Rose Symphony

‘Symphony’ lives up to its lyrical name with an elegant orchestration of color, fragrance, and graceful form. It is one of the more compact and continuously flowering of his English Roses, designed with an eye toward cheerful display, floral abundance, and suitability for a wide range of garden settings, especially in warmer climates.

FLOWERING

This rose variety ‘Symphony’ has a recurrent flowering habit. Blooms in flushes with breaks from summer until frosts, especially when regularly deadheaded. The number of blooms per plant during the growing season is profuse, but there are too many to count.

The medium-sized blooms emerge in soft, luminous yellow colours, often with richer shades at the center that gradually fades to paler lemon tones at the edges. As the petals unfold, the flowers evolve into perfectly formed rosettes, with over 100 neatly arranged, quilled petals forming a charmingly scalloped pattern. With time, and particularly in warm weather, petals may blush with pink highlights, a transformation that, depending on climate and viewer preference, can add romantic softness or slightly diminish the initial color clarity.

Each flower carries a sweet, pleasant, and very noticeable fragrance, evoking a traditional Old Rose scent with fresh floral overtones. The blossoms are usually held in small, close clusters that appear freely and repeatedly from early summer well into autumn.

PLANT

The rose variety ‘Symphony’ is classified as a Shrub rose and is part of David Austin’s English Shrub Roses collection. Compared to most English shrub roses it is a low-growing, bushy shrub with a neat, upright habit and an abundance of light green, glossy foliage. It reaches a modest size of about 90 - 110 cm (3 to 3.5 feet) tall and wide, making it well-suited to smaller gardens, front-of-border placements, or mass bedding displays.

Thanks to its compact and tidy habit, this rose also thrives in pots and containers, and it is equally appealing as a low hedge or in group plantings where its repeated flushes of cheerful color can create an uplifting visual rhythm. Because of its generous flowering habit and compact stature, ‘Symphony’ is ideal for mixed borders, small gardens and rose beds, due to its compact size it is ideal for growing in pots and patio containers. Its shapely blooms hold up well in cut flower arrangements, bringing both color and scent indoors.

The bush is typically healthy, though it performs best in warmer, sunnier climates, where its flower production is especially profuse and long-lasting. It prefers well-drained, fertile soil with good moisture retention and benefits from deadheading to encourage continuous blooming. It may be lightly pruned to maintain shape and rebloom. As all roses it responds well to feeding with balanced rose fertilizer during the season. The plentiful foliage provides a bright green contrast that enhances the bloom color and contributes to the overall fresh and tidy appearance of the plant.

Rose variety ‘Symphony’ is recommended for growing in climate conditions similar to USDA 6 and requires winter protection in more colder climates.

The rose variety was named in collaboration with the Allux commercial enterprise to support the Breast Cancer Fund for Wales, lending this rose a special significance beyond its ornamental value - a reminder of the harmony between horticulture and charitable causes.

English Shrub Roses

ORIGIN OF THE VARIETY

Rose variety ‘Auslett’ / 'Symphony’ was bred by David Austin by crossing the English shrub rose ’The Knight’ with Floribunda rose ’Yellow Cushion’.

USDA 6