David Austin Shrub Roses
David Austin shrub roses bring timeless elegance, fragrance, and abundant blooms to any garden. As modern shrub roses, they combine the classic beauty of English roses with the resilience and versatility of bush roses, thriving in beds, borders, and mixed displays alongside other plants. Boma Garden Centre in Kentish Town carries a carefully chosen selection of David Austin roses, including some of the best English roses for excellent fragrance, continuous bloom, and disease resistance — ideal for London gardens seeking rose bush colour from June through to the first frosts.
About Our David Austin Shrub Roses Collection
Our David Austin shrub roses collection at Boma includes some of the finest English roses available in the United Kingdom, selected for outstanding garden performance in London conditions. Popular rose bush varieties include the deep pink 'Gabriel Oak' with strong upright stems, the richly scented 'Boscobel' in apricot-orange, and the soft shell-pink 'Olivia Rose Austin' — all modern shrub roses bred for disease resistance and reliable repeat bloom. Climbers from the David Austin range are listed separately; this collection focuses on bush roses and ground-cover shrub roses suited to beds, mixed borders, and seating areas where their excellent fragrance can be fully appreciated.
David Austin shrub roses grow best in a sunny position in full sun with well-drained soil enriched with well-rotted manure at planting. Dig a generous hole, incorporate organic matter, and plant bare root roses in late autumn or early spring when the ground is workable — this establishes a strong root system before the growing season begins. Regular watering through the first season is essential, particularly during dry spells, as a newly planted rose bush has not yet developed a deep root system. Apply a specialist rose fertiliser in early spring when growth starts and again in midsummer to sustain strong bloom through summer and into autumn. David Austin roses across the United Kingdom are among the most consistent and rewarding shrub roses available.
Prune rose bushes annually in late winter, when forsythia is in flower, cutting to an outward-facing bud to encourage an open-centred framework of healthy, well-spaced growth. Remove any crossing stems, dead or diseased wood, and weak or spindly shoots. Most bush roses respond well to cutting back by roughly a third to a half. Removing spent blooms (deadheading) throughout summer redirects energy into new buds and extends the bloom period significantly.