Rose 'Vanessa Bell' (David Austin Shrub Rose)
A stunning English shrub rose from the renowned David Austin collection, celebrated for its soft, delicate colour palette and timeless beauty. With its uniquely elegant, pale yellow blooms, this rose brings a touch of refinement and warmth to any garden. Named after the British artist Vanessa Bell, sister of Virginia Woolf, this rose captures the essence of grace and artistic beauty, making it an ideal choice for both classic and contemporary garden designs. ‘Vanessa Bell’ combines classic rose characteristics with a modern sensibility, making it a perfect addition to rose collections and those looking to infuse their gardens with soft, romantic charm.
Key Features:
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Flower Colour: The blooms of 'Vanessa Bell' open in a soft, creamy yellow hue, gradually developing into a rich, warm apricot as they mature. The light yellow and golden tones are soft yet radiant, creating an elegant contrast with the dark green foliage. This subtle colour shift adds depth and interest to the plant over time.
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Flower Form: Each flower features a distinctive, cupped shape with a loosely-formed center and gently overlapping petals. The petals are soft and velvety, with a graceful, almost “ruffled” appearance. As the blooms open, they reveal a beautiful, open form, making them appear effortlessly elegant.
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Fragrance: True to the heritage of David Austin roses, 'Vanessa Bell' is fragrant with a mild yet distinctly fresh scent. It has a light, fruity fragrance, with hints of green and citrus that perfectly complement its soft colour. Its delicate aroma is both refreshing and uplifting, making it a wonderful addition to gardens where fragrance is as important as appearance.
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Plant Size & Habit: 'Vanessa Bell' is a well-structured shrub rose that grows to a height of about 90-120 cm (3-4 feet) and an eventual spread of around 90cm (3 feet). It has a compact, bushy growth habit with a naturally rounded shape, making it a versatile choice for planting in mixed borders, as a specimen plant, or in containers. Its well-branching nature ensures it remains full and visually appealing throughout the growing season.
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Flowering Period: This variety is a repeat bloomer, producing multiple flushes of blooms from early summer to late autumn. The flowers are long-lasting and tend to retain their beauty for an extended period before gently fading, giving the garden a continual supply of colour and fragrance.
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Foliage: 'Vanessa Bell' is supported by healthy, dark green foliage that provides an attractive backdrop to the pale, creamy flowers. The leaves are resistant to disease and generally stay glossy throughout the growing season, adding extra appeal to the plant even when it’s not in bloom.
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Hardiness & Growing Conditions: RHS hardiness rating H6, meaning it is very hardy down to winter temperatures of -20 to -15ºC.
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Disease Resistance: 'Vanessa Bell' is bred with resistance to common rose diseases like black spot and powdery mildew, making it relatively low-maintenance. Regular care, such as deadheading and pruning, will help maintain its health and beauty throughout the growing season.
Ideal Uses:
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Garden Design: 'Vanessa Bell' is perfect for creating romantic garden borders, filling in empty spaces with a warm and welcoming touch. Its soft yellow blooms work beautifully in both formal and informal gardens, bringing a sophisticated, natural look.
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Companion Planting: Its warm yellow and apricot tones make it an excellent companion for other roses, such as David Austin’s ‘Graham Thomas’ (golden yellow) or ‘The Generous Gardener’ (soft pink). It also pairs beautifully with other perennials, such as lavender, salvia, or iris, creating a harmonious and colorful garden display.
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Cut Flowers: The graceful, soft blooms of 'Vanessa Bell' are perfect for cutting and bringing indoors. They have a delicate appearance and hold their form well in vases, making them ideal for creating elegant floral arrangements. The gentle fragrance will fill any room with a soft, refreshing scent.
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Small Gardens & Containers: Its compact growth habit makes this rose ideal for smaller gardens or container planting. Whether placed on a balcony, terrace, or front garden, it will provide consistent colour and beauty, even in limited space.
Care Instructions:
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Watering: Roses thrive with deep, infrequent watering. Water at the base of the plant to keep the foliage dry, and ensure the soil drains well to avoid waterlogging. During dry spells, be sure to water deeply to encourage strong root growth.
