I first saw this rose as Autumn Leaves and looked everywhere for it. Of course it had been renamed by David Austin as English Elegance. It is surely my very favourite rose. Now I have the flowering problem sorted (poor flowering from at least 3 different plants) I get plenty of roses and just love it. Sometimes you get a bit of a challenge with different roses. This year I planted an old-fashioned tea rose garden and it has been a disaster with odd shoots every which way from shrubs which only produced very weak stems. Anyone have any advice about this?

Libby, you might have more luck reviewing member gardens that are growing similar roses and contacting those members directly.

Hello Libby,

I note that you live in Auckland, New Zealand. Theoretically you should not have a problem with growing tea roses in that city. In 1986 Jennifer Howard wrote a wonderful article in the New Zealand Rose Annual on growing tea roses in Hastings, which is below Auckland. And in the Heritage Roses New Zealand journal in March, 2008 Joanne Knight at Katikati wrote on growing tea roses there. I would be inclined to contact the Heritage Roses New Zealand group who could certainly help you more with the tea roses.

In the meantime, if you can give us the names of your tea roses, we can give you some idea of the heights.

As for balling........ I have the same problem in our wet climate. I now ruthlessly cut off anything that shows signs of those sticking petals and try to be patient until the weather fines up.

As for the nodding Austin's. Grow those taller varieties and when you lift your nose into a nodding bloom, you have one of life's richer experiences.

Hi Libby
Most Tea roses do nod. Only a few nod so much they look at the ground, most have a gentle curve so that they are facing outwards - It's one of the features that make Teas such great decorative shrubs but challenging when arranging them in a vase.
There are vases that are ideal for roses with nodding blooms - some like a saucer on top of a water well. I especially like the old paintings of arrangements of these beautiful, subtle, languid roses. They lend themselves beautifully to those more informal arrangements.
When Teas were at their peak as exhibition roses, they were either wired to hold them erect or only the supported bloom was shown.
Do you live in Auckland? We saw some great specimens in the Botanic Gardens and in the Nancy Steen Garden when last there.
The size of the plant will depend to some extent on how you like to manage them. They have the potential to be quite large shrubs, but take some time to reach maturity. It is best not to prune them as you would Hybrid Teas - they make disappointing Hybrid Teas and pruning them like that also makes them disappointing Teas. Once they are established, it's better to just shape them up as you deadhead. It encourages a continuous production of fresh new foliage and blooms. They don't need to be pruned hard in the winter. Many of the Teas flower very well in winter in mild climates and provide such welcome colour and beauty in the winter garden.