Garden Rose
Gertrude Jekyll
“The garden rose that made the postman stand still with his eyes closed. If you grow one rose, grow this one.”
— ROSIE
Rosie's Take
If you've ever wondered what people mean when they talk about an old-fashioned rose scent, Gertrude Jekyll is the answer. David Austin bred her to smell the way roses used to smell before the cut-flower industry bred the fragrance out of them. She's so intensely perfumed that they actually use her for commercial rose oil production. Think about that — she out-scents the professionals.
The blooms are a rich, true pink — not salmon, not blush, not coral, but that proper, saturated, old-rose pink that has depth and warmth to it. They're fully rosette-shaped, packed with petals in that gloriously informal, slightly quartered way that David Austin roses do best.
I grow her against the south-facing wall and she's been there for six years now, getting more generous every season. In June and July, the scent drifts across the whole garden. I've caught the postman standing still with his eyes closed.
As a cut flower, she's everything the long-stem red rose from the garage forecourt is not. She opens gently over days, each stage more beautiful than the last. She sheds petals on the table and even that is lovely — rose petals scattered on old wood.
She pairs extraordinarily well with almost anything — sweet peas, peonies, loose herbs like mint or oregano, a few stems of lady's mantle. She's the foundation, the thing that makes everything else around her better. Every garden needs at least one proper, scented garden rose, and for my money, Gertrude is the one.
Where to Buy
If you want to try garden rose for yourself, here's where I'd point you:
“The Blossomist carry garden roses through summer and their David Austin varieties are always properly scented. I order from them when I want roses that actually smell like roses.”
Order This Flower →“Appleyard do a gorgeous garden rose bunch — not those scentless imports, the real thing. Worth it for the scent alone.”
Order This Flower →✿ From the folklore cabinet
Named after the legendary garden designer Gertrude Jekyll, who transformed English gardening in the early 1900s. She was nearly blind by the time she was famous, designing by memory and instinct. I think about that when I bury my nose in this rose — some things you know by feel, not sight.
