When Music Meets the Garden
Each summer the Proms bring music, tradition and joy to the Royal Albert Hall. From the first shimmering notes to the final chorus, audiences are carried into a world where sound becomes memory. At David Austin®, we mark this festival in our own way, with roses that are themselves named after music and musicians who have moved us. These varieties hold within them the same qualities of rhythm, harmony and timeless beauty.
Roses Inspired by the Proms
The Lark Ascending (Ausursula)
Ralph Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending is one of the most beloved works of the Proms. Its violin line rises like a bird into endless sky, filling the hall with a sense of freedom and light. Our rose The Lark Ascending carries the same spirit. Its soft apricot blooms open in loose, airy clusters, giving an impression of grace and movement. Strong, healthy growth ensures it returns year after year, just as the music does each summer.
James Galway (Auscrystal)
Sir James Galway, known across the world as “The Man with the Golden Flute,” has delighted Proms audiences for decades with his artistry. His performances are remembered for their clarity and elegance; qualities echoed in the rose that bears his name. James Galway is a superb climber with warm pink rosettes that flower generously through the season. It lends height, romance and refinement to a wall or arch, much like Galway’s flute lifting a melody above the orchestra.
Scarborough Fair (Ausoran)
The ballad Scarborough Fair is often heard in folk-inspired programmes at the Proms, its refrain simple and haunting. The rose Scarborough Fair reflects that same purity. Its soft pink flowers open in generous clusters, light and airy, with a fragrance that drifts gently on the breeze. It is a rose of quiet charm, easy to grow, and it brings a sense of nostalgia to the garden that lingers much like the ballad itself.
Malvern Hills™ (Auscanary)
Edward Elgar, one of the most enduring voices of the Proms, found inspiration in the Malvern Hills of his childhood. His Enigma Variations and Pomp and Circumstance have become inseparable from the festival, filling the Royal Albert Hall with national pride and poignancy. The rambler Malvern Hills™ honours both the landscape and the composer. With cascades of soft yellow flowers, polished foliage and a gentle fragrance, it covers arches and walls in joyful abundance through summer and into autumn.
Summer Song™ (Austango)
Elgar’s Summer Song evokes the warmth and radiance of long days and golden evenings. The rose Summer Song™ lives up to its name with glowing orange blooms that bring an almost luminous quality to the border. It flowers repeatedly through the season and carries a strong, distinctive fragrance. Planted in the garden it feels like a burst of music captured in colour.
A Performance for the Senses
Music and roses share a gift. Both can stir memory, both can change the atmosphere of a moment, and both return to us in each new season. The Proms offer a concert hall filled with song, while these roses create a concert for the garden, a performance that is repeated again and again.
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