In aHlwYXRpYQ==.0c3b73929070c3d4f8f4d2647c95aed4@106 6082138.cotse.net
Shiva wrote:
My Radio Times is really tiny, still
recuperating from being mowed to the ground by
a helper last spring. Can't wait until it is
big enough to bloom steadily.

I'm so glad you got this one, Shiva. My favourite Austin, better than
even Abraham Darby. Both the blooms and the fragrance are stunning.
Mildew is the only drawback but the bush is so strong that you could
almost ignore it (well, not quite!).


I've never seen
A Shropshire Lad, is it one of the pale ones?

Yes, and I thoroughly recommend against growing it. The blooms are
great but there are so few of them. I suppose you could grow it for the
disease-free foliage :-)


As for The Squire--if it resembles Tradecant in
color but holds up a bit longer, I will just have
to have it.

Try it Shiva! I think it's better than Tradescant. It's a truer red
with tighter, more cupped formal blooms. A lovely old rose fragrance
too. Austin himself rubbishes this early variety as a disease magnet,
although he admits that it does OK outside the UK. It behaves well for
me - no more mildew than the other reds I grow.

Austin also admits (in his book) that "No other red rose that I know
produces flowers of such superb old rose quality as The Squire... truly
outstanding beauty". That is saying something because Austin has done
plenty of reds.

One for the connoisseurs.