English rose gallery: Rosa ‘A Shropshire Lad’

 

 

As you can see, I am drawn to this David Austin rose and photograph it over and over in search of an elusive ‘something’ I can never quite capture.

Perhaps it’s because so many of these ‘A Shropshire Lad’ blooms are just a few tantalising hours or days away from their fully open forms.

Often the soft, peachy-apricot shades predominate, other times a pink tint seems very evident.

I do like all these attempts, and wanted to share them, but mad as it might seem, I’ll keep on trying to capture exactly what I think of when I imagine this full-petalled, beautifully scented English rose.

If you’re surprised by the variety of colour and form in this gallery of a single shrub rose, you might like to read my follow-up post on the challenges of identifying plants.