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Pruning: For the best shape and continuous blooming, prune ‘Vanessa Bell’ in early spring, removing dead or damaged wood. Lightly shape the plant, cutting back older stems to promote new growth. Deadheading spent flowers will help keep the plant looking tidy and encourage new blooms.
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Fertilising: Apply a balanced rose fertiliser in early spring and again after the first flush of flowers. A slow-release fertiliser will also support healthy growth throughout the growing season. Be sure to feed the plant regularly to maintain its vigour and abundant flowering.
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Mulching: Apply a layer of mulch around the base of the plant to retain moisture, reduce weeds, and keep the root system cool during the warmer months. Mulch also helps protect the roots from frost in colder climates.
Why Choose Rose 'Vanessa Bell'?
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Soft Elegance: The light, warm yellow blooms with a gradual apricot hue provide a soothing and elegant aesthetic to your garden. Its graceful, open blooms create a relaxed and natural garden atmosphere.
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Fragrance: With its light, fruity fragrance, 'Vanessa Bell' offers a refreshing scent that’s not overpowering, perfect for those who prefer a subtle, natural aroma in their garden.
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Disease Resistance & Low Maintenance: As a David Austin rose, 'Vanessa Bell' has been bred to resist common rose diseases like black spot and powdery mildew, reducing the need for constant care and allowing you to enjoy its beauty with minimal fuss.
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Versatile Design: Whether you're looking for a rose for a formal rose garden, a border, a container, or as part of a mixed perennial garden, 'Vanessa Bell' fits seamlessly into various settings, making it a highly adaptable and versatile choice.
Summary
Rose 'Vanessa Bell' is an exceptional variety that combines classic beauty with modern ease of care. With its soft, golden-yellow blooms, delicate fragrance, and robust performance, it will undoubtedly become a treasured addition to any garden. Whether used for its beauty in the landscape or as part of a fragrant flower arrangement, ‘Vanessa Bell’ will bring a touch of elegance and sophistication to your outdoor space for years to come.
Reasons to Buy Roses from Jacksons Nurseries
(1) ‘Excellent’ on Trustpilot
Buy with confidence from the only online rose grower rated ‘Excellent’ 4.9* on Trustpilot. We have been a trusted supplier of roses for 3 generations. We take pride in growing our own roses in the field before potting them up, allowing for meticulous quality control to sale.
(2) Best Prices Guaranteed – Direct from the Grower
Save £££s by buying direct from a grower you can trust. We’ve already price checked all of our roses against competitors so you don’t have to. We are so confident we offer the best value, if you find a rose of the same type and grade elsewhere, we’ll beat it by 10%.
(3) 12 Month Plants Guarantee
We offer a 12 month guarantee on every plant that you buy from us that we have classified as Fully Hardy. If a plant you've bought from us fails in the first year, we will either replace it or refund you. See our satisfaction guarantee page for more details and conditions.
(4) Third generation family-owned nursery specialising in roses
Jackson’s Nurseries is a 3rd generation family owned business which has been growing roses for over 60 years. Roses have always been our specialty, as you can see from the colourful array of blooms in the background to the old family photo below. Today, we offer over 200 different varieties of floribundas, hybrid teas, patio, shrub and David Austin roses. Our roses are initially grown in the field before being potted up for website dispatch.
(5) Grown at altitude to produce strong, healthy plants
Our North Staffordshire nursery is situated at 250 metres above sea level, producing strong, hardy plants that will thrive in your garden. Our nursery sits on clay, so you can be sure our roses can handle heavy soil too.
(6) Help & Advice and Aftercare
We are help to help you with any help and advice you need in choosing, planting and growing your roses before, during and after your purchase from us. The help and advice section of our website has extensive information, see below some examples of articles you may find useful:
- Different types of roses and what they each mean
- Guide to climbing roses
- Guide to floribunda roses
- Guide to hybrid tea roses
- How to plant a climbing rose
- How to grow hybrid tea roses
How our roses are supplied through the seasons
All our roses are cultivated in an open field and are carefully dug up when the weather is optimal, typically in October or November. While other nurseries supply roses bare root, once our field-grown roses have been potted up we supply them freshly potted. This better protects the roots and helps keep them moist in transit, ensuring your roses arrive as healthy as when they left our nursery. So don’t be alarmed if the compost comes away from the roots when you remove them from the pot.
