Gertrude Jekyll is one of David Austin's best-known English roses, introduced in 1986. It's aptly named for the garden designer and writer who shaped the English cottage-garden style. It's grown above all for its fragrance, a strong, perfectly balanced Old Rose scent often described as the classic old rose perfume. Tightly scrolled buds open to large, very full rosettes about 10 cm across, in rich glowing pink with paler edges. It's one of the first English roses to bloom each season and repeats into fall. You can grow it either way. As a shrub, it's upright and vigorous at about 1.2–1.5 m. Trained as a climber, it reaches 2.5–3 m on a wall, fence or obelisk. The stems are very thorny, so wear good gloves when pruning or cutting. Most growers find the fragrance more than makes up for it. Plant it by a door, path or seating area where you'll catch the scent every day.

A strongly fragrant English rose, as a shrub or a climber, and worth the thorns.