David Austin roses

[val douest]

I was delighted to find a selection of Davis Austin roses for €7.95 each in our local SuperU this morning (Dept 65).  There were several varieties on offer and it seemed a very good price. There were also many other types and colours of rose at the same price, including old french roses and hybrid teas, plus lots of shrubs, perennials and herbs.   Maybe worth having a look if you have a big SuperU within easy reach.

Val

[Patf]

I'm no flower expert, and our roses don't do so well because the deer eat the buds [:@]

But I've seen that D. Austin roses have been promoted in recent Rustica magazines, which is pleasing as it shows that the french appreciate UK gardening skills;

(ps have you heard about the health problems of our mutual friend?)

[ukhostland]

I have the French catalogue of David Austin here. Retail prices are 16.95 Euros with delivery an extra 12.95, so your SuperU roses are very good value.

I imagine they will be some of their older varieties, but that's not necessarily and bad thing.

My experience with SuperU is that you must buy plants within a day or two of them arriving, before they have had a chance to ruin them.

Happy hunting gardeners!

[Anton Redman]

For what it is worth friends of ours set up a business based on paying good money for DA Roses only to see them in CF for half the price they were paying

[val douest]

Yes, I quite agree with the remarks about SuperU plants.  They look wonderful when they arrive and are excellent value but no-one seems to look after them and in a few days they start to look very sad.  However at the end of the season they often sell things off (including big shrubs and roses) for a fraction of their normal price and last year I bought a car-boot-full on the principle that if even half of them survived they represented a bargain.  In fact I had about a 70% success rate so it was well worthwhile.

PS for PatF.  Yes, I have heard the news - very worrying.

[Loiseau]

Yes, i was delighted to find some David Austin roses in my lcal Hyper U back in the autumn. I quite agree that you must snap up anything in the plant world there quickly as they are not cared for at all. But I too have got end of offer bargains and managed to nurse them back to health.

Angela