Hi, I love the Buck roses. They are so easy to care for and really great blooming machines.

For the apricot, Winter Sunset is a blooming machine, some fragrance, only draw back with Winter Sunset is the blooms fade. Folksinger is another nice one in this color range and doesn't fade as much.

Paloma Blanca is the best white rose I have ever grown. The blooms do not spoil from rain or spot up. Strong blooming and no disease with dark green foliage that really sets the blooms off. I think everyone should grow this rose. My Mother doesn't like white roses at all. But she has two of Paloma Blanca.

Prairie Harvest is light yellow with a touch of pink. This one blooms all season and never stops. Good fragrance and excellent disease resistance. This one gets rather tall but can be pruned back without any problem anytime during the season.

Have fun choosing your new roses.
Donny

You might take a drive to Arbor Gate to check out their Bucks. I was there 2 weeks ago and they have a large selection this year and they are big and healthy!
Molly

In my no spray garden, in north Alabama, I'd echo the things Donny said. Winter Sunset is a constant bloomer with very little bs. Prairie Harvest is a beautiful yellow with a little pink. I like April Moon also, a pale yellow.

The most fragrant one I have is Silver shadows, but it's pretty young so I'm not as sure about how much it blooms. It's been pretty healthy, though, so far. I like Buck roses too. I don't have Paloma Blanco yet but it's one I'd like to get as I've heard others talk about what a good rose it is. Here's Prairie Harvest.

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Another ditto for Donny, who knows a lot about Bucks. I'd also mention Prairie Sunrise, which has a superb large apricot flower. It doesn't grow and bloom as vigorously as the others.

Prairie Harvest is my second-best Buck after Earth Song. Dense, dark, disease-resistant foliage and lots of quality flowers.

Austin's Blythe Spirit is disease-resistant and light yellow. However, it does not have big double blooms, if that is what you are looking for. Don't remember if it is fragrant or not.

Kate

I see a lot of votes for Prairie Harvest, which is comforting because I have three on order this year--good to know! I happen to like Tamora as a fragrant pinky-apricot Austin, she did very well for me last year--quick to repeat, upright growth, a little BS but not too terrible, I didn't spray her and she recovered just fine. I really like her fragrance, though I've read that some people aren't crazy about it. I've also had Abraham Darby, and while I didn't care for its growth habit, the apricot flowers were absolutely gorgeous and so fragrant, and he was fairly healthy and quick to bloom in the spring--I may even try him again, I miss him so much.

We are very hot and humid in this area, and I'm sorry to say cannot grow the beautiful David Austins. Too much blackspot. The only DA we grow is Tamora. The whites in my no-spray garden are J&P's Wild Spice, a rugosa shrub, & Darlow's Enigma (a found HM). Polyanthas --Little White Pet & Marie Pavie don't do too badly for us either. Seafoam is also fairly healthy but has evil evil evil thorns. I should grow it as a climber but I don't own a set of armor!

Carding Mill is an apricot Austin that never stopped blooming, even in the hottest weather, and makes a nice shrub. This is the best-blooming Austin I've ever grown. No disease, but I don't really have any disease where I live. I have Glamis Castle and it's totally clean.

How about the Buck rose Gentle Persuasion? It is a yellow blend. I babysat 2 of them that Ashdown Roses donated for a district rose society fundraising auction and they lived for 4 weeks in my cold frame in very cold weather and never skipped a beat and doubled in size.

Liz

Here is a link that might be useful: Gentle Persuasion

The Bucks we got from Donny all did well and took off after the first year. They're some of the most reliable bloomers we have.

Paloma Blanca is the best white in my garden, period, point blank of all the roses I have ever grown. It seems that those little spring buggars don't like Paloma Blanca for some reason so you don't end up with a speckled bloom. It is a great rose, no black spot, no anthracnose, no aphids, etc.

I'm in a different climate than you are, but I adore the Austins. They're disease resistant even here in black spot central, deliciously fragrant, and very vigorous growers even in my challening garden conditions. Some of the strongest yellow types I have are Queen Nefertiti, Crocus Rose, and Jude the Obscure. Nefertiti seems to like the heat a little better than the others, but all those did well through the hottest most humid part of our hell-hot summer.

I also have Graham Thomas and Golden Celebration, but they haven't shown themselves to be nearly as heat happy as the others. Despite some of the rave reviews I've read on websites about those two, I found them both disappointing in comparison.

Abraham Darby is probably a no fail option anywhere...a true Timex of a rose here. But it can lean toward the pink side of apricot depending on weather. Yet if you could tolerate another truly unique pink...try Mortimer Sackler. Great unusual flower shape and a dream of a work horse rose. My personal favorite.

Good luck with the garden fairies with whatever you choose. Just get the one that "speaks" to your heart the most. That's always the best place to start. :)

I agree with Loratw, get the ones that speak to you. From your post, you sound like you really would rather have OGRs.

I would guess that Houston has a climate of extreme humidity and lots of heat. Though so beautiful, Austins probably would suffer there. I know they dislike my North Texas climate. I have had some luck with Heritage, gorgeous in the spring, and sulky the rest of the year. Queen Nefertiti has been in the ground for 2 years and is still about a foot tall. Dies back some every winter, hates the heat of the summer. Maybe I just have a bad clone. But she does have some of the most beautiful fragrant blooms, quite mutable with the temperature.

Likely any Buck you pick is gonna be great there, though I haven't found them to be particularly fragrant, maybe it is just me. I have been really impressed with Quietness, old fashioned bloom on a modern looking bush. But it leans more toward the pinkish-apricot.

Again, go with your heart in making your choices.

Hey Lora, you might try doubling the amount of water you give Golden Celebration (DNK about Graham Thomas)--that's a tip Jeri gave me which makes it rebloom like mad. (That said, it's still on the SP list due to BS issues.) YMMV. I echo Abraham Darby, which was a disappointment in Texas; poor health, poor growth, even the color was a letdown. I'm putting Paloma Blanca on my wish list. There's something about a white rose...

Dear all,

Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts and experiences with Buck & Austin.

Indeed, I love OGR much better compare to Buck and Austin because of their toughness. I work full time and going to a collage, and I still like to enjoy gardening and beautiful & fragrant blooms. I rather have tough-cookie plants that I don't have to cuddle, at least this time of my life.

Last weekend, I went to the plant sale at Mercer Arboretum, then visited Arbor Gate. Ohh the beauty of Molineux... If I could though, that I would love to grow Austin for the bloom & fragrance.

As many suggested, I will check more about Prairie Harvest and Gentle Persuasion. Also Golden Unicorn and Gee Whiz because I like those names. BTW I purchased Prairie Sunrise and she decided die on me. The fragrance of PS was wonderful and I wish she stayin in my yard.

Rosy regards,

Where do you folks get this Paloma Blanca rose from and can someone please post some pictures of it. It sounds like something I am looking for!

Just got a paloma blanca from heirloom roses. It's only available at certain times of the year but they ship anywhere in the US I think. The website is:

http://www.heirloomroses.com/

also I found a picture on the buck roses website:

http://www.ag.iastate.edu/centers/cad/roselinks.html

hope this helps.