Rosa 'Emily Brontë' - English Rose

The English rose 'Emily Brontë', with its wildly romantic flowers, pays tribute in the most beautiful way to the talented, passionate, and solitary English novelist and poet. On a vigorous bush with healthy, dense, and upright growth, numerous and delightful characteristic roses bloom in regular and flattened rosettes like some dahlias, opening to reveal a small carnation of petals. Their colour is a soft blend of pink and apricot, and their fragrance is a concoction of tea rose old rose, and rustic notes. This rose blooms in successive waves from June to October. Excellent in borders or hedges, it also provides very beautiful flowers for bouquets.

This English rose is part of the latest introductions by the famous rose breeder David Austin. With style quite different from the classic English rose this variety caused a sensation at the 2018 Chelsea Flower Show. 'Emily Brontë' will form a tall bush or a rounded bushy shrub, reaching an average height of 1.50m (5ft) and a width of 90cm (35in) to 1.25m (4ft). Its rapid and vigorous growth, and its graceful stems are covered with abundant light green foliage less susceptible to diseases under appropriate growing conditions. The young shoots are purplish to coppery, harmonizing with the warm tone of the flowers. The deciduous foliage falls in autumn. On this repeat-flowering bush, the pretty light pink buds open very gradually to form a flat cup-shaped flower, well double, perfectly arranged, of medium size. Each is composed of many pale pink petals opening around a heart of smaller petals with a more apricot hue, adorned with a small central bud, revealing a lovely bouquet of golden stamens. In this role, the flowering takes the form of panicles, that is, clusters of 3 to 5 flowers. Their fragrance initially evokes that of tea roses, then evolves into a powerful scent of old roses with hints of lemon and grapefruit. It will be more noticeable in calm and warm weather.

The Emily Brontë rose, endowed with singular beauty, is a variety ideally suited for romantic spots in the garden, in the company of blue, white, or even mauve flowers. Accompany it with annual delphiniums, perennial flax, perennial geraniums, or white foxgloves. It will also bring a very floral touch to perennial borders and thrive in a large shrub border or a flowering hedge. Roses go perfectly with nepetas, campanulas, paniculate baby's breath, and herbaceous or climbing clematis. Finally, you can plant it in front of taller shrubs or roses and use it to fill the base of a small tree that it will adorn with great charm.

Bred by David Austin in 1970. Commissioned by David Austin to commemorate the bicentenary of Emily Brontë's birth.