Rosa Desdemona - English Shrub Rose

The English Rose Desdemona is a delightful English novelty, whose flowers evoke porcelain roses, lightly shaded with peach pink at the beginning of flowering, opening slightly into pure white calyxes revealing barely visible pretty stamens. Their flowers have a the whirl of their incurved petals, and release a heavy fragrance of myrrh.  Despite their delicate appearance, they do not suffer in a humid climate.  It is a very healthy bush with a spacious and airy habit from early summer until the first frost. A marvel to adopt in a classic, poetic or romantic garden.

'Desdemona' is a musk English rose (hybrid of R. moschata) introduced by David Austin in 2015. It stands out, like other roses in this group, for the perfection of its round cupped flowers measuring 10 cm (4in) in diameter, gathered in loose corymbs and abundantly produced from May-June until the frost. This vigorous shrub has spacious and airy growth, gradually bending outward at its top, forming a bush with a flexible habit of 1.20m (4ft) in height and 1m (3ft) in width. It is a very healthy rose, resistant to diseases and of beautiful vigour. Its foliage is typical of musk roses: the odd-pinnate leaves have five to seven elliptical-ovate leaflets with dentate edges. Their colour is a bright green slightly tinged with purple, shiny on the upper side and cottony on the underside. Its stems are practically without thorns, they are quite resistant and do not require staking. The ovoid fruit is red and villous.

The English rose Desdemona was named in honour of the heroine of Othello, a tragedy by W. Shakespeare in which this innocent young girl falls victim to a plot that will cost her life. This rose embodies purity and encourages meditation, as if it brings the garden into a world of legends. It can be associated, like other English roses, with a bed of flowering shrubs, perennials or annuals with light flowering. It is of value in the garden and can integrate into a small hedge, reign over the lawn, or border the patio. Its roses last a long time, both on the bush and in a vase, in a soft colour that does not fade in the rain.

Obtained by David Austin in 2015.