Rosa 'KEW GARDENS' shrub rose (David Austin)

Kew Gardens is a very gentle David Austin rose with medium-sized, single flowers. They are very light yellow, almost white with light lemon yellow centres. They appear in profusion, and are held in very large heads rather like a hydrangea, and produced almost continuously from early summer through to the end of the season if regularly deadheaded. Stems are completely thornless. Leaves are dark olive green, not glossy. The fragrance is very light, insignificant. It was named in celebration of the 250th anniversary of Kew Gardens.

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.

Last update: 21-11-2014.