The roses can remain in their pots over the winter, as long as they are properly watered and fed, but it's best to plant them out as soon as possible. If you do plant them straight away make sure the planting mix is prepared first, hold the root close to the top of the hole as you tip the pot upside down and try to keep as much compost as possible from falling away. They will already be pruned, so no additional pruning is needed except for trimming any dead tips. Regular pruning can start in late winter, the year after planting.
Rose Types
Hybrid Tea Roses (HT)
Hybrid Tea roses are probably the most popular group of roses, available in both bush and standard form they have long flower stems and shapely blooms. Blooms are typically medium to large in size, with many petals which form a distinct central cone.
Floribunda Roses (FL)
Floribunda roses bears its flowers in clusters or trusses, with several blooms open at time in each truss. A popular choice the Floribunda rose group is unrivalled for colour, reliability and longevity as a bedding display however the flower form in generally inferior to the Hybrid Tea.
Patio Roses (PATIO)
Patio roses were introduced in the 1980’s and the group now contains several popular varieties. Generally low-growing roses that were once grouped with the Floribuna group but have now been put in their own group of compact versions. Usually growing about 50cm high they make excellent plants for patio containers or at the front of borders.
Climbing Roses (CLM)
Climbing roses as the name suggests are the perfect choice for covering a wall or screen. Often grouped together with Ramblers, Climbers tend to have stiffer stems, larger flowers but smaller trusses than Ramblers.
Rambling Roses (RAM)
Rambling roses are often grouped with Climbing Roses but the ramblers tend to have a more pliable stems that can be used to run along the soil to use as groundcover or can be used to make weeping standards.
Miniature Roses (MINI)
Miniature roses have increased in popularity in recent years due to their versatility, even grown indoors as temporary pot plants that grow to a maximum height of 40cm. An ideal choice for planting in tubs, edging beds and rockeries.
English Roses (ENG)
Often referred to as Austin or David Austin Roses, English roses are hybrids of old English roses and more modern varieties bread by David Austin to provide the best of both, mixing old rose shapes and scents with more modern colour range, compact habits and repeat flowering.
Planting Advice
Roses like a generous root space, so dig a deep hole approximately twice as wide as the current root system, preferably adding composted organic matter to the soil. Never plant into frozen soil – in winter, await a frost-free period. Carefully remove the pot and gently tease the roots apart to spread them around the hole. Position the plant so that the ‘bud point’ (the place where the shoots emerge from, where the cultivated rose was grafted onto the rootstock) is at soil level. Replace the soil, firming it down gently, then water copiously. Ideally, a general purpose fertiliser should be applied to the surrounding soil as a top dressing. We also highly recommend the use of Rose Rootgrow, which provides a friendly fungus that prevents ‘rose replant syndrome’.
Buying our Roses
Pot Size
Most of our roses are supplied in a 4 litre pot although this may vary slightly depending on rose variety. If the size of pot differes significatly from 4 litres then we will make this clear somewhere on the product page.
Seasonality
Our roses are grown outdoors and as such are subject to seasonal changes. As we sell potted stock throughout the year your rose may not arrive and look like you expect it to. If you are uncertain how your rose will arrive (especially if buying for a gift) then we suggest you contact us prior to making a purchase.
Freshly Potted
Each year a new batch of roses is potted up ready for the following season. Once potted (usually November/December time) they go on sale as 'Freshly Potted'. If you purchase a freshly potted rose and plant it soon after you will find that when removing the rose from the pot there will be a lot of loose soil as the roots will not have had time to grow and bind the compost.
Pruned/Cut Back
In autumn the majority of our roses have finished flowering and begin to look untidy, at this point we prune them quite hard in preparation for the following season. We continue to sell roses throughout the year, when a rose has been pruned in such a way we will identify it has being so. If you are not sure what to expect then please ask prior to making a purchase. Some garden centres/supermarkets sell stock that has been grown abroad or in poly-tunnels so they look 'picture perfect' out of season, while this is ideal for a gift they are short lived once planted.
Aftercare
