Rosa 'LADY EMMA HAMILTON' shrub rose (David Austin)

Lady Emma Hamilton is a variety of rather unusual colouring for an English Rose, but nonetheless very pleasing and useful for creating a little excitement in the border. Before the flowers even begin to open, the outside of the buds are a most wonderful dark red with dashes of orange. When fully open the flowers are a lovely mixture of rich, almost tangerine orange on the inside of the petals and a more yellow orange on the outside; the whole set off against the very dark, bronzy green leaves that only slowly become dark green with age. It is a fairly upright but bushy shrub of medium height that will flower freely and remain healthy. The flowers have a strong, delicious, fruity fragrance with hints of pear, grape and citrus fruits. Lady Emma Hamilton was Horatio Nelson's lover and David Austin has named this rose to celebrate the 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, Britain’s greatest naval victory during which Nelson was fatally wounded.

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 regular 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: 07-01-2016