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Some days ago I've sent a letter to David Austin Roses in England and asked them about all new varieties introduced this year at Hampton Court Palace Flower Show; I was especially inerested in Lady Emma Hamilton and Wild Edric roses. Below is the letter I've received and I'm sharing it with you because it's quite interesting, informative and tells us something more about DA's introductions for Australia in 2006.

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First of all, thank you for your interest in David Austin Roses. Wild Edric (Aushedge) and Lady Emma Hamilton (Ausbrother) were introduced in the UK at Chelsea Flower Show this year. This means they have already been selected as two of the six best varieties for this year, and as such they are on trial in Australia. They are then scheduled for release two years later BUT this depends very much on how well they go through our trials.

We do not release every variety in Australia, and usually pick out between one and three. Obviously, the climate differences dictate that all our varieties grow differently in Australia. Generally they grow much bigger -– often far too big to be constrained to an average-sized garden. On some varieties, the colour does not stand up to the sunlight levels and bleaching is quite common. In some varieties, this just means they are a lighter shade, but in others it can mean a red becomes a pink, or an apricot or pale yellow becomes a cream. So you can see, each variety has to be selected carefully.

This year, at Melbourne Show, we released three varieties, Charles Darwin (Auspeet), The Alnwick Rose (Ausgrab) and Wildeve (Ausbonny). Next year there will be only one variety, which we are just on the brink of naming.

The 2006 release is interesting in that a second variety has been dropped because it was found to be not doing as well as first thought in Australia, and the one chosen has never been released in the UK or anywhere else but it seems to particularly like the heat.
When we trial varieties in Australia, we have to send propagation material (budwood) to licensed growers in Australia, who then graft them on to rootstocks. They are budded onto Fortuniana in WA and
sold accordingly. You are quite right in your assessment of Australian customs, and it is difficult to get the budwood through, we have to get everything right.

The other difficulty is the time of year. The budwood is cut from a flowering stem. To send in your summer means that we are taking budwood from the last flowering stems available as we are going into winter, so if a budwood delivery does not get through customs to the grower, that’s the last chance for another year.

You are right not to be tempted to ask your friends to send plants -– it would cost a huge amount of money and they would not get through customs. Our budwood has to be inspected before leaving and a phyto-sanitary certificate issued and even then, if it deteriorates in transit it either doesn’t get through customs, or if it does reach the grower, it cannot always be used.

I hope this gives you some insight as to the reasons behind the releases in Australia not being the same as in the UK. As far as the website is concerned, you have obviously been looking at the UK pages at the newest varieties. Have you tried clicking on the link for Australia? This gives you the list of roses available in Australia and their details, along with a list of licensed growers who you could contact with a view to obtaining the most up-to-date varieties.

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-Tom