After persevering with the David Austin rose, 'William Morris', for three years the time has come for me to say goodbye to it. I don't consider it a fault of the rose, more a fault of the English weather conditions which that particular rose seems unable to cope with. The balling of the flowers in the unsummery conditions that prevail, year after year, is unacceptable. I shall possibly just buy another of the roses that I already have, safe in the knowledge that it can cope - such as 'The Generous Gardener', 'Wild Eve', or even a non-David Austin climber that I have grown before. How sad though, to dig up a rose that, if the weather had just been kinder, dryer, would have done so well and it is such a prolific flowerer, smells so sweet. But I don't believe that English summers are suddenly going to be as lovely as they should be, or could be. More like pigs will fly.
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| William Morris at its best |
Below, 'William Morris' rotting in the rain.
Below, 'The Generous Gardener' coping with the weather
Below, Wild Eve quite happy in the rain on a north-facing fence, with its honeysuckle companion, Lonicera Scentsation.
