How does that grow for you Debra? How big and what shape?

lovemyhouse said:Heritage in 2013, it is a bit taller and wider now.

Here's the gorgeous photo Deb posted earlier. Isn't that a perfect plant!?

It's gorgeous. Lovely shape, lovely color, and see how healthy the leaves look.
One DA I would advise against is Glamis Castle - we have some and they flower well, but are definitely prone to black spot. We bought ours at the David Austin centre in Albrighton, and even there they warned us about the tendency to blackspot. We bought them anyway because my husband was keen (he's a Scot and wanted a reminder of his homeland) and I agree to anything that counters his usually indifferent attitude to gardening... We get rid of the black spot by using Viresco but we have to spray every month.
I'm not sure but I think DA in England have this year discontinued Glamis Castle... RIP

Thank you, Neal.

Sherry, Heritage is the Rose I would pick if I could only have one. Beautiful blooms, several bloom flushes through the year, nice fragrance (although sometimes older blooms tend to smell like botanic pesticide ), few thorns, drought tolerant, partial shade tolerant--can't get better than that around here. Right now, it is bigger than normal for me at nearly six foot tall and about five foot wide, but I think that is probably because we had more than 60 inches of rain this year when our average annual amount is 36.

Deb your Heritage will be amazing this spring! I know what you mean about the fragrance as the bloom ages. When paperwhite narcissus first open I love the fragrance, but after a few days it starts reminding me of cat pee, LOL.

Cliftoncat, I agree that Glamis Castle should be avoided. I never bought it because Fair Bianca is such a perfect white Austin and I never saw the point of another white one, but I have seen it in other gardens and it's not an impressive sight.

zuzu, do you have a favourite DA rose? Or is that an unfair question...

My favorite is English Elegance, which is very hard to find these days. It grows tall and has thick and sturdy canes. The blooms have a different shape and petal count than the usual Austin bloom, and they're a nice apricot blend with touches of pink.

It's stunning - and I've never seen it before! Time to investigate...

I haven't seen her before either. The form of the bloom is intriguing.

Debra, what a lovely rose you show there! All that extra rain helped my roses too. I always thought roses were great xeric plants, but the 45" of rain this year pushed them to their real potential. Now that I know what they can do, I will water and feed more often.
If anyone finds a source for English Elegance, let us know! That bloom form is truly unique.

HMF lists Heirloom Roses among the places to buy English Elegance, but I have to wonder about the quality of the English Elegance they'd offer. I've tried for years to root cuttings of the rose for friends and every cutting has failed, so it might not want to grow on its own roots. Mine's a grafted one, and I bought it from either Wayside or Hortico more than 15 years ago, back when both of those places were reliable sources.

Thank you, Cindi.

Neal...which view do you like best?

Both images are perfection! Almost felt like I caught a whiff of the fragrance....LOL

It isn't producing many blooms, but what there are...

Last night I went to B & B bulbs and filled my shopping cart, but did not check out. Good thing too. This morning on a whim, I checked the internet for local David Austin vendors and found there was one in Alachua. She had 2 DA in stock, Heritage and Kathryn Morley. I set an appointment to see her. When I got there she had them ready for me, but me being who I am, she wasn't getting off that easy. I wanted to see what else she had to offer. for the DA's, I got the above, The Generous Gardener, Wisely........then for the others I got:
Angel Face, Hot Cocoa, Nicole Carole Miller, McCartney Rose, Centennial Star, Liv Tyler, and....wait....Ebb Tide a dark plum colored rose. This one, wasn't really ready for sale, but she gave it to me.

I have never seen a dark plum colored rose and being me, had to have the unusual.

She also schooled me in many things I did not know. Watching her clip and trim as we went, I realized I was been a sissy when I pruned my roses on Saturday. She gave me info on planting, trimming, and growing organically. Fertilizing, watering and all.

I picked up 4 bags of potting soil on the way home. My helper can't be here until the weekend, but will have to bribe my 42 y/o son to help me tomorrow to get them planted in. Bribe him with what? I don't know....guess if I bake some snickerdoodles?

Wow! What a great shopping trip!

Most people will work for snickerdoodles.

I would.

Me too.