''Rosa'' 'Wife of Bath' (aka AUSbath), is a pink shrub rose

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

developed by David C.H. Austin in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 1969. It was one of his early cultivars and is named after a character from

Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer ( ; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...

's ''

The Canterbury Tales ''The Canterbury Tales'' () is a collection of 24 stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. The book presents the tales, which are mostly written in verse, as part of a fictional storytelling contest held ...

''. 'Rosarium Glücksburg' is a

rose garden A rose garden or rosarium is a garden or park, often open to the public, used to present and grow various types of garden roses, and sometimes rose species. Designs vary tremendously and roses may be displayed alongside other plants or grouped ...

in the park of Schloss Glücksburg in

Glücksburg Glücksburg (; ) is a small town northeast of Flensburg in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is Germany's northernmost town. It is situated on the south side of the Flensburg Fjord, Flensborg Fjord, an inlet ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

History

David Austin roses

David C. H. Austin (1926 – 2018) was an award-winning rose breeder, nursery owner and writer from

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

. He began breeding roses in the 1950s with the goal of creating new shrub rose varieties that would possess the best qualities of old-fashioned roses while incorporating the long flowering characteristics of

hybrid tea rose Hybrid tea is an informal horticultural classification for a group of garden roses. The first hybrid tea roses were created in France in the mid-1800s, by cross-breeding the large, floriferous Garden roses#Hybrid perpetual, hybrid perpetuals with ...

s and floribundas. His first commercially successful rose cultivar was 'Constance Spry', which he introduced in 1961. He created a new, informal class of roses in the 1960s, which he named "English Roses". Austin's roses are generally known today as "David Austin Roses". Austin attained international commercial success with his new rose varieties. Some of his most popular roses include 'Wife of Bath' (1969), 'Canterbury' (1969), and 'Abraham Darby' (1985)

'Wife of Bath'

'Wife of Bath' and 'Canterbury', the second cultivar Austin named in honour of the English author Geoffrey Chaucer in 1969, were the first repeat flowering varieties in his English Rose Collection. The rose cultivar was created from

Joseph Pernet-Ducher Joseph Pernet-Ducher (1859–1928) was a French rose breeder who is recognized for his work in the development of the modern Hybrid tea rose. Pernet and his father, Jean Pernet, worked together in the 1880s to develop the first yellow Remontancy, ...

's pink hybrid tea 'Madame Caroline Testout' (introduced in 1890) and a cross between the floribunda 'Ma Perkins' (Boerner, 1952) and Austin's first English rose 'Constance Spry' (introduced in 1961). David Austin used the cultivar in the development of several new English roses, including 'Gertrude Jekyll' (1986), 'Pretty Jessica' (1983) and 'Scepter'd Isle' (1989).

Description

'Wife of Bath' has old-fashioned medium-sized flowers with an average diameter of , and up to 55 petals. They develop from red round buds, and have a strong, sweet fragrance of myrrh. The slightly cupped bloom form is double to very full with many small, informally arranged petals in the middle of the flower. The center is deep pink, and contrasts with the paler reverse and the outer petals, that fade to very pale pink. They grow in clusters of 3–9, and appear continuously from early June throughout the summer. The robust shrub grows densely and remains rather small, reaching only about 80 to 120 centimeters (2.5 to 4 ft) height at a width of 60 to 90 centimeters (2 to 3 ft).The arching shoots bear small, matte, medium green leaves. 'Wife of Bath' is disease resistant and winter hardy down to −23 °C (

USDA zone A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most widely ...

6 and warmer), and half shade tolerant. The variety is grown on its own roots and can be planted solitary, in groups, or as hedges, but is also suitable as container plant and as cut flower. Due to its size and floriferousness, the cultivar is well suited for small gardens.

References

{{Rose, state=collapsed

Wife of Bath "The Wife of Bath's Tale" () is among the best-known of Geoffrey Chaucer's ''Canterbury Tales''. It provides insight into the role of women in the Late Middle Ages and was probably of interest to Chaucer, himself, for the character is one of hi ...

The Canterbury Tales