Rosa 'GRAHAM THOMAS' shrub rose (David Austin)

THIS VARIETY HAS BEEN RETIRED BY DAVID AUSTIN, NO LONGER IN PRODUCTION.

Probably the best known of all the English Roses and one of the most popular roses in the world, Graham Thomas has been voted the World’s Favourite Rose by the World Federation of Rose Societies (WFRS) which represents over 100,000 rose lovers in 41 member countries. The award was announced at the 2009 World Rose Convention in Vancouver, when the rose was inducted into the society’s ‘Rose Hall of Fame’.

Medium-sized, cup-shaped flowers of an unusually rich and pure yellow that is hard to match in any other roses The growth is upright but bushy and very vigorous, with shiny, pale green, disease-resistant leaves. It is an excellent rose, both in beauty and performance. There is a fresh Tea Rose fragrance, with a cool violet character typical of its colour group. Named for the late Graham Stuart Thomas, who was one of the most influential rosarians of our time.
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 need 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 bracts. Mulch well before winter, preferably with leaf-mould.