By Brian Wagner
THE beginning of the New Year is very exciting for us, because we can finally reveal the new rose varieties selected for 2022.
Every year we choose new rose varieties from international and Australian breeders, and it’s never an easy task for us.
We normally grow them for a couple of years in our field before deciding anything, to check their performance in our climate.
Then we choose what we see it’s disease resistant and is growing well in this part of the world, but also what we think could bring something new to your gardens, for their colours, shapes or fragrances.
For 2022, we’ve selected 26 new varieties, and we really hope you’ll love them as much as we do.
You can see them online – on www.wagnersrosenursery.com.au – but we’ll also introduce them here now and in the next few weeks.
Let’s start with the very well-known English breeder David Austin: the three new varieties they are introducing to Australia in 2022 are really special.
Dame Judi Dench
The blooms of this new David Austin are a particularly rich shade of apricot-orange, paling prettily towards the edges.
The striking, red-tipped buds gradually open to reveal large informal rosettes, each with ruffled petals and a button eye.
They are very resistant to rain damage; the petals drop neatly and they have a light medium fragrance.
The shrub is very healthy, growing up to 110cm high, and produces strong, arching stems which, over time, form an attractive mound of blooms.
Dame Judi Dench rose is named after one of Britain’s most beloved stars of stage and screen.
Vanessa Bell
Its pink-tinged buds open to medium sized cups held in large clusters of a pale yellow, fading to white at the edges; each bloom has a rich yellow eye and a medium-strong green tea with lemon and honey fragrance.
Vanessa Bell forms a bushy, upright shrub that grows up to 110cm high.
This beautiful new David Austin is named for the artist, designer and founder member of the Bloomsbury Group – sister of the writer, Virginia Woolf.
James L Austin
James L Austin bears large, many petalled, deep pink rosettes, each with a button eye.
It forms a neat and tidy shrub with a bushy, upright habit, growing up to 125 cm high.
It has a light-medium fruity fragrance and it’s named for the son of David Austin Senior and brother of David Austin Junior.
We are now receiving orders for bare root roses to be delivered next winter; our two budders have been working hard for the last month, grafting hundreds of new plants every day.
Up to the beginning of Autumn we’ll be busy preparing budding material for them and making sure we’ll grow enough plants for each variety, so now it’s the perfect time to make some planning and decide what to add to your rose garden.
