Roses fit for a King
To all of those looking to mark the crowning of King Charles III in ways beyond bunting and a bank holiday, let us introduce you to our Coronation Collection. Comprised of six English roses that are royal by name and regal by nature, whichever you choose to plant will become an emblem in your garden of a moment in Great British history. Read on to uncover which calls out to you most and for planting advice that will allow it to become your garden’s crowning glory.
Unveiling our Coronation Collection
Six English shrub roses bred here in Shropshire by David Austin are plants destined to reign supreme in your great outdoors. Some better suited to borders and others for containers, some can to be cut and brought indoors and others best serve gardens alone, but what they all share is a stately air that will command attention and appreciation. Be warned though, you may find visitors to your garden curtsying when graced with their presence!
ROYAL JUBILEE
(Auspaddle)
Named for: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for her Diamond Jubilee
One of the characteristics that makes Royal Jubilee so special is its chalice-shaped blooms whose petals curve inwards, keeping the stamen is mostly hidden from view. The focus then falls on its rich pink palette and its accompanying fruit fragrance with notes of blackcurrants. A large shrub that repeat flowers, it suits a mixed border or rose hedge most and is happiest in full sunlight and any and every soil type.
ELIZABETH®
(Ausmajesty)
Named for: Britain’s longest serving monarch, the late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
A pale pink rose with hints of apricot to be found on every petal, Elizabeth is a formidable flower yet is full of grace and gentle beauty like the monarch after which it’s named. From its crisp apple blossom pink rosettes to those petals in the gentlest blush white, its delicate palette is complemented by its lemon sherbet meets Old Rose fragrance. Plant it as part of either a mixed or rose border, to form a rose hedge, or simply alone in a container for this rose is one of most easygoing to plant and grow, suiting all soil types and levels of sunlight.
PRINCESS ALEXANDRA OF KENT®
(Ausmerchant)
Named for: Princess Alexandra, cousin to Queen Elizabeth II and both a keen gardener and great lover of roses
Here is a rose instantly recognised for its unusually large flowers coloured in bright pink. Deeply cupped and strongly scented with a fresh Tea fragrance that melts into notes of lemon and blackcurrants, it’s a rose to be noticed yet has poise on a well-rounded shrub. Another rose that thrives in most growing conditions, it’s unfussy about sunlight and soil type, making it a success in shadier spots.
WILLIAM AND CATHERINE
(Ausrapper)
Named for: the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their wedding day
The pure white colouring of the William and Catherine rose and pure myrrh fragrance combine to produce the most glorious wedding bloom we hope the newlywed royals could have wished for. It grows to form an attractive shrub with largely upright growth of up to 4ft. Though it thrives in a garden from mixed borders to containers, this is a rose for cutting and bringing indoors to fill vases and pots.
Anne Boleyn
(Ausecret)
Named for: the second of Henry VIII’s six wives
A delightfully frilly rose that promises large sprays of rosette blooms with symmetrical petals. Its colouring is an attractive mid-pink with a scent as medium-bodied too, for this is a rose that is mostly about its petal formation. It has low-spreading growth that builds up to give rise to a neatly mounded shrub which will live quite happily in any sort of border, hedge, container and all in soil and levels of sunlight.
PRINCESS ANNE®
(Auskitchen)
Named for: Her Royal Highness, the Princess Royal
So deep pink are Princess Anne’s youngest flowers that there borderline red, though with age sees them fade to pure, rich pink. Her petals may be narrow but they’re remarkably substantial, held in large, fragrant clusters. Princness Anne is known too for her reliable health, forming foliage as succulent as its heads, and being quite happy planted in any degree of sunlight, soil or setting.
With your commemorative rose chosen, read on for our planting guides to ensure it lives a long and happy life.