Rosa Charles Darwin- English Rose

The English rose Charles Darwin,  a wonderful tribute to the great man of science, possesses something of the magical character of its illustrious ancestor Gloire de Dijon. There seems to be hardly enough room for all these tightly packed petals in its large, very round double flowers, which open in a colour of subtly shaded yellow champagne, tinged with pink or amber grey, varying according to the climate. It is hard to decide what to admire most, the size of the roses, their plump shape, their changing hue or their delightful scent of tea rose. If this beautiful creation by David Austin is not the most well-known, it certainly deserves to be rediscovered: far from being fussy, the plant is vigorous, reliable, easy to cultivate and rarely diseased.

The Charles Darwin rose has a slightly loose, flexible, bushy habit, becoming rather upright over the years, and produces branches strong enough to support the weight of the flowers without collapsing. Its growth is rapid: it will reach an average height of 1.20m (3 ft 11in) in a few years, with a spread of 90cm (35.4in) to 1m (3ft 4in). Like all English roses, the flowering is abundant from June until the first frost. The flowers of Charles Darwin are born from orange buds, solitary or gathered in small clusters at the end of long, slightly thorny stems. Remarkably globular at blooming, greatly resembling the cabbage rose in their architecture, they are composed of more than 40 petals that curl inward like shells, partially concealing the slightly more yellow heart. Their colour, varying according to region, is lighter in the south, with nuances of apricot and pink, while in the north the flowers are a more obvious yellow. The subtlety of this colour is actually difficult to capture in a photograph. In reality, the rose Charles Darwin evolves from the most beautiful shades of yellow to faded white, then evolves again into cream, tinged with pink. The foliage is composed of small leaflets, fairly dark green, matte, resistant to diseases under good growing conditions.

The resemblance of this rose to the watercolors of Redouté, the painter of roses, is obvious for those who contemplate its flowers. The large flowers of Charles Darwin, in lovely light shades allow for the highlighting of groups of shrubs with dark foliage such as Physocarpus, hazelnuts or Cotinus Royal Purple. As long as one loves flowers in yellow tones that never reveal their true colours, you will adore this rose full of life and surprises. English roses are beautiful planted in groups of 3 plants: they then form a mass of flowers throughout the entire season. To enhance the pastel flowers of Charles Darwin, one could plant a white rose like Winchester Cathedral, or a mauve rose like Charles de Gaulle or Blue Girl, beside it.

English roses are well-known for being repeat flowering and their flowers are renowned for being beautiful, well-formed and highly scented.

Created by David Austin in 2001