Rosa Fighting Temeraire - English Shrub Rose

English rose Fighting Temeraire is a very different variety, offering very large almost single flowers, well open, bright and flamboyant, intense apricot, with a golden centre.  Particularly healthy and vigorous, this bush produces an abundance of flowers gathered in large bouquets, from summer to frost. They release a subtle, very fruity fragrance, dominated by lemon zest. The distribution of colours reaches its peak here. This rose can be grown as a bush or trained as a climber.

This rose forms a beautiful bush measuring 1.50 m (5ft) in height by 1.25 m (4ft) in width. The fully open flowers are very large, measuring from 10 to 12 cm (4 to 5in) in diameter. They have only ten petals, arranged in a well-opened cup, and renew themselves continuously, above a very healthy satin foliage. Topped with red, the pointed buds open into corollas of an intense apricot colour, with a more golden area at the throat and stamens. They then fade into a gentle yellow-orange. The juvenile leaves, reddish-purple, are found on the plant alongside buds and flowers at different stages of blooming, in a magnificent gradient reminiscent of a sunset.

This rose forms a large bush, ideal for creating a backdrop, behind perennials or light annuals such as gypsophila, tall phlox or love-in-a-mist. It can also be trained on a trellis or arch. It is not afraid of competition from the roots of other plants, which allows it to be associated with a bed of flowering shrubs, the sumptuous foliage of purple Cotinus 'Grace', or even a landscaped hedge. It will be well highlighted in front of a boxwood or yew screen, or, conversely, surrounded by a miniature hedge or a carefully organized maze, as in Italian or French gardens. If you have enough space, English, Old or Shrub Roses look magnificent planted in groups of three. They will grow together to form 'one' opulent bush that will bloom even more generously.

The 'Fighting Temeraire' is a painting dating back to 1838, created by JMW Turner, the famous British landscape painter . It represents the end of a famous warship, hero of the Battle of Trafalgar, laden with honour and glory, against a backdrop of twilight.

Developed by David Austin in 2011.