Wollerton Old Hall Rose

May 28, 2026

My favourite book as a child, before I could even read, was Sleeping Beauty. It was my number one request as a bedtime story for so long that my dad refused to read it even one more time. I can still see the illustrations in my head. The three chubby little witches, Maleficent and her scary horns and that fortress of roses that surrounded the castle. I think that’s where my fascination and obsession with roses began.

I moved into my first house in 2000 and it had a pretty big yard by Toronto standards. I thought about getting a rose. People always talk about how hard it is to grow roses and since I had no gardening experience I thought it would be best to heed the warnings. I put that dream on the shelf.

A lot of years have passed and with a small amount of gardening experience under my belt, but probably even more important, some life experience, I decided to get one anyway. I had just moved into this house and my entire backyard is gardens. I wanted a rose and even if I would likely kill it, I thought why not give it a try.

I did my research and picked the Wollerton Old Hall Rose by David Austin Roses. I didn’t think I would experiment with something so fancy but research can be a dangerous thing and once I saw this one, I had eyes for no other. In the fall of 2022, I tried to place an order for one to arrive in the spring. None were available that I could find. Then I found Halifax Perrennials. She didn’t have any either but suggested that I try again the following fall. I know that I could have just popped into a local garden centre and picked a rose out of the sea of buckets but I was in love with this apricot beauty. That love just fuelled my obsession. I set an alarm for one year later and tried again. She wasn’t sure if it would be possible but she took my order. I’m not sure what kinds of strings she had to pull or what kind of luck was involved but in December of 2023 she confirmed that she would have one for me in the spring.

When I picked it up in April of 2024 I was shocked to find that all of the research, the waiting, the cost and the obsessing looked like a dead stick in a bucket. She assured me that if I put it in the ground it would grow. She was right. Thank goodness. I planted it midway down my side fence and I loved watching it grow. Before long some buds appeared. I know it’s best to cut the buds off the first year so that the rose can really take root. It proved to be too hard of an ask. I ended up cutting them all off except for one. The one you see in the picture above. And I’m not sorry. What a beauty!

In the spring of 2025, I realized that if I had planted the rose in the corner, I could get it to grow down both sides of my fence. So I moved it. The roots were surprisingly large after just one year. I worried that the stress of being moved again so soon would kill it but it grew again. I really thought I was home free.

Here we are in 2026. Before things started to grow, I went out to make the supports for the rose. I was so proud of myself for getting it done. This year I could leave all of the buds on. When they bloomed, which they were sure to do, I would be able to see the vision start to take shape.

I clipped the canes onto the wire using these little plastic ones that were meant for tomato plants. It wasn’t until that moment that I wondered if my rose looked a little sickly.

At first I tried to chalk it up to a long winter. Surely it would recover once the nice weather settled in. The canes would plump up and turn green again. The little voice in the back of my head kept saying that the rose was sick. To shut that voice up, I went to my computer and googled it. Black spot. My rose was definitely sick. That rotten little voice was right. The good news was that if I cut off all of the infected bits and took better care of it in the future, it would make a full recovery. The bad news was that mine was infected all the way down to the ground. I had to cut everything off. I worried that this time the stress would surely kill it.

I’m happy to report that it’s growing like a weed. My biggest concern now is that what’s growing is coming from below the graft. Mercy of mercies all of that growth is coming from above the graft. In an effort to get the plant back into a healthy state, I’m going to clip off all of the buds again this year. All of the buds except one because the suspense is killing me and I can’t wait another year to find out if all I have left from this little gamble is a really expensive dud.