Let us not forget Folksinger, Carefree Beauty,Prairie Harvest and not a Buck, but a child, Thomas Affleck. All healthy so far-keeping my fingers crossed.

Saint Griffith deserves praise.

Barbara

Yes, and other hybridizers are starting to use those good genes. I have Meilland's Mother of Pearl, which has as grandparents Carefree Beauty and Paloma Blanca. It is a very beautiful rose.

Wow! You listed my 4 favorite Bucks! They are in full bloom right now and I wouldn't want to be without them - Quietness, Prairie Sunrise, Aunt Honey & Earth Song. I have other Bucks too, but these are my favorite. A new Buck I got last year - Joseph Lamb - is covered with velvety red blooms right now. I'm going to have to take some pictures. Bless Dr. Buck!

I agree !!!!!

My four Bucks get major blackspot!

Cats, what are they?

Michael, I just looked up Mother of Pearl. How lovely!

I bought Earth Song simply because I loved the name. I didn't even know who Griffith Buck was. From a tiny Heirloom band, ES became a powerful plant with beautiful blooms that just keep coming. The second picture is just one season after planting.

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POLONAISE is one of my favorite Bucks; ruffled red blooms with white streaks that last forever both on the bush and in the vase. It's a great rose for cutting and is very healthy.

Another plus...the JBs totally ignore this one.
-terry

I'm glad to hear others singing the praises of the Buck roses! We don't have to worry about winter dieback in my Texas zone 9 garden, but the heat is really tough on roses and Earth Song, Quietness, Barn Dance and Aunt Honey are fantastic! I think my Carefree Beauty is an imposter because it rarely blooms and is not a pretty shrub. I plan to replace it with another Buck.
Molly

Which Bucks are fragrant and hardy in zone 5a?

Predfern, according to Heirloom's Buck info, none of the Buck roses requires protection in Zone 5. I'm in Zone 4, and I haven't done any winter protecting.

You could check the Heirloom descriptions for fragrance, or check Chamblee's listings, or go to the Iowa State Buck Roses site.

Susan

alisande,
Which of your Buck roses are fragrant? Several of mine have died. This year Earthsong looks very sick after a cold winter. Prairie Star died and was not fragrant. The best Buck that I have is Quietness but alas the fragrance is very mild.

I sure wish that I could share in all your excitement over Buck roses. Alas, in my no spray, BS ridden, zone 7 garden, they are definitely not thriving. Perhaps in time they may do better, but, at this time (2-4 years on them), I'm less than happy. Here are some of the ones I remember of the top of my head...in no particular order:

Carefree Beauty
Distant Drums
Honeysweet
Polonaise
Earth Song
Country Dancer
Prairie Sunrise

Maybe these roses need to be sprayed? Maybe they prefer a cooler climate?

Robert

Robert, Distant Drums and Honeysweet met my shovel last year, as did Prairie Star and Prairie Sunset. However, quite a few others did just fine. Quietness is outstanding. Golden Unicorn is very pretty, but the bush seems to have gotten quite large, and the blooms are smaller.

Alisande and others - Winter hardy is one thing, but once the roses come out of dormancy, and have begun to really grow, does it matter what the source is when it comes to a May freeze? I don't think so, but am not an expert.

THat late freeze is one of my nightmares. After the freeze you think the roses are fine, then around the end of June, you see that near the base of the rose, the canes have an odd color, and by the following year they die. I hardly ever lose the plant, but do lose major canes, and consider that a plight of living in an area where the weather allows the sudden freeze.

I don't think it matters what the source is of the rose. I feel, but cannot prove it, but from what people say, I feel that the Noisettes can sustain the most damage. But even being a Buck, I don't know if it can defend itself against the freeze after the dormancy.

Is there evidence to prove that the Bucks are stronger after that sudden freeze?

Sammy

The year we had a bad May freeze, I honestly have no recollection of how the Buck roses did. At that time, I probably still had about half a dozen (I'm now down to two in the ground, and that isn't likely to change) It could simply be they had been such poor growers up to that point that it didn't matter what the freeze did. The HTs died off, and never came back even though I gave them a couple of years. The hardy roses just went 'What freeze?', as did practically everything else.

I think Folksinger is still my all time favorite Buck rose-

Trish

Trish, I'll probably give in to the temptation to get Folksinger . . . I was quite the folksinger in my youth! :-)

Sammy, all I can tell you about our May freeze, other than it was the first one I've experienced in over 30 years of gardening at this site, is that the Explorers were the only ones unaffected by it. The temperature went down into the 20s. The Bucks, the rugosas, the remaining Austins, the ones I can't classify (Crimson Sky and Strike it Rich, for example), all lost their buds and new growth. All have recovered, and are blooming (much later than usual). As I mentioned, my poor William Baffin looks awful, but I don't think that had anything to do with the freeze.

Robert, this is just a guess, but since the Bucks were bred for cold-hardiness, perhaps they do prefer a cooler climate.

Predfern, I just went out and did a sniff test. It was probably unwise of me to smell Abraham Darby first. At least I didn't start with Gertrude Jekyll, my gold standard for scent. I have to say my nose isn't the most sensitive these days. Quietness' scent was barely discernible. Aunt Honey was better, but not great. I would say Earth Song, Prairie Sunrise, and Carefree Beauty are fragrant.

What the Buck roses all have in common is being somewhat more winter-hardy than typical modern bush roses (HT and floribunda). That's about it. So, compared to modern bush roses, they have the advantage of being cane-hardy in zones 6-7 and less likely to freeze out in zones 4-5.

This does not mean they are unhappy in the heat, though some might be. Buck's Iowa has warm summers. Carefree Beauty was a found rose in Texas.

Buck roses are more likely than other modern bush roses to have blackspot resistance, but some have no resistance at all. Some that are resistant in many gardens are Earth Song, Carefree Beauty, Country Dancer, Paloma Blanca, September Song, Quietness, Prairie Harvest (CS), Winter Sunset (CS), Serendipity (CS). CS = susceptible to Cercospora spot.

Most are not fragrant. Winter Sunset is the most fragrant (to me) of the foregoing. Among those that I've seen, the Bucks with the most beautiful flowers are Prairie Sunrise, Quietness, and Distant Drums. The best overall for me is Earth Song.