Pat Austin rose File#_D3981

I fell in love with a most magnificent Pat Austin shrub rose in Sacramento several years back, and have been trying ever since to recreate that dramatic image. This is an unusual rose, easily recognized by its distinctively colored blooms. And while the individual blooms blow quickly, they are produced in such abundance that the plant is most always full of color. The colors are an interesting mix. Golden buds open to reveal deep coppery-orange petals in a softly cupped bloom, with a golden yellow reverse. As the flowers age, their deep tone softens, moving through a series of increasingly pastel versions of the original, then quickly dropping its petals. The plant bears blooms at all stages of this color succession with more buds continuously developing, to maintain this pleasing show.

My plants of Pat Austin are young so I can't yet judge the eventual size here. The youngest of my plants is the healthiest - planted in fall of 2008, the longest new cane is 4 1/2 ft. Though this Austin shrub rose wants to sprawl, this plant is adjacent to lawn, so to protect it from the mower, the new canes are staked. It will be intersting to see how this affects the shrub form.

My second Pat Austin was received as a damaged plant and barely survived its first winter. It is still in recovery mode so is quite small, yet it blooms quite well. The third was actually planted years before, but is in a spot with heavy alkaline clay soil and too much shade. Considering all that, it has done well, performing as most all shaded roses do - it is lanky and struggling. The ability of all my plants - even the most site-challenged - to produce so many of these lovely blooms is encouraging. Perhaps I will yet have that magnificent plant which first hooked me so many years ago.

Pat Austin roses. File#I-1925

~ Photography from Christine, Reno, NV 2009 ~