The Story of David Austin Roses
by Elliot
Pictures by David Austin Roses (2018)
David Austin Roses, 2018
The history of David Austin Roses and their significance in the floral world
David Austin Senior, an Englishman born and raised in Shropshire was the son of a farmer. He followed in the footsteps of his father as he too began farming before becoming a horticulturist. Though his fascination with roses was always there, it peaked when his sister gave him a copy of A. E. Bunyard's Old Garden Roses. At 18, he bought some of the then popular Tea Roses and a small collection of old roses to grow. Nurturing these roses sparked an idea — the hybridisation of Old Roses and Hybrid Teas to produce a better rose with the style, rich fragrance and shrubby growth of an Old Rose and the wide colour range and excellent repeat flowering ability of Hybrid Tea roses. This was extremely important at the time as the modern rose; Hybrid Teas did not have a scent to them. This was a characteristic that was sacrificed after years of breeding in order to achieve a collection of roses with a greater variety of colours.
“Fragrance is the other half of the beauty of a rose”
– David Austin Senior
Thus, he began experimenting; he researched and tested with many different flowers, failing each time until one day, it worked. The year was 1961 when his first specimen was born — Rosa Constance Spry — a rose with the beauty and fragrance of the Old Roses and the benefits of the modern rose. With this breakthrough, he ran with it; setting up nurseries and introducing 200 new cultivars to the world.
His impact
This greatly impacted the floral industry as roses had regained their fragrance — thanks to the Old Roses — which recovered the interest of many consumers and improved overall sales in the floral industry. Roses with scent were also now more suited for different climates, more resistant to diseases and had higher frequency blooms that lasted longer due to the Tea Rose properties. This is a crucial component for the future as commercial cut roses are now able to be delivered to almost every part of the world due to the fortification of the Tea rose genes.
To further solidify his significance and influence in the floral world, David Austin Senior has been awarded an array of prestigious awards — the Victoria Medal of Honour for his service to horticulture, the Dean Hole Medal from the Royal National Rose Society, an honorary MSc from the University of East London for his work on rose breeding, the lifetime achievement from the Garden Association and was appointed OBE in 2007.
On the 18th of December 2018, David Charles Henshaw Austin, rose breeder died. He has since been immortalized and will live on as the man who breathed life back into roses.
David Austin Roses, 2018