Moving Lady Emma
I've done a fair amount of 'rose editing' in 2013 . I embarked upon this particular journey a couple of years ago when it became clear to me that my garden was not going to get any bigger, and 60+ roses were using up valuable real estate. Many of the roses that have since been sent to the compost facility were either in decline, duplicates or under performers. I had gone from buying one or two roses a year , to buying none; there was simply no place to put them. As of today I have slimmed down my assortment to around 35, a couple of which have questionable status going forward. One of my keepers is the David Austin rose , Lady Emma Hamilton. I bought her the first year she was introduced to US commerce, and she has proved to be a prolific bloomer, very disease resistant (no sprays are used in my garden ) and has a nice shrub-like appearance never displaying the awkwardness that some of the modern roses are prone to. I admit that I have tendency to plant things too clo...