Did you know that every three years there’s an award for the World’s Favorite Rose? Me neither. Apparently it’s been going for over thirty years and until now I can’t recall ever receiving  news of the variety that’s won.

And this year’s news doesn’t come from the World Federation of Rose Societies, which organises the award, but from David Austin Roses the raiser of this year’s winning variety – Graham Thomas (‘Ausmas’).

I have to say that this is a worthy winner. I have some pictures somewhere of Graham Thomas (‘Ausmas’) when it was launched at the Chelsea Flower Show back in 1983. It was the same year that another great David Austin variety Mary Rose (‘Ausmary’) was launched and it was these two introductions which shot his varieties into the wider public consciousness. Back then I visited the nursery and interviewed David for Britain’s Practical Gardening (RIP) magazine as he showed me round his rose breeding operation. Impressive, I have to say.

By the way - in case you’ve been on another planet these last few decades, the David Austin Roses are, to put it simply, roses with the flower form and fragrance of the old roses but the long flowering season of modern roses. The perfect match. Graham Thomas (‘Ausmas’) is a wonderful variety – gorgeous color and form, fragrance, long season. easy to grow. It’s named for Graham Stuart Thomas who did so much to popularize old roses.

The award, it turns out, works like this. Every three years, each of the forty one national rose societies across the world chooses its top three modern varieties. The five varieties with the most votes go on a shortlist, from which each country then chooses just one and the variety with the most votes wins. So the winners should have the ability to perform in countries as different as Bangladesh and Britain, the United States and Uruguay.

Here’s a list of previous winners:
2006    Elina (‘Dicjana’) and Pierre de Ronsard  aka Eden Rose ’88 (‘Meiviolin’)
2003    Bonica (‘Meidomonac’)
2000    Ingrid Bergman (‘Poulman’)
1997    ‘New Dawn’
1994    ‘Just Joey’
1991    Pascali (‘Lenip’)
1988    Papa Meilland (‘Meisar’)
1985    Double Delight’ (‘Andeli’)
1983    Iceberg (‘Korbin’)
1981    Fragrant Cloud (‘Tanellis’)
1979    The Queen Elizabeth
1976    Peace (‘Madame A. Meilland’)

Plenty of fine roses there. Interesting to see how fashions change – And next time I’ll be looking again at why these roses have so many names..

You can buy Graham Thomas (‘Ausmas’) from David Austin Roses in Britain.

You can also buy Graham Thomas (‘Ausmas’) from David Austin Roses in the United States.

All images ©David Austin Roses.