Rose St. Swithun

A short, vigorous climber bearing large, saucer-like blooms, each packed with over one hundred frilly petals. Flowers are large. They are a pure soft pink, paling to blush towards the edges, and are complemented by plentiful greyish-green foliage. There is a medium-strong myrrh scent.

The bud form is blunt topped, globular. When sepals first divide, bud color is red-pink. The flowers have an average open size of 7 to 8 cm (3’’), borne mostly singly or several together in clusters of irregular shape. When the flowers first open, they are cupped, tea-rose type; after they flatten to form a rosette with a quartered or button center. The outer petals curl back and their edges curl slightly. Number of petals under normal conditions: 120 to 130.

This variety blooms quite well in flushes through the season.

Forms t 3-4 m high and 90 – 125 cm wide plant with bushy growth habbit. Leaves are very healthy, gray-green, provide great background for its pink flowers.

Named after St. Swithun, Bishop of Winchester, to commemorate the 900th anniversary of the consecration of Winchester Cathedral.

English Climbing Rose

Seed parent ‘AUSquire’ / ‘Mary Rose’ David Austin and the pollen parents are ‘AUScer’ / ‘Chaucer’ aby David Austin and Hybrid Rugosa ‘Conrad Ferdinand Meyer’ by Dr. Franz Hermann Müller.

USDA zone 5 and warmer