Rosa Gertrude Jekyll - English Rose

The English rose Gertrude Jekyll has the spirit of the immense British landscaper who revolutionised the concept of English gardens. This vigorous bush, with an upright or climbing habit, is generous with its double cup-shaped flowers, a true fresh pink, darker at the centre, whose presence can be sensed just by the powerful, exquisite, and perfectly balanced scent of old roses. They follow one another throughout the beautiful season, until autumn. It is a hardy and sturdy rose that can be trained as a small climber or bush. Plant it near the house, it's worth it!

Gertrude Jekyll rose has an upright bushy habit, without stiffness, well-branched, which can be left free or trained as a climber. Vigorous, it produces numerous strong branches that reach, depending on the case, 1.20 to over 2m (7ft) in height with a spread of 1m (3ft). Its flowering, one of the earliest among English roses, often starts as early as May and does not end until October if care is taken to remove faded flowers while regularly providing water and nourishment to the plant. Its small tightly-packed pink buds with turbinate petals open in a quite astonishing way into large, very double rosettes of 10cm (4in), in the manner of old roses. Their colour is a true pink, fresher on the periphery of the corollas, almost warm in the centre. Their scent is powerful. The foliage of this rose resembles that of Portland Roses like Jacques Cartier: its leaves are well spaced, slightly rough and abundant, and its branches are equipped with numerous prickles. The foliage is rarely attacked by disease.

It is a hardy and vigorous rose that can be left to grow freely as a bush or trained on a wall, trellis, or small tree. Its wonderful scent deserves to be inhaled: place it near the house or an entrance to enjoy it. Do not hesitate to associate it with other roses, but also with perennials such as delphiniums, bellflowers, foxgloves, or peonies. Roses get along well with clematis, and these two plants tolerate being planted in the same planting hole. To make Gertrude Jekyll's roses sparkle, for example, let the superb mauve-blue-purple corollas of Clematis Vyvyan Pennel creep into its branches.

Gertrude Jekyll is the name of an exceptional woman who left her mark on horticulture in the last century. A passionate artist of photography and painting, then a landscaper, she designed over 400 gardens in many countries. She earned her place in a very male-dominated world, a fitting tribute that David Austin dedicates one of his roses to her.

David Austin 1986 Creation