Rose Leonard Dudley Braithwaite

Probably this variety has the brightest, light crimson blooms of all David Austin’s roses. The petals are loosely arranged to form beautiful, large, slightly cupped blooms that open wide and flat. It forms a large, bushy, rather spreading shrub. Very well armed with many prickles, however its flowers have excellent tolerance to heat and rains.

DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW VARIETY
The following is a detailed description of the variety, color terminology being in accordance with the "Methuen Handbook of Color" published by Eyre Methuen Ltd (1963).

FLOWER
This variety has abundant and continual blooming habit. Flowers well in flushes starting from the late spring / early summer to frosts.

Flower bud:
Flower buds have rounded shape with cuspidate apex and pulled into ensiform appendage before bud break. The bud is quite large, with length of about 3 - 4.5 cm and width of about 1.1 - 1.8 cm. When the bud starts to open it has dark red/wine red colour (Group 11C/08). Flower buds are born singularly or in small clusters 2 – 5 together.

Peduncle has length of about 6-7 cm, greyish-ruby colour (Group 11C6) and has smooth texture with few red glandular hairs.

Sepals have deep green colour (Group 30E8) on the upper side, with central longitudinal strip of brownish red (Group 11C8); the outer margins have 1 - 3 ensiform projections on outer margins; the inner margins lined with fine white downy hairs. The underside of the sepals has lettuce green colour (Group 30D7) with leathery and fairly smooth texture of the outside and inside. The length of the sepals is about 3 - 4 cm.

Bloom:
The flowers have deep cup shape, flattened on top, older flowers doming, the outer petals recurved to stem. The average open flower diameter is about 8 - 9 cm.

The colour when the flower starts to open on the upper side of the outer petals is scarlet (Group 10C8) with yellow tip of the basal spot (Group 4A5). The underside of the petals has deep red colour (Group 11C8) and pastel yellow (Group 3A4) basal tip. When the flower is fully open the colour of the upper side and of the underside of the flower is cerise (Group 12C8) with pale yellow basal tip (Group 3A3).

The coloring of the flower when finished blooming is cerise (Group 12C8) with pastel yellow (Group 3A3) basal tip.

Among English shrub roses the flowers of ‘L. D. Braithwaite’ have one of the best lasting qualities. The flowers last on a plant about 10 - 14 days under normal growing conditions. Range in number of days as a cut flower about 8 - 12 days.

Petals:
The shape of the outside petals is irregular, roughly bilobed with, apex rounded and narrowing to truncate base. Max. width of the petals is about 4.5 - 5.0 cm.

The petals positioned in the middle have rounded apex, slightly bilobed and narrowing to truncate base, and have max. width of about 3.0 cm.

The inner petals have rounded apex, slightly bilobed, narrowing to base, v-shaped with slight shoulder. Their max. width is about 1 - 2 cm. Inner petals have slightly staminoid form.

They have firm, smooth texture on the outside and slightly crinkly on the inside. The number of petals is about 76 - 93 but on average 80.

‘L. D. Braithwaite’ has good self cleaning quality, petals fall quickly to provide a tidy rose.

Fragrance:
The fragrance is light, but sweet, rich, old roses like.

Reproductive parts:
The number of stamens on a flower is about 75 - 80.

The anthers have normal length and chrome yellow colour (Group 5A8).

Filaments are light yellow (Group 3A5), tinged with cerise (Group 12C8), having irregular height.

The number of pistils is 120 on average.

Stigmas have pastel yellow colour (Group 3A4).

Styles are pale yellow (Group 2A3) with fine cerise (Group 12C8) longitudinal line.

Receptacle is jug shaped, has grayish ruby colour (Group 11C5), smooth texture, and length of about 7 - 5 mm.

The variety doesn’t have an aptitude to bearing fruits so prompt deadheading is not necessary.

PLANT

‘L. D. Braithwaite’ classified as a shrub. Hs strong and bushy growth habit, forms upright, slightly outwardly bush. The height of the mature plant varies from 125 to 185 cm, and the width is about 125 cm.

The plant proved to be quite hardy, suitable both for growing in mixed borders, in rose borders and will make a great cut flower.

Foliage:
The general effect of foliage is dense, grayish green and matte.

The stipules are medium sized, with the length of about 1.5 - 2.2 cm and the width of about 5 - 8 mm. The angle of wingtips to petiole is about 45° - 80°, wings are curved. Stipules have greyish green colour (Group 30B6), serrate margins with red tipped glandular hairs.

Petiole is stiff and straight, has a length of about 9 - 11 cm. The upper side of the petiole has deep green colour (Group 9E8) with groove edged with red glandular hairs, the underside is sap green (Group 30B7) with 2 – 8 thorns per internode. The basal width is about 1 - 2 cm, height is about 1 - 2 cm and with few red glandular hairs.

Leaflets:
The number of leaflets on a normal mid-stem leaf is 3, 5, 7. The leaflets have ovoid shape, rounded base, slightly cuspidate apex, the serration is dentate. The leaflets have a tough, leathery, dull texture. The length of the average leaflet is about 4 - 8 cm, the width is about 3 - 5 cm.

The colour of the young leaflets is braken green (Group 29F7) on the upper side and spinach green on the under side. The adult foliage is dark green (Group 29F8) on the upper side dark green and slightly lighter dark green (Group 29E7/6) on the underside. Margins have slightly yellowing shades.

Wood:
Young stems have parrot green colour (Group 30E8) and smooth and dull texture. The old stems have grass green colour (Group 30E7) and slightly stripey, the texture is smooth and dull.

Prickles: There are numerous prickles present on the main stems and on the laterals, their sizes are very variable, the basal width is about 1 mm and the height is about 1-9 mm; there are also present numerous red glandular hairs.

The old prickles are very numerous, their sizes are very variable, the basal width is about 1 - 9 mm and the height is about 1 - 9 mm. They have oxblood red colour (Group 9E7) and there are also present red glandular hairs on some stems.

Disease resistance:
The variety has very good resistance to rust, botrytis and good resistance to blackspots and powdery mildew, especially in dryer climates. The winter hardiness is also quite strong.

The flowers of ‘L. D. Braithwaite’ showed excellent resistance to heat in dryer climates and have good tolerance to rains.

Unfortunately we do not have information about the origin of the name of this rose.

English Shrub Rose

Named after David Austin’s father-in-law, Leonard Dudley Braithwaite.

ORIGIN OF THE VARIETY
Was created by artificial pollination at a nursery in Albrighton, Nr. Wolverhampton, The United Kingdom wherein two parents were crossed:

Female parent (seed parent) – ‘Ausmary’ / ‘Mary Rose’ by David Austin, 1983.

Male parent (pollen parent) - ‘Ausquire’ / ‘The Squire’ by David Austin, 1977.

SUMMARY OF THE VARIETY
Primary features of this variety which connote a distinctive advance over existing types are the vigorous abundant and continual blooming that occurs for 5 months taken with the perfection of the fully double flowers of an old-fashioned shape.

Variety denomination (in accordance with the UPOV Convention): Auscrim.

Cultivar trade name: L. D. Braithwaite.

The variety ‘Auscrim’ / ‘L. D. Braithwaite’ holds its distinguishing characteristics through succeeding propagations by budding.

USDA zone 5 and warmer