Rosa Carolyn Knight - Shrub Rose

English rose Carolyn Knight is a mutation of 'Summer Song', in a softer version. The burnt orange salmon from its parent extends here into a blend of golden coppery orange and warm pink reflections, on very double large cupped flowers. Their delicious honey fragrance, that one could almost guess just by observing them, reveals itself exceptionally deep and complex. This bush with an upright and vigorous habit is practically thornless. It is perfect at the back of a border.

Roses sometimes mutate spontaneously. This happened to the rose 'Summer Song' which saw its colour vary, but in a subtle way. Thus 'Carolyn Knight' was born, in a softer golden shade than that of its parent. It forms a vigorous, upright and bushy bush, 1.25 m (4ft) tall and 1 m (3ft) in diameter, which can be pruned to stay small or to grow taller, depending on preferences. Its buds, of a delightful apricot hue suffused with pink, open into flowers that are first round, then open into deep cups with countless petals arranged in a quite informal way inside a circle of petals. These heavy corollas gracefully lean over a foliage of lush and very healthy green. Its sweet honey fragrance is powerful, deep and complex. Each flower exhales subtly different aromas of almond, myrrh, blackcurrant and tea rose. This variety is repeat flowering.

This Carolyn Knight rose will give its best when planted at the back of a border, accompanied by smaller roses in the foreground such as Munstead Wood, Winchester Cathedral, Rosemoor. It will also be magnificent at the back of borders of perennials or light annuals such as gypsophila, tall phlox, perennial geraniums, dame's rocket, purple toadflax or love-in-a-mist. It does not fear too much competition from the roots of other plants, which allows it to be associated with a border of flowering bushes, such as lilacs, deutzias, spireas or the astonishing Holodiscus discolor.

This rose is named in memory of Carolyn Knight, recently deceased, who was of great help to David Austin during the creation of his nursery.

Obtained by David Austin in 2013.