Rosa Augusta Luise

The 'Augusta Luise' Rose is a modern hybrid tea rose from the 'Nostalgie' series developed by German rosarian Tantau. Its continuous flowering from June to September is endowed with the charm and fragrance of old roses. Its voluptuous and very flirtatious flowers do not go unnoticed in the garden, both for their champagne-pink colour, a blend of pale salmon pink and apricot, and for their beautiful scent. Of medium size, it is well suited for the back of perennial borders and will easily integrate into a flowering hedge. Its fragrant roses, gathered in small bouquets and carried by long stems, are wonderful in arrangements.

'Augusta Luise' is a modern shrub rose related to hybrid tea roses, obtained in 1999 by Tantau, who has won several awards in New Zealand and Germany. This shrub with a bushy and dense habit, producing numerous shoots from the base, reaches about 1 m (3ft) in height and 80 cm (32in) in width at maturity, with rapid growth. It produces strong branches, which bear an elegant, dark green and glossy foliage, not very susceptible to diseases if the growing conditions are correct. Throughout the summer, if faded flowers are removed, its large flowers composed of more than 40 petals, measuring 12 cm (5in) in diameter, emerge from spiraled buds, initially spherical, then gradually round out, finally opening widely, with undulated petals. They are grouped in small bouquets, in pairs or threes, at the end of long shoots from the current year or emerging from two-year-old stems.

This 'Augusta Luise' rose, with its large flowers that do not go unnoticed in the garden, reveals the richness of its colours better in semi-shade. Of medium size, bushy, it is ideal for planting in a small hedge or in a group of 3 plants. It blends well in summer or autumn flowering shrub borders, or mixed with light perennials such as baby's breath, paniculate phlox or tall foxgloves. It will be well highlighted in front of a boxwood or yew screen, or, conversely, surrounded by a miniature hedge or a carefully organised maze, as in Italian or French gardens. Above all, it is a generous rose, which can be paired, for example, with a double-flowered clematis (Clematis viticella Purpurea Plena Elegans) that can be placed near the house to also enjoy its fragrance.