We’ve had a long cold wet winter this year. Perdita is the first rose bloom of the year in the whole garden. It has a pleasant fresh medium strength fragrance of myrrh blended with tea rose on a 4 inch flower. Leaves are prone to blackspot, but this is a tough plant that survives past neglect and drought conditions. The heavy clay soil & cool temperatures (60d/40n) contribute to the sumptuous colors in my pictures, but hot weather will bleach it to flesh & cream. I would recommend this rose to California gardeners and collectors. The blooms have the grace and elegance of Austin’s early crosses, but the plant’s performance compares poorly to modern disease resistant roses. However, this rose will do great in the desert because the plant itself is resilient and is not a water hog — but spraying for blackspot is probably required. Even though it has lower water needs than the average DA, the best flowers are produced with normal watering. Another tough as nails, low water variety is Queen Nefertiti.

Syn.'Ausperd'
Rosa Inglese a cespuglio, Gruppo Rosa Antica Ibrida, a portamento vigoroso e frondoso, spine poche. Foglie sm/lucide, verde scuro. Fiori grandi, forma old-fashioned, rosa/albicocca , centro piu' scuro, bordi crema, singoli o in mazzi. Forte fragranza speziata. Rifiorente, rustica, md/resistente a malattie. Ideale x fiori da taglio. H.100cm L.75cm.
(ROSACEAE) (David C.H.Austin, David Austin Roses Ltd., UK, 1983)

I have had this rose for several years and after nearly removing it several times, I can now say it has a permanent spot in my garden. It was rather slow to get it's roots into the ground and really get going. As a consequence, in its first four or five years it was a big sluggish to repeat after the first spring flush, and was stingy with blooms in the fall.

That has changed in the past few years. The plant is quite vigorous now, quick to repeat and generous with its flowers right through the year. I now get as many blooms off Perdita as I do any other rose in my garden. The flower form is lovely, the bloom color exquisite when the weather is cool, and the petals drop of cleanly. It makes somewhat arching growth, so it wants to be as wide (or wider) than it is tall.

The only negatives are: 1) it makes a lousy cut flower because the blooms shatter quickly, 2) the petals are very prone to spotting if any water gets on them, 3) the bloom clusters get quite heavy so you end up looking at many flowers sideways. But, these seem trifling matters compared to the overall performance, flower production and beauty of the blooms.