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GARDENS

Photo Courtesy David Austin Roses

Photo Courtesy David Austin Roses

Photo Courtesy David Austin Roses

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It was during a college year spent abroad at the Universi-ty of London that I first became entwined with ThomasHardy and his ill-fated working-class heroes and hero-ines, often victims of a cruel aristocracy. Poor Tess Dur-beyfield, deprived of her beloved and fated to die as a mur-

deress. Or hey, Jude, who made me cry as he succumbed tohis passion for the joys of the flesh and the false hope of thebottle.

So how could I not be pleased to know that these fictionalvictims of Victorian morality have been given some measureof sweetness and light as roses — a bright crimson bloomnamed Tess of the d’Urbervilles and a sturdy yellow flowercalled Jude the Obscure that has a fragrance reminiscent ofguava and sweet white wine but that, interestingly enough,thrives in a dry environment.

More to the point, how could I not nurture a tender passionfor David Austin roses? Their names alone conjure up tri-umph and tragedy, love and mystery, and infinite romance —velvety red William Shakespeare 2000, for instance, as wellas soft yellow Blythe Spirit, warm pink Ann Boleyn, purewhite Fair Bianca, dark crimson The Dark Lady, orange-redBenjamin Britten, and magenta-pink Noble Antony.

But they are more than just pretty names. Also known asEnglish Roses, they are the creations of David Austin, a

TESS OF THE D’URBERVILLES (AUSMOVE)

L I F E S T Y L E S

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A REALENGLISH ROSE

Several varieties ofDavid AustinEnglish Roses canbe seen at OldWestbury Gardens,left, where they areplaced in bordersalong with otherflowers. The formalrose gardens arereserved for hybridteas.

GRAHAM THOMAS (AUSMAS)

THE DARK LADY (AUSBLOOM)

HERITAGE (AUSBLUSH)

GOLDEN CELEBRATION (AUSGOLD)

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Photo Courtesy David Austin Roses Photo Courtesy David Austin RosesPhoto Courtesy David Austin Roses

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asonlyaBritcould

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 2000(AUSROMEO)

Photo Courtesy David Austin Roses

THE MAYFLOWER (AUSTILLY)

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What could be betterthan curling up with agood book in front ofyour favorite window?Windows have a mag-

netism all their own: They floodyour room with sunlight, connectyou to the rest of the world, and— if you’ve got a comfortablewindow seat — offer a perfect,relaxing vantage point fromwhich to view it.

We often think of windowseats as existing only in built-in,recessed window casings ordormer-style nooks. But suchidealized settings aren’t requiredto fashion a seat, nor is a greatamount of expense or effort.

A freestanding bench, blanketchest or even a bracketed seatattached to the wall like a shelfcan serve as a window seat.None of these requires heavyconstruction.

You can build a window seatyourself or hire someone to do itfor you. Either way, it can trans-form a corner of your home intoa more beautiful, more welcom-

ing spot.Choosing thetype of seat.Begin bythinkingabout howyou plan touse the spacethat a windowseat will pro-vide. If you’rea morningperson andwant a pri-vate spot toenjoy the first

sunlight of the day, you’ll wantto use an east-facing window.One near or in the kitchen isalso ideal for morning use.

A window near an exteriordoor or in a mudroom might be agood place for a small seat — astopping point for tying shoes. Ifyou’d like a quiet place for nap-ping, plan for a larger, morespacious seat with ample cushion-ing, preferably one tucked awayfrom high-traffic areas.Coordinating with your decor. Whenit comes to constructing the seatitself, take your cues from thematerials and colors in the restof the room. By mimickingwhat’s already there, you caneffectively achieve a “built-in”look with a freestanding seat.

You can use stock moldingsaround the edge of the seat, forexample, to complement yourexisting trim, baseboard or win-dow sills.

If your furniture or banisterhas turned legs, you might sup-port the window seat with coordi-nating legs purchased as-is orrecycled from an old chair.Paint-ing the seat to match the trim orwall color will add to the visualconnection.

Fabrics are another way to tieyour window seat to the room andits furnishings.Long drapes caneither be tied back or allowed to

See STEWART on B22

Shropshire farmer — no wonder a peachy pink is named AShropshire Lad after A.E. Houseman’s poetry collection —who started hybridizing as a hobby in the 1950s. He was en-chanted by the fragrance and flower form of old roses, but be-moaned their flaws — a brief blooming season and the ab-sence of yellows or apricots.

His solution was to cross old roses with latter-day hybridteas and floribundas, producing what he calls “new roses inthe old tradition.” To put it more specifically, blooms thathave the charm and perfume of old roses but flower through-out the season. David Austin English Roses took their placein the sun in the 1970s and have been garden stars eversince. David Austin, now in his 70s, is still breeding roses.Last year, 150,000 crosses resulted in 450,000 seeds, abouthalf of which germinated. A handful of these eventually willmake it to the market — and that’s only after eight or nineyears of seeing how they do in trial gardens.

