David Austin launches English rose
After 12 years of meticulous breeding, this year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show sees family-owned British brand, David Austin® reveal the latest addition to their English rose collection with Danny Clarke.
Handsomely named ‘Dannahue®’ (Ausa6b15), a nod to Danny’s full forename, the apricot-hued English shrub rose is noted for its beauty, excellent health, and fragrance. Dannahue® boasts a natural ability to thrive in containers and shaded areas and sits happily against walls or fences – perfect for urban living and city spaces, as well as cottage gardens.
Rightly, every David Austin® rose has a story behind the name, and Dannahue’s is one with charitable connotations at heart; supporting a not-for-profit that promotes accessibility and inclusivitiy in horticulture.
In 2022, David Austin was hugely impressed with an RHS Chelsea Flower Show garden called ‘Hands off Mangrove’ by not-for-profit Grow2Know. The garden was designed by Danny Clarke along with Grow2Know founder, Tayshan Hayden-Smith, and powerfully united the two prominent issues of social injustice and global deforestation.
Based in West London, Grow2Know was born from a community of guerrilla gardeners who came together in an act of healing following the Grenfell Tower fire of 2017. Tayshan encourages a more inclusive environment within the horticultural scene with the aim to reconnect people with nature and one another. As a director of the charity, Clarke is delighted that the brand-new namesake rose, Dannahue, will support Grow2Know to thrive.
The donated money will be used to reclaim further urban planting space, continuing to empower people through horticulture whilst creating a more inclusive environment.
"Following the breeding progress of this rose has been an absolute delight and I am so pleased to be sharing it with the world at RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Roses shouldn't be restrained in our eyes, they're a quintessential part of British horticultural history, something that should be able to be enjoyed by all. Together with the Dannahue® rose, Danny and Grow2Know, were thrilled to be adding to our range of roses suitable for city living" David Austin.
Clarke adds, "What an honor to share the name my mother and father gave me with a David Austin Rose, especially one that enables planting in more inclusive environments. I'm so grateful and excited about the support Grow2Know will gain too."
With each sale of a Dannahue rose through its UK retail channels, David Austin Roses will donate £10,000 in the first year of sales to Grow2Know.
Say hello to Dannahue
Expect chalice-shaped blooms that evolve from a globe to a mass of close-layered petals. When they open, Dannahue® becomes a more relaxed, informal flower with a petal palette that begins as deep apricot in bud and latterly blush apricot, caramel-yellow and finally cream as its swan song.
FRAGRANCE
Dannahue® has one of David Austin’s most unusual and wonderfully complex fragrances. Fruity lemon, lychee and fresh apricot are wrapped in a softer layer of tea and myrrh which balance out the zest, imbuing it with warmth.
PLANTING
Compact and shapely, Dannahue® grows upright to form a bushy shrub full of the old rose character for which David Austin is known. Happy in a shaded area, it would suit a container close to a wall, but also works well en masse in a border of its own type, or blended with other plants with warm orange and golden yellow tones.