Michael,
Sorry, I cannot comment on BS, but all are beautiful. Honey Sweet is one of my favorite Bucks because of the scent, and color. HS is about 3 feet high, Freckles about 4.5 and September Song about 3.5. All bloom very consistently and do not fade like Winter Sunset. Another you might want to look at is Elias. Tons of blooms, large, spreding plant, and it dark pink with white undersides. Also, Hermina is a huge plant that has a lighter pink with white underside. Again, I spray religiously, so as to BS I cannot comment.

I cut the most beautiful Honey Sweet bloom today for my wife from a blackspot free bush. I haven't sprayed any fungicide this year, but my roses do get overhead
watered daily.

Honey Sweet beautiful colors and a heavy bloomer in this area. A little blackspot on the lowest leaves (I haven't sprayed at all this year). But consider my zone, it may not be the same for you.

Michael,
I'm over in the eastern part of NC. 40 miles east of Raleigh now. Honeysweet, I've been growing for about 8 years is very prone to BS. Strong bloomer, beautiful blooms with a sweet fragrance. Freckles, I have been growing for the same length of time is not prone to disease at all. Long straight stems with ht form, blooms in singles and sometimes sets of three. I have enjoyed both roses.
Donny

Out here on the East I would pass. Freckles gets to be about 4-5 feet, blooms sparingly, and defoliates from BS. No resistance I can see. Honeysweet is not much better. I finally got rid of Freckles. Gave a cutting to my neighbor around the same time I planted mine. It's mostly full of BS and had a couple of blooms this year. She never sprays, I sprayed it intermittently.

There are MUCH better Buck roses for the East Coast. Serendipity gets BS too, although not nearly to the same degree. Grows up to 7 feet, maybe more if I don't cut it, but blooms a lot. It's actually a prettier color too IMO - more of a pale salmon/peachy pink on very loose blooms. Very delicate looking and the stamens are dark, which is nice. Covered with blooms in the spring, intermittently during the summer, and right now again. A fantastic bloomer and nicely fragrant. Far superior rose if you have the space.

For something smaller, try Dorcas. Very similar blooms to Freckles but they have a yellow interior to them. Smaller - only gets to be about 4 feet, and is much more BS resistant but succumbs by the end of the summer.

The most resistant Buck I have, and one of the most beautiful, is Prairie Sunrise. Apricot blooms, very full in the style of Austins, and very BS resistant here. I don't like Austins because I don't want to spray but that rose is fine without spraying. Not as bountiful as Serendipity and a bit smaller and more compact as a plant, but really gorgeous.

Prairie Harvest is also quite resistant but it isn't in the pink vein.

Looks like Honey Sweet is out for BS problems. I spray but my program can't handle highly susceptible roses. My disease pressure is similar to Mid-Atlantic.

Anyone have Wild Ginger? I wanted to add one strong colored rose that isn't ordinary pink.

Thanks, everybody, for the comments so far. I have Prairie Sunrise, Prairie Harvest, and several others that are commonly mentioned on the board. It's the first I had heard about Dorcas.

Again, I have Wild Ginger, love the color, but I spray. I cannot imagine your BS would be that much worse than we get here, and I am pretty confident we are using the same spray program.

By the way, Dorcas in one I do have trouble with BS even though I spray. That and Habanera are my worse Bucks for BS.

That thing about different races of blackspot in different gardens probably accounts for the different experiences with Dorcas and Freckles.

MGleason (or anyone), do you find Wild Ginger to be a free bloomer?

I'm in eastern NC. Around the Greensboro area. I have Freckles-2nd season. I spray some - that is the majority of my roses now are OGRs and shrubs roses with considerable disease resistance, so I spray once a month or less.

Freckles is a keeper in my garden - vigorous enough to compete with Pearly Gates and Peter Mayle as neighbors and very little BS. A bit on the lower part of the bush, never has defoliated or anything like that. Its not really in the best location (i.e., big neighbors to compete with and on the southwest side of the bed so it doesn't get as much sun as some) and has made a very good show from an ownroot baby no more than 6" tall. I love the blooms - I'm fond of the sort of hand painted look.

It is not a free bloomer like Dorcas, but more like a HT or GR.

My Honeysweet is not very healthy, it blooms well but is BS prone. I love the color but it may not stay in my garden.

Carla

My Honey Sweet is a strong bloomer but it really gets slammed by winter. It started this spring with one weak little cane and is now about 1.5 feet tall. Blooms look like an explosion in a lipstick factory. Not much fragrance. No disease here. If you want lots of pink blooms on a hardy, disease resistant bush, try Earthsong. Prairie Sunrise is nice but small. I don't spray or winter protect and I overhead water.