Why climate crisis means some English roses will bloom no longer

The English garden and a rose arequintessentially English. Some of the most popular varieties are being retired by growers due to climate breakdown and pests.

They have been a prize bloom across England for hundreds of years and are thought to have started in China and Iraq. David Austin was the undisputed king of rose-growing in the past six decades and his roses fill gardens all over the country with their color and smell. Some of his company's most popular species will be retired because they are no longer feasible to grow.

Since it went on sale in 1996, the ballet slipper pink blooms and fruity tea fragrance of A Shropshire Lad has won awards from the Royal Horticultural Society. It was the climbing rose of choice for those who wanted flowers with a pink hue. It has been removed from the market.

Tim Smith, the operations director at David Austin Roses, said: "We cannot stand still and watch as diseases and pests evolve, threatening the health and success of some of our most popular varieties."

We need to re-trial all our releases and retire some popular ones. The changing environment means that we recommend alternative varieties that are better suited to the changing environment.

We must take the brave decision to remove them because it will result in lower revenue.

One of the roses retired this year is the Munstead Wood, which has a classic old rose scent of berry and damon. It is a relatively new breed and is thought to have been ravaged by pests, which caused it to be removed from sale.

The main consideration for a perfect rose used to be its showy blooms and beautiful scent. Rose growers are growing blooms in countries with more arid conditions in order to make sure that they don't lose their quality as the climate changes in England. In the US and China, some growers are testing their flowers in the heat.

The roses we see in gardens are the product of hundreds of years of plant breeding. Showy, reliable flowers and scent have been the focus of most of the breeding.

The selection of flowers has always been influenced by resistance to diseases. These diseases have become more damaging as the climate has changed over the last few years. Rose plants are more susceptible to disease because they are less suited to the new climate.

The muggier conditions brought to England by the climate emergency are good for pests. The biology of the pests is suited by the humid conditions in the spring. The introduction of genes from more disease resistant plants has necessitated a greater emphasis on disease resistance. These are the more wild types of roses that are resistant to disease. Some varieties are now too disease prone to be viable.

Some parts of England are not suited for many rose types, so some growers are hybridising the flowers with plants that are resistant to climate change. The Dame Judi Dench rose, an apricot-coloured rose created for the actor in 2017, is one of the plants recommended by David Austin Roses.

Guy Barter, the chief horticulturist at the RHS, said: "As well as breeding for climate change there is also the choice of plants suitable for the site, so very hot, dry sites which are not well suited now for roses will become less so in future and we can This will only apply in the south and east. Rose-rich soils will be less affected by the clay rich retentive soils. Selecting the right plant for the site will become even more important.

Plants are more vulnerable to disease after the summer because of the extreme weather. Climate change and extreme weather make plants more vulnerable and diseases more common.

• There is a black spot on a rose in a wet summer. As the Fungi evolve, they become less resistant. Black spot can be treated with raking and destruction. Clean tools should be used to peck the rose back to its original state.

• In warm weather, powdery mildew and rust do well. The amount of infectious spores will be reduced when leaves are destroyed. Pruning out infections will reduce the risk of infections.

• The aphids can swarm. Ladybirds are able to control their population in June. The use of fingers and thumb to squash aphid colonies is recommended by the RHS.