David Austin® Roses: The Stories Behind the Names

A rose name can be a small doorway into another world. Before the plant arrives, it may already have introduced you to a garden, a designer, a historic house or a family story. David Austin’s names are particularly good at this: they give a flower a place in a wider cultural landscape.

The stories do not tell you how tall a rose will grow or whether it fits your border. But once you know them, the names stop feeling like labels and begin to feel like companions.

Gertrude Jekyll: the gardener behind the name

Gertrude Jekyll® honors the influential garden designer and horticulturist. Her work helped shape how gardeners think about color, planting and the relationship between a garden and its setting. The rose named for her is known for its rich pink flowers and strong Old Rose fragrance — a fitting name for a plant that asks you to pay close attention.

Munstead Wood: a garden and a home

Munstead Wood® connects to Jekyll again, this time through her home and garden in Surrey. The National Trust describes an eleven-acre garden surrounding an Arts and Crafts house, reflecting her collaboration with architect Edwin Lutyens.

Jekyll lived and worked there from the 1890s until her death in 1932. The name therefore points to more than an attractive building: it evokes a place where ideas about gardening were tested, developed and shared. The deep crimson rose and the pink Gertrude Jekyll® make a lovely conceptual pairing — a person and the place most closely associated with her.

Boscobel®: a house, an oak and a royal escape

Boscobel® takes its name from Boscobel House, associated with Charles II’s escape after the Battle of Worcester in 1651. The famous story centers on his hiding in an oak tree. David Austin’s naming account connects the rose to that house and episode.

The flower itself belongs to a very different scene: warm coral-pink rosettes and myrrh fragrance in a garden border. You do not need a royal garden to enjoy it, but the name carries a little history wherever it is planted.

Olivia Rose Austin®: a family connection

Olivia Rose Austin® was named for David Austin Jr.’s daughter, the granddaughter of David Austin Sr. After the historic places and public figures, this is a more intimate thread: the family behind the breeding programme. It is a reminder that the story of English roses is also a story of people working across generations.

Queen of Sweden®: friendship rather than a portrait

Queen of Sweden® commemorates the Treaty of Friendship and Commerce between Sweden and Great Britain. The name is not simply a description of a flower’s regal appearance. Its pale pink, upward-facing cups and upright growth give it a poised character, but the naming story is about a connection between countries.

Two climbers named for places

Strawberry Hill® is named for Horace Walpole’s Gothic Revival house in Twickenham. Wollerton Old Hall® is named for the private garden of that name. Both invite the imagination toward gardens and architecture, and the climbing forms we offer can bring flowers into the space around a doorway, wall or arch.

A name is a pleasure, not a planting specification. Let these stories deepen the enjoyment, then use each variety’s mature size and habit to find its place. That is how a rose with a history becomes part of your own.

Explore the English rose series

• The Making of the English Rose: David Austin’s Breeding Story
• David Austin® Roses: The Stories Behind the Names
• The Best David Austin® Roses for Every Purpose
• Choosing a David Austin® Rose: A Guide to Cloverdale’s Collection

Explore Cloverdale’s David Austin® Roses collection. Availability and shipping details are shown on each product page.

Sources and further reading

Gertrude Jekyll®; Munstead Wood®; National Trust: Munstead Wood; Boscobel®; Olivia Rose Austin®; Queen of Sweden®; Strawberry Hill®; Wollerton Old Hall®.