Never ever thought I would be able to grow gorgeous cupped roses like this in our hot and humid climate as Houston, Texas. When I started getting into David Austin's roses, Boscobel was one of my very first picks largely due to its unique color. Let's take a look at how Boscobel looks and performs in Houston based on my experience.
I purchased Boscobel as a potted ownroot back in the summer of 2020. It's one of my earliest roses to start my David Austin rose collection. Back then, I didn't know the difference between bareroot and ownroot. All my first 5 David Austin roses were ownroots.
Boscobel was slow to get going/growing which was typical for ownroots. I planted it in a raised bed from the get go. In January 2021, it put on a lot of growth from a small ownroot just to be hit hard by the historic freeze/snow in February.
As a young/tender rose, Boscobel suffered some burn from extremely cold weather. However, it bounced back after getting trimmed and flourished ever since. In its 1st spring, it gave me a handful of lovely flowers (lower petal counts but still very beautiful).
Disease/pest resistance: Boscobel is very healthy and foliages stay clean during spring in my no-spray garden (only water and fertilizer, no fungicide/pesticide/neem oil). During its 1st summer, it had some blackspots and suffered from chilli thrips. Will update how it does this summer.
Flowers & fragrace: Cupped form/shape. It tends to close up a bit more in the evening. Very upright, strong and long stems (no nodding like some DA roses). Very prolific in spring (will update how it does in summer and fall this year)
AMAZING FRAGRANCE! Not quite sure how to describe but it smells like an expensive perfume. According to DA, they describe Boscobel's fragrace as myrrh fragrance with delicious hints of hawthorn, elderflower, pear and almond. Typicially, I am not a fan of all myrrh fragrance, but Boscobel's myrrh fragrance is pleasant and divine!
Average thorns
Flowers last between 3-4 days in spring. What you see in this post, those flowers are about 3 days on the bush then I cut them to bring inside to enjoy on the 4th day.
Location/sun exposure: Planted in ground (raised bed). Boscobel gets morning sun (as early as 7am to about 2-3pm.
Bush size: My Boscobel will be 2 years in summer 2022. It's around 3ft high x 3ft wide.
During summer, I've noticed that it's foliages are paler in color and don't look as lush/healthy as springtime. This has been a pattern for 2 years so looks this is how Boscobel is in our heat. Just have to wait for weather to get cooler and it will improve. Below are photos of Boscobel in summer.
Summer bush
Summer bush
I have more photos and videos below, hope they give more visual information about Boscobel.
If you like a video format, our YouTube channel is Roses In Houston