David Austin

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For the cartoonist, see David Austin (cartoonist).

David Austin English Rose 'Mary Rose' (named for the Mary Rose) in the Albury, New South Wales Botanical Gardens.

David C.H. Austin OBE (born 1926) is a rose breeder and writer who lives in Shropshire, England. His emphasis is on breeding roses with the character and fragrance of Old Garden Roses (Gallicas, Damasks, Alba roses, etc.) but with the repeat-flowering ability and wide colour range of modern roses like Hybrid Teas and Floribundas.

His first rose, 'Constance Spry', was introduced in 1963. In 1967 and 1968 he introduced 'Chianti' and 'Shropshire Lass' respectively. Although these first roses bloomed only once in spring or early summer, they led, in 1969, to a series of remontant (repeat-flowering) varieties, including 'Wife of Bath' and 'Canterbury' (both in honor of the English author Geoffrey Chaucer). Austin's roses soon became the most successful group of new roses in the twentieth century.

Though Austin's roses are not officially recognised as a separate class of roses by, for instance, the Royal National Rose Society (in Great Britain) or the American Rose Society, they are nonetheless commonly referred to by rosarians, at nurseries, and in horticultural literature as 'English Roses' (the term he uses) or 'Austin Roses'.

Since its founding in 1969, he and his firm David Austin Roses in Albrighton, near Wolverhampton have introduced over 190 rose cultivars. Cultivars have been named in honour of his family, well-known rosarians, geographical landmarks in Britain, historical events, and British writers, particularly Shakespeare and Chaucer, and their works or characters. For instance, roses have honoured such diverse entities as the rosarian and artist Graham Thomas and King Henry VIII's flagship, the Mary Rose.

In 2003, David Austin was awarded the Victoria Medal of Honour by the Royal Horticultural Society for his services to horticulture and the Dean Hole Medal from the Royal National Rose Society. He has received an Honorary MSc from the University of East London for his work on rose breeding. He received the lifetime achievement award from the Garden Centre Association in 2004 and was awarded an OBE in 2007.

[edit] Books by David Austin include

The Heritage of the Rose (1987)
Old Roses and English Roses (1992)
David Austin's English Roses : Glorious New Roses for American Gardens (1997)
100 English Roses for the American Garden (1997)
Shrub Roses & Climbing Roses: With Hybrid Tea and Floribunda Roses (2001)

David Austin wrote the foreword for Botanica's Roses: The Encyclopedia of Roses (by Peter Beales, 1998)

His annual free catalogue "David Austin Handbook of Roses", mainly devoted to Austin Roses but also listing many other varieties (often in the Austin roses pedigree) on sale and informative on rose and their care in general is full of beautiful rose photographs.