Theo Asir wrote:

With all the minutiae examining of
Austin Roses that goes on, one rose
nursery that gets overlooked is Harkness.

I grow many of their roses.
Guinevere, Compassion, Cream Abundance,
Jacqueline Du Pre and Pink Abundance.

Every year I am consistently blown away
the shear vivaciousness of their performance.

Harkness roses tend to have a strong R.Wichuriana
strain in them as Harkness uses New Dawn
extensively in their Hybridization.

They therefore have dense, dark, rounded leaves
with waxy strong canes. The leaves are bullet proof
and the plants have proven very hardy (little winter kill)
here in my Z5 Garden. Most are own root.
Other than Pink Abundance the others
have a strong scent.

I my opinion Harkness does an excellent
job of winnowing poor plants and hence
a much greater percentage of their roses
are very worthwhile.

They deserve to be looked at and grown
a loot more. If you are taking a wild chance
on a new rose, let it be a harkness. You have
a very high chance of being blown away.

I grow really disparate-looking Harkness roses, so I had to check out
the ancestry of Escapade, Rosemary Harkness, Ena Harkness, Compassion,
Marjorie Fair and Penny Lane. But I see Rosemary Harkness is out of
Compassion and that Compassion has New Dawn ancestrage, as does Penny
Lane. And Both Marjorie Fair and Escapade are out of Baby Faurax. Ena
was bred by an amateur, Norman, and introduced by Harkness, so it's its
own thing (Crimson Glory and the same scent!).

I can't wait to replace Escapade. Mine either isn't a good plant or it
isn't happy here.