Announced earlier this year, and finally filtered down to me last week, David Austin Roses has stated that "as a result of our review process, Munstead Wood is now retired from our English Rose Collection but will always remain part of our history, paving the way for many more new roses to come, creating the next generation of roses". This plant was only released in 2007 and has been a popular staple of British gardens ever since. It is quite simply gorgeous.
But why? According to The Times "commercial flower growers have been forced to retire some of the most popular varieties.... because of global warming". Some varieties are simply struggling with our current climate changes (hot and drought-ridden summers and more pertinently mild and wet winters) largely because an increase in pests and diseases means these older roses don't have the breeding best suited to modern gardens. We are verging on December and we still haven't had a frost. Put simply, we need winter cold snaps to kill off the lingering pests and diseases, forcing dormancy and generally giving the plants (and us gardeners) a break. There is a great deal of levity to this topic, and you can read about it here: www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/11/why-climate-change-means-some-english-roses-will-bloom-no-longer but for now I'm worrying out my retirement plan.....
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