The wait is over to see Rosa Sir David Beckham (='Ausa34b16'), a brand-new English shrub rose from David Austin Roses. The new cultivar was commissioned by Sir David's daughter Harper to mark his 50th birthday, and first announced back in October 2025.
This week, the rose was officially unveiled at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, where Sir David Beckham showed it to His Majesty King Charles III. The rose is also available to buy, with prices starting at £27.50 for bare root plants. From each sale, £2.50 will go to The King's Foundation, for which Sir David is an ambassador.
The new cultivar has luminous white blooms tinged with a soft blush and a complex fragrance with notes of banana, honeyed musk and hints of nougat, clove and myrrh.
The rose has semi-double flowers in a gentle cup shape, which open to reveal a starburst of golden stamens inside.
Reflecting Sir David's interest in beekeeping, the rose is a favourite among bees.
Other celebrity plants launched at RHS Chelsea Flower Show
Nigel Slater's Sweet Pea ‘Fruit Fool’
Food writer – and Gardens Illustrated columnist – Nigel Slater has named his very own sweet pea, also set to unveiled at RHS Chelsea Flower Show this week. Specialist grower and breeder English Sweet Peas has dedicated this new variety to Nigel, who has called it 'Fruit Fool'.
It is the first of its type – a modern grandiflora with cerise, pink flakes on a white ground. It has already won an Award of Merit in the National Sweet Pea Society trials at West Dean in Sussex.
"I love to grow sweet peas, and this variety is quite the most perfect with its sublime pink blush," Nigel said. "I chose the name because one my happiest moments in the kitchen is in summer, when I make fruit fools - strawberry, raspberry and blackcurrant. I love the moment when I stir the crushed berries into the whipped cream, and the pink fruit marbles through the white cream. That fleeting taste of high summer is captured in a bowl."
Visitors can order 'Fruit Fool' seeds at the show, and 10% of proceeds are donated to Nigel's chosen charity, the RSPCA.
Rosa EMMA BRIDGEWATER™
This pink English shrub rose, named for Emma Bridgewater, was launched at RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2024. Its medium-sized blooms offer a kaleidoscope of colours, at first pink with a yellow eye, then brighter coral-pink tones softening to mauve and lilac.
As well as a delicate fragrance, this rose has matte petals and leaves, and it is repeat flowering. It is also disease-, pest- and weather-resistant.
The King's Rose
One of the most anticipated plant launches at RHS Chelsea last year was The King's Rose. It was the first time breeder David Austin Roses had bred a bicolour rose and was therefore completely unique in the David Austin list. The rose was carefully nurtured by His Majesty's team of gardeners in pots at his private gardens at Highgrove for three years before it was officially unveiled.
Carl Bennett, head of breeding at David Austin explained: "It may be Marmite: but many people love striped roses. This one is a wonderful shrub. It's very healthy and disease resistant."
The rose produces masses of semi-double papery petals which have stripes in shades of fuchsia pink and white. It has a light-medium musk fragrance with hints of fresh apple and rosewater and cloves, reaches 90cm to 1.2m tall and produces at least 20 buds per stem. It has a vase-shaped growth habit and heart-shaped leaves, and the vibrant yellow stamens are attractive to pollinators.
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