heritage

Heritage

Heritage in my garden 1997

You love the roses-- so do I.
I wish the sky would rain down roses, as they rain from off the shaken bush.
Why will it not?
Then all the valley would be pink and white and soft to tread on,
They would fall as light as feathers, smelling sweet:
And it would be like sleeping and yet waking, all at once.

George Eliot

Heritage

Breeder: David Austin

Parentage: Seedling x (Iceberg x Wife of Bath)

Introduced: 1984

Class: English Shrub

Color: Baby pink

Scent: Rose with lemon

Size:

Zone: 4-9

Of all David Austin's English Roses, Heritage is my favorite. In my opinion, no other English Rose can surpass its delicacy, form, or fragrance. I've actually found Heritage to be earlier blooming than Mary Rose which is touted to be the first to bloom in the spring and the last to cease blooming in the fall. Heritage is consistently recurrent, always producing more blossoms scented with honey rose and lemon. The outer petals of diaphenous pink encircle a cup of deeper pink petals. Each lovely blossom lasts only two days on the bush, but they are produced in such profusion that there's always another coming along. The color of the foliage is unique. To my eye, the mature leaves seem to have a blue cast, whereas new leaves are the loveliest pale aqua-green. The shape of the shrub is always in proportion, always graceful (well, except for that one summer when it threw up a cane as tall as the Jolly Green Giant!), and the canes are not armed with too many thorns. Disease has not been a real problem here.
If you can get only one English rose, get Heritage. This rose is a classic!

"Heritage"
June 2000

Two pretty blossoms in Elizabeth's garden
July 2000

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