David Austin’s English Roses for the West Coast

Rosa ‘Constance Spry’, the first of David Austin’s English roses, along a sidewalk in Emeryville, California. Author’s photographs

David Austin began breeding roses as a hobby, something to entertain himself with, little thinking that sixty years later his plants would be grown around the world and would generate a renewed enthusiasm for roses.

From an early age, Englishman David Austin had a passion for plants and gardens, but not for the hybrid tea roses that were so popular at the time. The “old roses” that pre-dated these hybrids were fast disappearing; only a few people, like Graham Thomas and Vita Sackville-West, saw their value and engaged in efforts to save them from extinction. Once introduced to them, however, David immediately fell in love with the old roses—their full-petalled flowers, delicious fragrances, informal, shrubby habits, and, most importantly, their charm. He also recognized their limitations: they only flowered once in spring or early summer, and their color range was limited to tints of pink, purple, and white.

David’s father, Charles Austin, was friendly with a local nurserym...