MORTIMER SACKLER ROSE
When I made the decision to remove the William Morris rose, that poor rose that did nothing wrong but lack the ability to cope with our appalling wet weather here on the Pennines, its flowers balling and rotting before they could open, I wrote to the David Austin nurseries who bred the plant. I got a response. I had requested their advice about a replacement, saying that I wanted a rose that repeated, that could replace a climber, that was fragrant, that was healthy, with flowers that would happily open even with a lot of rain. They recommended Mortimer Sackler and they told me that they had no more of that rose in containers. Fortunately, today, my luck was in when I visited the Royal Horticultural Society gardens at Harlow Carr, near Harrogate. They had several Mortimer Sackler roses and I bought the one I considered the most robust. After all, I have had to remove a three year old climber and now it has left a gaping gap in my row of roses along the fence.
Mortimer Sackler on the David Austin website, for your further information.
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| Mortimer Sackler rose |
My hope is that Mortimer Sackler which is a large shrub and can grow 8ft tall, will soon make up for lost time although I realise it will be a couple of years, at least, before it does.
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| Mortimer Sackler rose |
What I particularly like is that it is defined as extremely healthy. Any rose grower will know that disease and pests can be a real nuisance on roses. The greenfly will leave a sticky sap which fungus spores happily adhere to. So, the healthier a plant is, the better. Interestingly, the rose is named after Dr. Mortimer David Sackler, KBE. Wikipedia has this to say about how this came about:
At a charity auction in 2002, Theresa Sackler, a passionate gardener, bought the right to name a new breed of rose, which she named for her husband. She explained that the official description of the rose — "The blooms give the impression of delicacy and softness but are, in fact, very tough and little affected by bad weather" — brought to mind her husband.Isn't that just perfect? Just what I need to replace William Morris! Goodbye William Morris.