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Sir David Beckham (Ausa34b16) is a rose shaped by natural beauty, quiet strength and a deeply personal story. Created to mark a milestone year and inspired by a touching request from Harper for her father’s 50th birthday, this remarkable new English Shrub Rose is rooted in something deeply meaningful, a living symbol of family, resilience and enduring love. Yet beyond the story behind its name, Sir David Beckham is, above all, a rose of great garden beauty and presence.

Autumn brings a distinct richness that invites us to slow down and notice the changes. Leaves turn shades of amber and gold, while the lower, softer light catches the borders in the late afternoon. As cooler mornings bring heavy dew and that unmistakable, earthy scent of damp soil, the garden gradually settles down for the season.

No two roses are quite alike. Colour and fragrance may be what first catch the eye, but look a little closer and it is often the shape of the flower that gives a rose its particular character. Some blooms are simple and open, their golden stamens on full display. Others are made up of layer upon layer of petals, slowly unfurling into wonderfully intricate flowers. These different rose bloom shapes are the result of centuries of careful breeding and selection.

When you see a rose in full bloom, it is easy to think of it as a purely natural creation. What is less obvious is that every single one of our plants began life through a precise, manual process. Long before a rose reaches a garden centre or finds its place in your border, it passes through a critical production stage known as budding.

There is a brief, suspended moment each year just before the garden fully awakens. The light begins to soften, the days stretch out, and the air carries a new weight - as though the landscape is holding its breath. Here at David Austin^®, it is in the Species Garden that this tension finally breaks, and the season begins to unfold.

There’s a quiet sense of momentum across the gardens as spring begins to take hold here in Albrighton. The mornings are still cool, often touched with a light frost, while the days arrive bright and clear, carrying a little more warmth with each passing week.

In the days following the centenary of David C. H. Austin’s birth on 16 February, it feels fitting to reflect more deeply on how he worked and why his influence endures. David approached rose breeding as a long and thoughtful process. From the first cross to final introduction, a single rose could take ten years or more. Each season brought new seedlings, most of which would be quietly set aside. He watched closely, learning how a rose opened, how it aged, how fragrance developed, and how a plant behaved over time. Often, he could be found walking the trial fields, pausing over a seedling, noting its character and potential.

Today, 16th February, marks what would have been one hundred years since the birth of David C. H. Austin, whose vision transformed the modern garden and reimagined what a rose could be.

There are years when the garden feels especially alive and full of stories. In 2025, at David Austin^®, we saw moments that reminded us why we spend our days among stems and buds. Beginnings that feel full of promise, flowers that arrive ahead of expectation, and new roses introduced on some of the most celebrated stages in gardening.

The King’s Rose is unlike anything we’ve bred before. With its soft stripes, gentle fragrance and natural charm, it marks a distinctive new direction for the David Austin^® collection. Created in support of The King’s Foundation, this rose brings together beauty, purpose and a quiet nod to tradition.

Our breeding team shares what this special season means to them, as the hips ripen in the glasshouses and the next generation of roses begins its journey.

At David Austin Roses, the greenhouses are alive with energy as thousands of young plants grow and develop. This is the stage where the next generation of roses begins to take shape, starting with the formation of rose hips, the small fruits that hold the seeds of future blooms.

The Gertrude Jekyll^® rose is known and loved for its rich, classic fragrance and those beautifully shaped old-fashioned blooms. Though it began in England, gardeners in very different parts of the world have welcomed it into their gardens with equal affection. To celebrate this special rose, we reached out to growers in Japan, Italy and the United States to hear how Gertrude Jekyll^® grows and blooms in their own climates and garden styles.