Mature size & growth rate

How big does The Pilgrim Rose (Rosa 'The Pilgrim') get?

Also called The Pilgrim, Auswalker.

More about the pilgrim rose

About The Pilgrim Rose

Rosa 'The Pilgrim' · also called The Pilgrim, Auswalker · flowering

The Pilgrim (Auswalker) is a David Austin English rose grown as a shrub or climber. Soft lemon-yellow, many-petalled flowers open flat into neat rosettes, fading paler at the rim, with a balanced tea-and-myrrh fragrance. Vigorous and healthy, it repeat-flowers all season and trains well to around 3m on walls, arches and pillars, or stays bushy as a shrub.

Mature size: About 1.2m as a shrub; up to 3m (10ft) tall and 2m wide trained as a climber.

Watch for — Poor flowering low on climbers: Upright canes bloom mainly at the top. Train main stems horizontally along wires to encourage flowering side-shoots lower down.

Indoor size vs how big it gets in the wild

The Pilgrim Rose is a garden shrub whose final size is set more by your secateurs than by the plant — pruning, not luck, decides how big it gets. Indoors and in a pot, expect about 1.2m as a shrub. In the ground with no restriction it is a completely different plant — up to 3m (10ft) tall and 2m wide trained as a climber. — which is why the pot, the light and the pruning matter so much for the size you actually end up with.

Left unpruned it builds a woody framework that gets taller and wider every year; with annual pruning you hold it at whatever size suits the space.

Growth rate and years to mature

The Pilgrim Rose is a fast grower. Realistically, expect two to four years from a young plant to a room-filling specimen in good light. Its feeding profile backs this up: feed with a balanced rose fertiliser in early spring and again after the first flush. mulch with rotted manure or compost in spring. stop feeding by late summer so new growth firms up before frost.

Want this turned into the right next pot at the right moment? The pot size calculator and the the pilgrim rose repotting guide cover when and how much to size up — pot size is one of the biggest levers on how fast the pilgrim rose grows.

How to keep the pilgrim rose smaller

You are not stuck with the maximum size. For the pilgrim rose specifically, these are the levers, in order of impact:

Prune the pilgrim rose annually at the right time for its type — this is the primary, expected way to control its size.
Remove the oldest, thickest stems at the base each year to keep it open and within bounds.
Growing it in a large container rather than open ground naturally restricts the ultimate size.
Avoid heavy feeding if you want to limit growth — rich soil and lots of nitrogen drive bigger, faster shrubs.

The keep-it-smaller method, step by step

Prune at the right time. Time the cut to the pilgrim rose's type (after flowering for many spring shrubs, late winter for summer-flowering ones) so you do not lose the next display.
Take out the oldest stems. Remove up to a third of the oldest, thickest stems at the base to renew the shrub and contain it.
Shorten the rest. Cut the remaining stems back to an outward-facing bud at the height and width you want.
Restrict the roots. For a permanent size cap, grow it in a large container rather than open ground.

How to grow the pilgrim rose bigger or faster

If you want it to fill the space sooner, push the conditions rather than hoping — for the pilgrim rose the accelerators are:

Plant it in open ground in good soil — far more vigorous than a container-restricted plant.
Full sun (which it wants) plus an annual mulch and feed gives the strongest growth.
Water well through the first establishment years; a settled root system drives the fastest size gain.

Light is almost always the ceiling. The the pilgrim rose light requirements page covers exactly how bright a spot it needs to grow at its potential instead of stalling.

When the pilgrim rose outgrows the room (or the pot)

"Too big" usually arrives as one of these signs for the pilgrim rose:

It shades or crowds neighbouring plants, or blocks a path it used to clear.
Bare, woody, unproductive centres with growth only on the outside — a sign it needs renovation pruning.
It has clearly exceeded the space you allotted and an annual trim no longer holds it.

If it is the pot rather than the room, it is a repotting job, not a goodbye — see the the pilgrim rose repotting guide. If you want more of this plant instead of a bigger one, the the pilgrim rose propagation guide turns prunings into new plants.

The Pilgrim Rose size — frequently asked questions

How big does the pilgrim rose get?

The Pilgrim Rose reaches about 1.2m as a shrub when grown indoors, and far larger where it grows unrestricted (up to 3m (10ft) tall and 2m wide trained as a climber.). Left unpruned it builds a woody framework that gets taller and wider every year; with annual pruning you hold it at whatever size suits the space.

Is the pilgrim rose slow or fast growing?

The Pilgrim Rose is a fast grower. Expect two to four years from a young plant to a room-filling specimen in good light. The Pilgrim Rose is a garden shrub whose final size is set more by your secateurs than by the plant — pruning, not luck, decides how big it gets.

How long does the pilgrim rose take to reach full size?

Roughly two to four years from a young plant to a room-filling specimen in good light. Light, pot size and feeding move that timeline more than anything else.

How do I keep the pilgrim rose smaller?

Prune the pilgrim rose annually at the right time for its type — this is the primary, expected way to control its size. Remove the oldest, thickest stems at the base each year to keep it open and within bounds. Growing it in a large container rather than open ground naturally restricts the ultimate size. Avoid heavy feeding if you want to limit growth — rich soil and lots of nitrogen drive bigger, faster shrubs.

How can I make the pilgrim rose grow bigger or faster?

Plant it in open ground in good soil — far more vigorous than a container-restricted plant. Full sun (which it wants) plus an annual mulch and feed gives the strongest growth. Water well through the first establishment years; a settled root system drives the fastest size gain.