The Story behind David Austin Roses

David Austin was born in 1926 on the farm where he lived all his life. He is the son of a farmer and began farming before going into business as a nurseryman in the early 1960s. From an early age, he has been interested in gardening.

In the 1940s, a copy of George Bunyard’s book on old roses gave him the idea of crossing old roses with modern roses. The old roses – that is the Gallicas, Damasks, albas, etc. – had all but died out at that time. His objective being to create new roses in the style of old roses, thus combining the unique charm and fragrance of old roses with the wide color range and repeat-flowering qualities of modern roses. He was also particularly interested in producing well-formed shrubs that would make good garden plants.

In the year 2000 David began breeding for cut roses. He was looking for roses with the shapes and fragrances of old Garden roses but with the vase life of commercial cut varieties. Tambuzi, Rosaprima, and Alexandra farms amongst others are growing these varieties for the cut flower markets of the world and they are testing dozens of new varieties for introductions in the coming years.