One of the places you can see these English Roses in thefield is Old Westbury Gardens. That’s where I caught up withMichael Marriott, the technical director for David AustinRoses, and Andy Durbridge, who until recently was the direc-tor of horticulture at the garden. Michael was on a nine-

See ROSES on B29

Photo Courtesy David Austin Roses

JAMES GALWAY (AUSCRYSTAL)

MARY ROSE (AUSMARY)

MarthaStewart

EGLANTYNE (AUSMAK)

Michael Marriott,technical directorof David AustinRoses in England,was at OldWestbury Gardensrecently to checkout how hiscompany’svarieties are doing.

These SeatsCan Help OpenThe WindowTo Your Soul

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states-in-10-days tour of the UnitedStates, checking out his company’sroses in places as varied as Detroit andVirginia Beach and Phoenix and LongIsland. It was a little while beforebloom time, but Michael and Andycould identify each variety by lookingat the buds and branches. Sometimes,of course, they also looked at the labels.

“That has to be one of yours,” Andysaid as we walked along the flower bor-ders in the walled garden.

“Crown Princess,” Michael said. “Ohgolly good, see all the flower buds.They’ll be a rich apricoty orange with afruity fragrance. In time, it’ll be a6-foot-by-6-foot shrub.”

There are other David Austins in theperennial borders of the walled gardenand among the climbers scrambling upthe wooden pergola that surrounds therose garden. But what’s interesting isthat you won’t find them in the formalboxwood-bordered beds of the rose gar-den itself. Basically, that’s because OldWestbury remains true to the old-fash-ioned philosophy that rose gardens areplaces for neatly spaced hybrid teas.

As you might expect, Michael is notraditionalist. “This idea that you haveto plant your roses three, four feetapart is rubbish,” he said. “What youend up with is a rose, then soil, then an-other rose, then more soil. What’s thepoint? Why is that attractive?”

Michael’s thinking goes beyond therose garden. He espouses the vision ofthe Shropshire lad who shook up the ac-cepted notion of roses as pamperedprima donnas that could only be proper-ly displayed in a bed of their own.David Austin’s contention is that rosesdon’t just belong in the rose garden —they belong in the garden.

“You can use English Roses virtuallyanyplace,” Michael said. “The onlyplace you wouldn’t use them would beby a pond. And they may struggle a bitin the woodland — the notion thatroses need six to eight hours of sun aday is rubbish; the reason they hatebeing under trees is because of the rootcompetition. But in the mixed border,as bedding plants, tree roses, climbers,hedges, they’re fantastic.”

Andy Durbridge pointed to a borderleading to the lily pond in the walledgarden that was redone to make themost of English Roses. Each end of theborder is anchored with a grouping ofthree pure yellow Graham Thomasroses — named for the famous Britishgarden writer — which have palegreen, disease-resistant leaves. TheDark Lady flourishes in the middle ofthe row — it’s a full-flowered, darkcrimson beauty named for the mysteri-ous beloved of Shakespeare’s sonnets.

In a traditional formal rose gardenthe green foliage is all that precedesand follows the bloom time of the flow-ers. In a border such as the one in frontof us, the English Roses are integral tothe seasonal show. In the early spring,as the roses start to leaf out, pink andyellow tulips stand in the foreground ofthe border amid a carpet of white candy-tuft. Then peonies and irises herald theroses. In late summer, dahlias and ti-bouchina form a stunning backdrop.

Call me a rose populist, but I like theidea of democratizing the queen of flow-ers. Hybrid teas and floribundas andold roses all have their place in the gar-den, but I’m also very taken with En-glish Roses. David Austin has maderoses less intimidating. And, to my eye,often more appealing — his roses arelarge, fragrant blooms that grow oneasy-care bushes.

Some, such as Graham Thomas andTess of the d’Urbervilles, make excel-lent climbers because they produce

side branches that flower along the en-tire length of the stems, even the lowersections. I have a pink grandifloracalled Queen Elizabeth on one of my ar-bors that gives me a royal pain becauseit blooms its head off along the top ofthe arbor but its legs stay bare.

Also, English Roses are not finickyand uptight. They get by without com-plicated pruning or a lot of spraying.I’m trying them in combination with lil-ies and clematis, and I dream of trans-planting some monster lacecap hydran-geas outside my den windows and re-placing them with a hedge of MaryRose, whose virtues include a delicatefragrance reminiscent of honey and al-mond blossom. Mary Rose, which pro-duces bouquets of loose-petaled rosepink flowers, is named after HenryVIII’s flagship, which was brought upfrom the sea after more than 400 years.

And I’m very interested in a newDavid Austin rose that’s being intro-duced this year. I like the fact that it’ssupposed to be resistant to black spot,powdery mildew and rust. “There’snever been a spot on it in all of the yearsof its trial,” said Michael. “It’s beentrailed for nine years in the U.K., andwe have 10 plants scattered around theU.S. It’s never been sprayed. Never. Any-where.”

One of this new variety is at Old West-bury Gardens and, according to AndyDurbridge, it’s doing beautifully.

Oh, yes, I like the name of this newdeep-pink arrival. It’s called The May-flower.

William Shakespeare and ThomasHardy, and now The Mayflower. Perpet-ual blooms and sweet perfumes androses amid the flower borders. That’sprogress, pilgrims. �

ROSES from B20B21

Photo Courtesy David Austin Roses

The Renaissance Garden in England, above, and a closeup of Golden Celebration (Ausgold), below.

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The Real English RoseB29

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