Rosa 'AUScat' WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL® English shrub rose (David Austin)

WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL® is an English rose bred by David Austin and introduced in 1984. It was named after one of the finest and oldest English cathedrals. It makes medium-sized, about 7 cm wide, fully double, white flowers tinged pink as they emerge. They have a medium strong, rather sweet, old rose fragrance. They appear in flushes from June until autumn. The plants form medium, densely branched, upright shrubs with slender twigs slightly over one meter tall and wide. Deciduous leaves are dark green, less glossy, and very healthy. US patent No. PP8141 was granted in 1993

Planting instructions: Prepare a hole of size 30x30 cm. Put your rose in the way that the grafting point is 3 cm deep in the soil. Water well and cover new shoots with soil or bark mulch about 15 cm high. Roses tolerate wide range of soils but thrive in deep, humus-rich, moist but well-drained soil, in full sun.

Pruning: English roses don’t require hard pruning like tea hybrids. Just cut last year’s growth by one third to maximum one half in the spring (after frosts) to achieve desired shape, and strong and reliable framework. Cutting it back to 3-5 live buds is possible for re-juvenating. To support extra flowering during the season remove twigs past blossom: cut them off the first leaf with 5 leaflets. Mulch well before winter, preferably with leaf-mould.

Last update: 10-01-2023