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This Found rose, an older HT study named "Rustler's Gold," is a Pernetiana-type, that does not fade.
It opens fairly quickly, but doesn't fade.

Jeri

Oh Jeri, she's beautiful. Thanks.

I should say, too, that 'Sunsprite' doesn't fade. It opens even more quickly than "Rustler's Gold," but it doesn't fade. It drops the petals before it fades.

'Golden Celebration' fades, but not a LOT. It just gets softer yellow.

Then, there's fading and fading. 'Jeri Jennings' blooms open one-after-another in a cluster, to give a multi-shaded effect. So "fade" isn't always a bad thing.

(But I do detest the way most orange roses fade.)

Jeri

That's kinda funny, actually, because my Golden Wings is at the head of the class for fading -- fades a lot even in my relatively weak coastal sun. The ones I have that I know don't fade are all modern roses, however. But since you asked, they are St. Patrick, Midas Touch, Henry Fonda and Golden Holstein. Pretty much everything else in my garden that is yellow fades.

But Jeri is also right, some of them fade very attractively, incl. Jeri Jennings and Lilian Baylis.

Henry Fonda and Golden Holstein were the two which faded least here in the high heat and intense sun. All others fade rather quickly. Kim

HT Oregold (1975) was promoted at the time as the first strong yellow that didn't fade.

So, I've looked up/at all of the roses mentioned (on HMF), and they are all lovely. Thank you.

Re Golden Wings, Kathy, you are most certainly right that the flower is a faded yellow, but somehow I always thought that that pale yellow was the intended color. I like it that way. This HMF picture looks to me the way my GW tends to look and the way I like it, but I don't consider it "faded" because that's....just how it is. Now, if

Here is a link that might be useful: faded? yellow Golden WIngs

Oregold in a cool enough environment, remains acceptably yellow. Not in SoCal heat zones, though. Kim

I love the way Julia Child fades, so that there is a shrub with many different colors of butter yellow and cream at once. My Henry Fonda fades eventually, but to a nice bright yellow, not to a white. The petals stay on and stay crisp looking for such a long time, even after the flower is well past its prime. St. Patrick is another great yellow- it does not fade here at all and it lasts forever. I love yellow roses.
Renee

Within the time we had them before RRD struck (less than 2 years), our Julia Childs didn't fade a whole lot here in NC. They were always a shade of yellow, identifiably yellow, never merely yellowish or creamy white. In cool weather, that yellow was intense, like butter.

I have a picture that I took of Julia Child with an exceptionally early blooming Debutante (beautiful pink) camellia in November. Julia wasn't picked on the first day that she should have come in--but one or two days late, and then it took me a couple of days to get around to taking its picture in the vase. Anyway, it was a nice buttery yellow when I took the picture and the vase of the butter yellow Julia Child and the pink Debutante looked good for at least five days. It was noticeably more faded at the end of its time in the vase, but still looked like a yellow rose.

Rise 'N' Shine fades really badly and really quickly, at least in hot weather. (We haven't had it in cool weather yet.) That's in the landscape. But if you notice that a bunch have just opened, you can cut them and bring them inside for a flower arrangement. They stay pretty close to perfectly the same bright yellow once inside in the air conditioning and they make nice little miniature additions to an arrangement.

To the extent that we've seen Ghislaine de Feligonde blooming (not much), it fades quickly but is still attractive as a creamy small rose.

Best wishes,
Mary

"What is it about yellow that makes it fade out?

The article linked below, "Inheritance of yellow flower color in Roses" by Karl King has an interesting suggestion. The yellow color in roses is due to carotene or carotene-like pigments. Some roses possess the genes to oxidatively degrade carotenoid pigments into scents. Such roses will have no, or short-lived, yellow color in the blossoms. Other roses derive their scent from non-carotenoid precursors and if such roses possess the genes for carotenoid pigments, their yellow color will be non-fading.

Here is a link that might be useful: Inheritance of Yellow Color in Roses

Oh Mike, thank you. Although the information about and pictures of yellow roses that do and do not fade, my real interest was in the why and how, and this kind of information is just what I was looking for. I haven't read it yet, but your blurb indicates that there is probably also a link between the intensity and/or the duration of the scent and the fade factor....

Good....more to read.

You also have 'stained' and 'unstained' yellows as Ralph Moore called them. You can often tell whether the yellow rose will express other pigments by whether there are red pigments in the other plant parts. You have unstained yellows where every part of the flower and plant are yellow and green, no red pigments showing. These, when crossed with mauves, will produce "clean" mauves, those which don't stain red.

Yellows where any part of the flower and plant express red, even in the new growth, have a greater potential for "staining" the flower when used for breeding. He advised to stabilize purple, cross it with an unstained, unfading yellow. If you want to create a stained purple (Angel Face, Paradise, Barbra Streisand), use a stained yellow. Roses such as Joseph's Coat, Jacob's Robe and any others which change from yellow to orange and red are heavily "stained" and can easily transmit that trait to other colored seedlings. Kim

Graham Thomas and Julia Child probably fade the least of my yellows. Golden Celebration gets creamy and Golden Wings can go almost white. The yellow mini Rise n Shine holds it's color well too. I got rid of my Sunsprite because the blooms blew so fast but they did hold their color pretty well. Sunny Delight fades some but it's such a skimpy bloomer! One that had great staying power but I lost twice to winter was Always Love You. And I loved the form on it! But seems it just isn't for cold weather.

My husband loves yellow roses. I grew Sunsprite for three reasons - to please him, and for its lack of fading and sweet scent. Unfortunately, its petals are very thin and the flowers collapse quickly after they are cut. It also is a hard shade of yellow on a very modern Floribunda shrub, and I gave my plants to a school when I changed my garden to mostly heritage roses. I also had Casino, a nice lemon-colored climber with old-fashioned flat, very double flowers - the only problem was huge prickles (Sam McGredy's Large Flowered Climbers often have that) and a propensity to bloom 12 ft up in the air. I took it out. The only yellows I have today are Graham Thomas, Lady Hillingdon, Etoile de Lyon and Jeri Jennings, all of whom fade, and not one of which is that clear, bright yellow that my husband prefers. Maybe it's time to grow Sunsprite again.
Anita

I planted Graham Thomas this spring and my roses fade to cream color almost white. So disappointed cuz I love yellow against my grey is white exterior.
Ev