Rosa 'Desdemona' - English Rose

The English Rose 'Desdemona' is a delightful English novelty, with flowers that evoke porcelain roses, small cabbage heads barely shaded with peach pink at the beginning of flowering, opening into pure white calyxes that barely reveal pretty stamens. Light plays and warm reflections drown in the whirl of their incurved petals, capturing myrrh's heavy fragrance. Despite their fragile appearance, they do not suffer in a humid climate and crown a healthy bush with a broad and airy habit from summer until the first frost—a marvel to adopt in a classic, poetic, or romantic garden.

'Desdemona' or 'Auskindling' is a musk English rose (a hybrid of R. moschata)  introduced by David Austin in 2015. Like the other roses in this group, it stands out for the perfection of its round cupped flowers measuring 10 cm (4in) in diameter, gathered in loose corymbs and produced abundantly from May to June until the first frosts. This vigorous bush has a broad and airy growth, gradually bending outward at its top, to form a bush with a flexible habit, 1.2 m (4ft) in height and 1 m (3ft) in width. It is a very healthy rose, disease-resistant and of beautiful vigour. Its foliage is bright green, slightly tinged with purple, shiny on the upper side and downy on the reverse. Its stems are practically thornless, quite resistant, and do not require staking. The oval fruit is red and covered in little hairs.

The English rose 'Desdemona' was named after the heroine of Othello, a tragedy by W. Shakespeare in which this innocent young girl falls victim to a plot that costs her life. This rose embodies purity and encourages meditation as if it brings the garden into a world of literary legends. Like other English roses, it can be combined with a mass of flowering shrubs, perennials, or light flowering annuals. It is a safe choice in the garden that can, according to your preference, integrate into a small hedge, reign over a lawn, or border the terrace. Its roses are long-lasting, both on the bush and in a vase, in a gentle colour that does not fade in the rain. 

Developed by David Austin in 2015.