Carding Mill offers flowers of beautifully mixed shades of pink, apricot and yellow, overall, giving the impression of rich apricot. It has been awarded the 'National Home Gardening Club Member Tested & Recommended' Seal of Approval.
At the bud stage, when the petals are just starting to unfurl, the inside of the petals are a very rich, deep apricot as opposed to the paler, soft yellow undersides. When fully open the centre of the flower is well filled with petals, their closeness giving the impression of a rich, apricot - pink. Around the centre, the loose ring of petals curl in slightly and so show their pale apricot yellow undersides. It will quickly make a lovely, bushy, rounded shrub with quite straight stems, the many flowers nodding just slightly. There is a strong and beautiful myrrh fragrance. Carding Mill is an extremely beautiful valley in the Long Mynd just to the west of our nursery in Shropshire.
We're very proud to have our David Austin English Roses are imported directly from their growing facilities in the United States. Mr David C.H. Austin is a world-renowned rose breeder and writer who lives in Shropshire, England. His emphasis is on breeding roses with the character and fragrance of Old Garden Roses but with the repeat-flowering ability and the wide colour range of modern roses like Hybrid Teas and Floribundas. Since its founding in 1969, he and his firm David Austin Roses in Albrighton, near Wolverhampton have introduced over 190 rose cultivars. Cultivars have been named in honour of his family, well-known rosarians, geographical landmarks in Britain, historical events, and British writers, particularly Shakespeare and Chaucer, and their works or characters. In 2003, David Austin was awarded the Victoria Medal of Honour by the Royal Horticultural Society for his services to horticulture and the Dean Hole Medal from the Royal National Rose Society.