They were bred more-or-less in and for your climate, cold and heat. Chamblee's, in Tyler TX has a good selection.

You might want to take a look at Dr. Roush's blog "Garden Musings" about gardening in the Kansas Flint Hills. He has written quite a bit about his experience with Buck roses on his blog. I'm not exactly sure how his climate compares to yours, but I am guessing that his would be similar, but a bit colder in winter. If you look under his category heading, he has written 34 posts about Griffith Buck roses.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Musings blog

Thank you - I appreciate the info.

The Antique Rose Emporium sells Earth Song and Carefree Beauty. There was a time when Carefree Beauty was better known as the found rose Katy Road Pink in Texas. Carefree Beauty is an Earthkind rose, so you can depend upon it being heat tolerant. Here is what is said about it on the Earthkind Roses website:
"One of the best of the carefree shrub roses developed by Dr. Griffith Buck at Iowa State University to withstand the cold and long winters of the Midwest, Carefree Beauty has also proven to be an excellent choice for gardens in Texas that are challenged by hot, dry summers. Carefree Beauty was named 2006 âÂÂEarth-Kindî Rose of the Yearâ by the Texas AgriLife Extension Service and is also recommended by the University of Minnesota. Introduced in 1977, this rose was known in Texas for several years as âÂÂKaty Road Pinkâ after it was âÂÂfoundâ on Katy Road in Houston. It fast and furiously produces successive flushes of deep rich pink blossoms from spring until frost. The flowers open flat with a few irregular, loose petals at the center and an occasional white stripe running through them. Large orange hips are produced from nearly every flower. The rich color of the shrub makes it a natural choice for uses in groupings of 3 to 5 plants in locations to which you want the viewerâÂÂs eye to be drawn."

It does so well in Texas, that the Antique Rose Emporium has used it repeatedly in their breeding program. Griffith Buck also used it to breed more of his roses. It has also been used for breeding by Ray Ponton, who lives in Texas and M.S. Viraraghavan in India. If you have a premium membership at HMFRoses, you can look at the long list of descendents for Carefree Beauty. My guess is that many of the roses bred from it would also be heat tolerant.

Here is a link that might be useful: Carefree Beauty at Antique Rose Emporium

I did add Katie Girl (a seedling of Carefree Beauty) and April Moon to my garden this fall, having heard that they both did well in Texas. It is still too soon to say how these will do for me. My understanding is that Katy Girl tends to be covered in huge flushes with a rest in between, while Carefree Beauty doesn't have the huge flushes, but is almost never without a flower.

I almost forgot that I also have Mountain Music. Mountain Music has stayed pretty short for me in the two years I've had it. It has not produced huge amounts of flowers yet, but its flowers tend to last a pretty long time on the bush. It is not as black spot resistant as most of my other roses. Mine also is not planted in the best spot, so perhaps it would do better in a more favorable position.

My two best Buck roses are Quietness and Winter Sunset. Both do very well here and bloom a great deal. I also have Iobelle, Rural Rhythm and Country Music. While each has it's moments none of them are as good as Quietness and Winter Sunset for me.

I agree with Seil. I also love Barn Dance, Honeysweet [a beautiful, unusual color], American Legacy, Aunt Honey, Bright Melody [red, strong grower], Cinderella's Song, Distant Drums [unusual color!], Country Dancer, Dawn Star, Dorcas [HT form, strong bush, blooms lots], Earth Song, Frontier Twirl, Griff's Red, Habanera, Hi Neighbor, Prairie Breeze [first rose to bloom in spring], Wanderin Wind, Wild Ginger - and more! I love the Buck roses - they do well for me and are quite tough. Chamblees has a good selection as does Roses Unlimited.
Judith

Thanks Plantloverkat, - Carefree Beauty sounds like a great rose. Thank you Seil and Alameda. I plan to try just a few, it's not going to be easy to decide. I had already given Quietness, Aunt Honey, Distant Drums and Earth Song serious consideration.

Earth Song, Quietness and Country Dancer, Have been very good in my garden in Michigan 6-b, Highly recommend Earth Song, Just keep blooming.

Distant Drum grows wonderfully here, as does Golden Unicorn. Both have good resistance to Black Spot.

I have three Carefree Beauty roses. They are great roses.
I also have many others, but you need to be careful since many of the Buck roses can get diseases in Oklahoma. I love Quietness. Country Dancer and Simon Estes tend to be on the small side. They look alike, and probably are almost the same.

Prairie Breeze is one of my favorites. I also like Prairie Harvest, April Moon, Pearlie Mae and Folksinger.

Earth Song is not standing the test of time for me.

I like Square Dancer also.
Those I pulled because they needed spray were: Distant Drums, Prairie Star, Honey Sweet, Frontier Twirl , and probably a few more.

I have wondered why the quality of the Buck roses does not seem consistent. I wonder if many were propogated when he was older, or after his death. I know that quite a few roses were from seedlings the family found after he died.

He really changed the rose industry for the good, and was a great rosarian.

Sammy

I also have Distant Drums and Golden Unicorn. They are very different roses but both do well for me. I also have Prairie Sunrise and Freckle Face. Freckle Face is quite a survivor since it's in a little more shade than it should be. Buck roses aren't all the same. There's something for every occasion. Golden Unicorn, for example, is a heavy bloomer for me. It blooms in flushes. However its blooms don't last long. It's healthy for me, rarely showing blackspot and handles weather extremes well. It's much bigger than the 2-3 ft. it supposedly gets. For me, it's a great landscape rose. Prairie Sunrise is the prettiest little rose and has stayed short (2 ft.). It would be at home in any garden and its blooms are so pretty, longer lasting than Golden Unicorn, both on the shrub and in the house. This is one of my favorites. Both these roses seem to like the heat but Golden Unicorn puts on its most extravagant show in the fall here. If I had some to sell, I'd do a pretty good business. Both these roses are fragrant. The deer have eaten Distant Drums down quite a bit but I get the feeling that it likes to grow higher than wide. Maybe that's a good thing, given how hard it was hit this year. It will be moved so maybe it will have a chance to grow a little this year. It doesn't seem to be as tough as some of my other Buck roses, maybe a little more apt to blackspot but still tougher than any hybrid tea, which I can't grow at all. The flowers are interesting and so fragrant.

Anyway, Buck roses aren't all the same, less so than the Austins, I'd say. Hope this helps a little.

I'm in zone 6A, just outside of Kansas City and chose to get 3 Buck roses as my first roses after much reading. Quietness came from Antique Rose Emporium in TX, and this will be it's 3rd spring at my house. It's a gorgeous rose, lots of blooms very pretty and long lasting. Healthy foliage, no blackspot at all this year. Distant Drums and Wild Ginger are a year younger and from Heirloom Roses. Both started out small but grew to a respectable size this year and bloomed a bit. Distant Drums is an awesome color and a pretty bloom, only a little blackspot. Wild Ginger barely bloomed and had quite a bit of blackspot (but still less than the miniature roses bought the same year). If it does the same this year I may replace it with Westerland, since my sister insists we need an orange rose.