David Austin reveals Emma Bridgewater™ English shrub rose
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At this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show on 20th May 2024, David Austin® has revealed its new rose of the year in honour of iconic British potter Emma Bridgewater. A beguiling pink English shrub rose, her rosette form opens up to a crescendo of colours ranging from apricot and coral to mauve and lilac, nodding to the painterly nature of Emma Bridgewater’s collectible pottery, which have stolen the nation’s heart for decades.
New for 2024, the eponymous Emma Bridgewater™ English Shrub rose celebrates the union of two heritage British brands, with a flower that can grow and thrive in gardens but also last forever indoors on the corresponding hand-painted Emma Bridgewater mug. It follows an earlier collaboration in January of this year where the two co-designed a charitable mug depicting the golden yellow David Austin® Bring Me Sunshine® rose to raise money for the National Garden Scheme, where a £5 donation for every mug sold continues to be donated to charity.
In addition to the new Emma Bridgewater™ rose, David Austin® is also launching a new gift box in which recipients will enjoy a voucher for the rose, an Emma Bridgewater milk bottle vase for displaying a cut stem or two and a matching tea towel, which can also be purchased via the David Austin® website.
David J. C. Austin says “Emma Bridgewater’s works are amongst the most collectable of our time, so it feels fitting to have created an English rose of such endless appeal in her honour. In the tradition of our English roses, we have meticulously bred, tested, and trialled the Emma Bridgewater variety over 12 years to ensure it is both beautiful and born to endure. Admiring the rose in full bloom at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show will be a very special moment, just as it was for me to visit the Emma Bridgewater factory in Stoke-on-Trent and see our collaborative mug being crafted.”
Emma Bridgewater says “I am delighted by our collaboration with David Austin Roses, a British brand with a real crossover of vision and ideas. Visiting the David Austin nursery and witnessing the rose creation process was thrilling and incredibly inspiring. I have been surrounded and loved David Austin Roses for as long as I remember as both my mum and granny were keen gardeners and loved them. Much like a well-loved piece of pottery, roses can be like old friends, with a personal connection for people. The Emma Bridgewater rose is wonderful, and not least because it is full of surprises, as it displays several distinctly different colours as the buds appear, open and then develop - giving three different hues in one rose. It has also been rewarding to take this beautiful rose and translate it into pottery with an illustrative mug as well as a range of vases made especially for displaying roses in all of their glory.”
Say hello to Emma Bridgewater™...
BLOOM
A romantic-looking rose with medium-sized blooms that look like an impressionist painting even in real life, the Emma Bridgewater rose offers a mesmerising kaleidoscope of colours. She first appears as pink, yet orange is at the centre of its button eye and you can expect the brighter coral-pink tones to soften to mauve and lilac over time, culminating in a host of unique-looking blooms – reminiscent of a bunch of flowers. Both petals and leaves are fashionably matte, much like an Old Rose. A repeat flowerer, it begins with a shallow cup that opens up to a majestic rosette with maximum impact.
FRAGRANCE
Rosewater with notes of tea and meadow hay mean the Emma Bridgewater rose carries a soft, natural warmth and feels almost nostalgic.
PLANTING
Not one for being planted in a shaded corner, the Emma Bridgewater English rose is best placed in a central space where she can bask in light with her many colours glowing with pride. In the middle of a border, she will nestle happily next to other coloured plants, even blue and purple lavender or salvia where the blue undertones in her pink rose blooms will come through beautifully. Growing both broad and upright, this is a rose with natural grace and a well-balanced stature that matures to a compact, bushy shape.