About David Austin® The Ancient Mariner® Potted Rose Bush

(AUSoutcry) PAT. PP30086

🧬 Breeder: David C. H. Austin
🌹 A magnificent English shrub rose with glowing deep pink blooms, powerful fragrance, and extraordinary flower production.

The Ancient Mariner® is one of David Austin’s most captivating English roses—beloved for its enormous glowing pink blooms and exceptional repeat flowering. Each flower opens from beautifully rounded buds into deeply cupped rosettes filled with layers upon layers of rich pink petals that soften delicately toward the edges, creating remarkable depth and luminosity in the garden.

Its fragrance is equally enchanting, carrying a strong classic myrrh perfume that drifts beautifully through the landscape. The blooms are produced generously along the stems, creating a nearly continuous display of romantic color from late spring through frost. Even as the flowers fully open, they maintain a graceful old-world form that feels timeless and luxurious.

The Ancient Mariner® forms a vigorous, upright shrub with healthy foliage and excellent garden presence, making it stunning in mixed borders, rose gardens, cottage landscapes, and large containers. Named after Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s legendary poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, this rose feels poetic in every sense—dramatic, romantic, and unforgettable.

💐 Plant & Flower Traits

🌹 Rose Type: English Shrub Rose
🎨 Color: Rich medium pink with softer outer petals
🌸 Bloom Form: Deeply cupped old-fashioned rosettes
🌼 Petal Count: Very full blooms (160+ petals)
📏 Bloom Size: Large blooms
🌿 Fragrance: Medium - strong myrrh fragrance
🔁 Flowering: Exceptional repeat flowering throughout the season
🌱 Bud Form: Large rounded buds opening slowly and elegantly

🌿 Growth & Garden Habits

📐 Mature Height: Approximately 4–5 ft
↔️ Mature Width: Approximately 3–4 ft
☀️ Sun Requirements: Full sun
🌱 Growth Habit: Upright, vigorous, bushy shrub
🪴 Ideal Uses: Cottage gardens, mixed borders, rose gardens, containers, cutting gardens

🌎 Hardiness & Garden Performance

❄️ USDA Zones: 4–11
💪 Disease Resistance: Good overall garden performance
🌧️ Garden Style: English gardens, romantic landscapes, collector gardens

✨ Why We Love It

The Ancient Mariner® feels like poetry brought to life in the garden. Its glowing pink blooms seem almost illuminated at sunset, while the rich fragrance and continuous flowering create a rose that feels abundant, romantic, and deeply memorable all season long.