‘MY FAVORITE ROSES’ SERIES | ROSE ‘JUDE THE OBSCURE’
‘MY FAVORITE ROSES’ SERIES | ROSE ‘JUDE THE OBSCURE’ | DAVID AUSTIN 1995
MY BELOVED ROSE ‘JUDE THE OBSCURE’
INTRODUCTION | THE RIGHT ROSES
At The Right Roses, we support two important causes:
- ‘The Best Rose Experience’.
- ‘Together We Protect This Planet’.
The team at The Right Roses firmly believes that, with the support from all members, collectively we can make a big difference. Moreover, sharing your own experience and stories will be such an important way to enrich the resources for rose-lovers all over the world, including YOU.
This time, we would like to share with you a story of a visitor from Oregon, USA about his beloved rose ‘Jude The Obscure’. According to him, rose ‘Jude The Obscure’ is such a wonderful rose. Therefore, he does not totally agree with our review!
This is exactly what The Right Roses is about. There is no ‘right roses’ for every garden. It is very specific to each garden, e.g., the soil, climate, aspect, etc. By sharing your own rose experiences, you can enhance the rose experience of millions of gardeners worldwide. And, The Right Roses highly appreciate any contributions visitors can provide.
We hope that this story can be a source of inspiration to many gardeners. We highly appreciate Mr N’s contribution.
We look forward to many other stories around the world. Please send your rose experience to RightRosesCom@gmail.com.
‘MY FAVORITE ROSES’ SERIES | ROSE ‘JUDE THE OBSCURE’
Name of the Rose: Jude The Obscure
Breeder: David Austin 1995
Country: Oregon USA
Zone: 8
Number of hours of direct sunlight in the summer: 3 or 4 hours a day
Spray or not: Totally organic
How long have you planted this rose in your garden?: 10+ years
Hi. Would like to disagree strongly with some of your description of Jude the Obscure. First of all, it is very shade tolerant. When it was first introduced at Heirloom Roses here in Oregon, they had a whole bed of it in the shade for years. It did fine. Mine is in the shade most of the day and is vigorous.
Secondly I have not found it to be either a slow grower OR susceptible to disease. I have had mine for years and it booms up every summer, and almost never has any black spot.
My biggest problem is how to control the color. I love the yummy creamy yellow. Not fond of the flesh pink that it sometimes has, although in the right setting this could come across as subtle and rich, I suppose. The difference seems to be temperature, but never been sure.
It is six feet tall and covered in blooms. I just cut some the other day and they are doing fine. So I might also want to disagree with the idea that it is not a good cut flower.
I would note that the photo I sent is from this summer — in previous years that Jude had to deal with a third tree, even closer to it, that died and was removed. (Not to mention the shed about 6 feet away on the south side.) But even with three trees the Jude was happy. It can be a short climber, and it was vigorous enough when there were three trees to clamber around on the closest tree.
Two of the three trees shading it were Carpinus Japonica which have high vase-shaped canopies, not dense low shade. The third one, visible in the picture is an immense maple that shades it from about mid-afternoon on.
My Jude is own-root (as are all my roses). Don’t know if that might make a difference.
Photo credit: Mr N
I am in the uk. I have Jude the Obscure in a pot and it isn’t happy. Doesn’t flower well at all. Given it a good feed recently so hoping it will improve. I saw it in Highgrove
but was in the ground there and the perfume and display was outstanding that was why I bought it. I have Champagne Moment which flowers well and so does windflower and have just bought Arthur Bell for the perfume and awaiting a flower to open very soon. All in pots.
Dear Jay, Thank you for sharing your rose experiences with us. We are very sorry to hear that Jude The Obscure is not doing extremely well for you. We hope it would do better for you soon with the recent extra feed. We are very interested in your Champagne Moment. Would you please share with us more details of the rose? We would like to create an article for you in the ‘My Favorite Roses’ Series. Please see our invitation below for me details. For instance, pot size, how many times do you feed it? What do you like most… Read more »
If you cannot put him in the ground he needs to have a pot at least 18″ deep with the compost kept moist at all times during the summer (if possible place the pot into a large bucket so the compost can become saturated). Feed & water & he will flower for you,
Jay, Thank you for sharing your success with this lovely rose. I will keep your good results in mind when friends ask for recommendations of a Rose to try in slight shade. It is fascinating to once again hear of the contrasting performance of what is objectively an excellent Rose. Very happy to know Jude the Obscure is doing well for you. Many years ago – just few years into my strong interest in roses, I was fortunate to meet a master Rosarian. In our walk through his astounding garden of literally thousands of healthy beautiful roses – I was… Read more »
Dear Louis,
Thank you for sharing with us your experience. And, we totally agree with you. Patience is such an important quality to build a great garden.
Millions of gardeners would be very grateful if you could have something else to share with us. For example, your must favorite rose.
Please look at our invitation below for more details.
https://rightroses.com/my-biggest-surprise-call-stories
Thank you.
Best regards,
The Right Roses
Good morning to you all. I have 2 Jude the obscure in my garden – if I can give my experience of this incredible rose, it is that he must be fed & well watered. Since taking extra time & effort with this rose this year he has come on a treat. I personally would not really say he was great as a cut flower (having said that even a few days in a vase is bliss, the scent is heavenly & this rose is so easy to cut as there are almost no thorns – which is a godsend… Read more »
Dear Michelle, Thank you so much for sharing with us your rose experience. Would you please quickly complete the following template to give everyone a better idea? Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you soon. Country: Your hardiness zone: Your aspect (e.g., South-facing garden): Number of hours of direct sunlight in the summer: Number of hours of direct sunlight in the winter: Spray or not: Name of the rose(s): It can be a David Austin rose or any other rose varieties. Breeder: any rose breeders How long have you planted this rose in your garden? (e.g., 2 years):… Read more »
Yes, with pleasure. I live in the South East of England & have a South/West facing rear garden & an east facing front garden. I have roses in both. I have 2 Jude the obscure shrub roses at about 5 years in the ground bought as 1 potted & 1 bare root. in my experience of growing roses the bare root ones seem to get established quicker than the potted, especially if they are a bit pot bound. Both these JTO roses established quickly. 1 rose has full summer sun all day & about 4 hrs in the winter due… Read more »
Dear Michelle, Thank you so much for sharing your rose experience of Jude The Obscure with us. He is truly one of the most popular David Austin roses. However, like many others, there are conflicting opinions of his performance. Your contributions are highly appreciated throughout the world. If you dont mind, we would like to make a post for your story in the ‘My Favorite Roses’ series. It would be great if you could share with us a few photos of your Jude The Obscure. If you are busy, it is fine and we totally understand it.… Read more »