In the 1940s, when he was just a teenager, David Austin was already fascinated with roses. Soon after, his hobby became his life. He released his first rose, 'Constance Spry', in 1961. During his lifetime, he released over 200 English Roses, creating an unrivalled collection, beloved throughout the world. 80 years on our objective at David Austin remains the same as when he first started out - to create a more beautiful rose.
Growing up in the Shropshire countryside, David Austin developed a passion for plants from a very young age. However, his interest in flowers was truly ignited when he first discovered a magazine called Gardens Illustrated, tucked away in the school library. After being encouraged by his teacher, he decided to pursue his new found passion.
James Baker, a friend of David’s father, ran a nursery down the road from their family farm. David would visit with his father and was dazzled by the new varieties of lupins that James was breeding. It was at this time that the idea of developing new varieties of plants himself really started to take hold. Coming from a farming background, David had an innate knowledge of plants but taking this knowledge and applying it to the less practical world of flowers did not meet his father’s approval. It wasn’t until his sister gave him A.E. Bunyard’s book, Old Garden Roses, for his 21st birthday, that he fell in love with roses.
In the 1940s, when he was just a teenager, David Austin was already fascinated with roses. Soon after, his hobby became his life. He released his first rose, 'Constance Spry', in 1961. During his lifetime, he released over 200 English Roses, creating an unrivalled collection, beloved throughout the world. 80 years on our objective at David Austin remains the same as when he first started out - to create a more beautiful rose.
In the 1940s, when he was just a teenager, David Austin was already fascinated with roses. Soon after, his hobby became his life. He released his first rose, 'Constance Spry', in 1961. During his lifetime, he released over 200 English Roses, creating an unrivalled collection, beloved throughout the world. 80 years on our objective at David Austin remains the same as when he first started out - to create a more beautiful rose.
Growing up in the Shropshire countryside, David Austin developed a passion for plants from a very young age. However, his interest in flowers was truly ignited when he first discovered a magazine called Gardens Illustrated, tucked away in the school library. After being encouraged by his teacher, he decided to pursue his new found passion.
James Baker, a friend of David’s father, ran a nursery down the road from their family farm. David would visit with his father and was dazzled by the new varieties of lupins that James was breeding. It was at this time that the idea of developing new varieties of plants himself really started to take hold. Coming from a farming background, David had an innate knowledge of plants but taking this knowledge and applying it to the less practical world of flowers did not meet his father’s approval. It wasn’t until his sister gave him A.E. Bunyard’s book, Old Garden Roses, for his 21st birthday, that he fell in love with roses.
David’s unwavering pursuit of an ever more beautiful rose continued to reap rewards, with both his breeding achievements and his roses receiving accolade after accolade.
His rose breeding endeavours have resulted in a number of awards; from receiving an OBE in 2007 for services to horticulture, one of his proudest achievements, of which he famously said: “Every day, I marvel at my good fortune to have been able to make a life out of breeding roses. My greatest satisfaction is to see the pleasure my roses give to gardeners and rose lovers around the world,” to being awarded the Victoria Medal of Honour from the RHS, an honorary degree from the University of East London and the Dean Hole medal from the Royal National Rose Society.
His roses too have won many awards around the world. ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ was twice voted the UK’s favourite and 28 English Roses have also been honoured with the prestigious Award of Garden Merit from the RHS. The garden at Albrighton, both home to David Austin and the National Collection of his English Roses, received the Award of Garden Excellence from the WFRS in 2015.
Over 30 years of exhibiting at RHS Chelsea and RHS Hampton Court Palace, have together, resulted in over 46 gold medals to date.
"Every day, I marvel at my good fortune to have been able to make a life out of breeding roses. My greatest satisfaction is to see the pleasure my roses give to gardeners and rose lovers worldwide."
Apart from his passion for roses, David had a great love for literature and his sitting room was lined with bookcases filled with a great variety of books. The first book he wrote was The Heritage of the Rose, published in 1988. In 1993 he published the first edition of The English Roses, the definitive work on his own creation, which won great critical acclaim around the world. He especially loved poetry and published a collection of his own poems in 2014 entitled The Breathing Earth, which draws on his life experiences and his love of nature.
He may be seen as the Father of English Roses, but David was also a family orientated man. Even as his business expanded he stayed close to his Shropshire roots, living with his family on the farm. In 1990 he was joined by his son David Jnr. Together they developed David Austin Roses into a worldwide business with offices in Europe, Japan and the USA all while establishing a thriving cut roses business for wedding and events. More recently two of his grandsons joined the fold and David Austin Roses remains a family business today.
About David Austin® Roses
Breeding an English Rose- The David Austin® Rose Gardens
