3ft

Medium-strong, Old Rose fragrance

Tranquillity® (Ausnoble) English Shrub Rose

4ft 4ft Light, Fruity fragrance

The Lady Gardener® (Ausbrass) English Shrub Rose

4ft 4ft

Medium, Tea fragrance

Comte de Champagne (Ausufo) English Shrub Rose

4½ft 4½ft

Light-medium, Musk fragrance

FLOWERING

William and Catherine (Ausrapper) English Shrub Rose

4ft 4ft

Medium, Myrrh fragrance

Nye Bevan® (Auspital) English Shrub Rose

3½ft 2½ft

Light-medium, Myrrh fragrance

FLOWERING HEALTH FLOWERING

Vanessa Bell® (Auseasel) English Shrub Rose

3½ft 3ft

Medium-strong, Tea fragrance

The Country Parson® (Ausclergy) English Shrub Rose

3½ft 3½ft

Medium-strong, Fruity fragrance

FRAGRANCE

Charles Darwin (Auspeet) English Shrub Rose

3½ft 4½

Strong, Tea fragrance

FRAGRANCE

The Poet’s Wife® (Auswhirl) English Shrub Rose

3½ft 3½ft

Strong, Fruity fragrance

The Poet’s Wife® (Auswhirl) English Shrub Rose, Wynyard Hall, County Durham

OTHER SHRUB ROSES

OTHER SHRUB ROSES

RAMBLING ROSES RAMBLING ROSES

GARDENS TO VISIT

Here we have compiled a list of a few of our favourite gardens with collections of our English Roses. Immerse yourself in these spaces for inspiration on how to use our English Roses in different settings.

ALBRIGHTON, SHROPSHIRE

MIDLANDS

DAVID AUSTIN ROSES, Shropshire

WOLLERTON OLD HALL, Shropshire

WALES

BODNANT GARDEN, (National Trust) Conwy

NORTH & SCOTLAND

PORT SUNLIGHT, Wirral

ALNWICK GARDEN, Grantham

WEMYSS CASTLE, Fife, Scotland

WYNYARD HALL, Tees Valley

EAST MIDLANDS

BELVIOR CASTLE, Grantham

SOUTH WEST

POOLE HARBOUR PARK, Dorset

RHS ROSEMOOR, Devon

LONDON

KEW GARDENS, Richmond, Surrey

RHS WISLEY, Surrey

BORDE HILL GARDEN, West Sussex

SOUTH EAST

RHS HYDE HALL, Chelmsford, Essex

KE W G ARDEN

BLOOM

BLOOM is our commitment to the future. It’s an ambitious socially responsible plan, focussing on bringing everything we do for our people, our planet, the wider community, and gardeners of the future under one umbrella.

We know that as growers of natural products we have a duty to care for the environment. We continually work on ever growing our responsible decision making, using our business as a force for good.

USE OF CHEMICALS

In our horticultural regime we were early adopters of non-neonicotinoid pesticides in our production beds and now host several beekeepers who have hives around our nursery.

We do not spray the roses in our extensive trial programme and it is our intention that the latest generation of David Austin roses should be able to survive well in the garden, without the need for continual spraying by our customers.

We continue to implement crop IPM (outdoor and under protection) to reduce our use of pesticides.

We minimise reliance on herbicides by utilising alternative husbandry methods like mechanical weeders, bark toppers, membranes, cover crops and field rotations.

WATER AND ENERGY

A reliable source of water is the lifeblood of our nursery. It is vital that we protect the river which feeds our nursery and consider the ecosystem downstream. It was with this in mind that we invested £0.75m in a water capture and recycling system that means that we capture 60-80% of the rainwater and irrigation water that falls on our nursery, which provides at least 90% of our annual water consumption. Our extended reservoirs have also provided a new habitat for many wildfowl.

We have also installed an efficient biomass boiler which provides 100% of the heating for our rose-breeding greenhouses. This has now been running for eight years and has completely removed our reliance on heavy fuel oil to provide this heating.

For our production facility, offices and cold stores we have installed electro-voltaic solar panels across a number of our roofs. These panels are generating around 50% of our peak electrical needs, increasing to 80% of our needs in quieter periods.

AND MATERIALS

We have agreements in place with our waste-disposal company to recycle most of our waste products and the company wide waste policy ensures that waste is sorted into different streams to facilitate this.

Our distinctive David Austin Roses 6 litre pot has gradually changed recipe so that it is now formed of post-consumer waste and is fully recyclable at kerbside. The distinctive slot in label is also fully recyclable.

Our mail order packaging is now recyclable too, the internal “plastic” bag is made from potato starch and we are continually working towards 100% recyclable packaging.

We are pleased that our use of black plastics has been reduced to zero.

As part of our BLOOM commitments, we are pleased to be a key partner of the Young People in Horticulture Association (YPHA), supporting the future of our industry.

CONTACT US

Our team are based at our Head Office in Albrighton Shropshire. We welcome visits from our trade customers and are available to talk through any requirements on 01902 376 347 or be emailing protrade@davidaustinroses.co.uk

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