Rose Abraham Darby - description, varieties, photos, care, maintenance, transplanting, pests, propagation - Rose for Your Garden

Family Rosaceae. English roses.

This cultivar is unique among English roses in that both of its parents are modern varieties. The flowers of Abraham Darby are of the classic old-rose form, cupped, copper-apricot in the centre, with the petals becoming more pink towards the edge of the bloom. The fragrance is very strong. Abraham Darby forms a dense, rounded shrub, during flowering entirely covered with blooms; the foliage is abundant and glossy. For a rose with such large flowers, the flowering cycles repeat with admirable regularity. The rose is vigorous and healthy, although in some gardens it is affected by rust. Because of its colour and size it is an ideal rose for the centre of a bed. (DAER)

Abraham Darby is one of David Austin's most successful and popular English roses. The flowers are shining coppery-apricot, fading to delicate pink. In hot weather the apricot tone is more pronounced, in cool weather it is pink. The flowers are large and very double; the petals do not fall cleanly and sometimes brown and dry on the bush. Rust may occur. The variety is one of the earliest to flower and blooms almost continuously. (ARE)

The flowers of Abraham Darby are among the largest of the English roses. The flowers, bush form and foliage are very well proportioned. The scent is strong, fruity, with a hint of strawberry. (ER)

This cultivar can grow quite tall and can even be used as a climbing rose. The flowers nod under their own weight, so the higher they are the better. Many consider it one of Austin's best varieties. (RRC)

One of David Austin's most popular roses, and deservedly so. Large yellow buds open into cupped peach blooms with pink, golden and copper tones. Which shade predominates depends on the weather. In heat the flowers are more peach, in cool weather more pink. The scent is strong and fruity. It grows quickly and needs plenty of space. Disease resistance is better than most of Austin's roses, but watch for the appearance of black spot. (Oliver)

One of David Austin's best apricot roses. It is a vigorous, disease-resistant variety, growing fairly rapidly, so it can be used as a climber. The flowers are huge, appearing singly at the ends of long shoots, or more often in small clusters of up to three. They vary in colour, as with many roses, generally appearing apricot, or as Austin himself describes them, delicate pink with pale yellow at the base. In cool weather the two-tone effect is more noticeable, while in heat the flowers become simply uniform apricot. The fragrance is very strong and fruity, with a hint of rose oil. It reblooms quickly and has a good bush shape. (Rdrop)

This popular English rose has double, cupped flowers up to 15 cm in diameter, appearing singly or in clusters. In cool weather the colour is a rich peachy-pink with yellow tones. In heat the colour is paler, apricot-pink. Although the cultivar is usually described as a shrub, the rose is vigorous enough to be trained as a climber. The heavy flowers may nod, so growing it on a support will display the blooms better. When grown as a shrub the variety looks splendid in groups at the back of a mixed border. Easy to grow, hardy, disease-resistant. (TGR)