It has been a long time coming, but someone has finally made a sensible pronouncement about roses. English garden writer, Charles Quest-Ritson, opines as follows in the December issue of Gardens Illustrated:
“The traditional wisdom is that you should spray your roses regularly with fungicides—and feed them and prune them and make as much work for yourself as possible. In fact roses are extremely easy to grow and thrive upon neglect.”
I have ignored the “traditional wisdom” for my entire gardening career, fertilizing my roses with neglect, while watching most of them grow strong and beautiful. Over the years, a few roses have taken it into their heads to decline and fade like fussy divas, but I refuse to feel guilty about them. Some probably arrived at my garden with rose virus, an all too-frequent malady in the horticultural world. Others were not right for the climate or the particular microclimate of my yard. Still others were simply unexceptional plants that I bought after being dazzled by bright blooms or enticing ad copy.
Quest-Ritson’s comment on “traditional wisdom” was part of an article on rose varieties that perform strongly until the very end of the growing season. I was pleased to note that he included one of my favorites, ‘Buff Beauty,’ in his list of the top fifteen late bloomers. I have been smitten with ‘Buff Beauty’ since I first laid eyes on it long ago and my infatuation has only deepened with long acquaintance.
‘Buff Beauty’ is a shrub rose, introduced in England in 1939, as the winds of war blew through Europe. It is classified as a hybrid musk, a type developed by an Anglican clergyman, Joseph Pemberton, from the late eighteen eighties until his death in 1926. A prolific hybridizer, Pemberton aimed to produce hardy, free-flowering roses with good fragrance and a reblooming habit. His roses, with their long, arching canes and romantic clusters of softly colored blooms, recalled antique varieties. Pemberton’s goal of combining the best of old and new reminds me of the aims of modern-day English breeder, David Austin, whose “new English roses” have been successful worldwide. I believe that Austin may even have used some of the hybrid musks in his breeding program. Thanks to specialist nurseries modern rose enthusiasts can acquire as many Pemberton and Austin roses as their gardens can hold.
“Buff” sounds strange on this side of the Atlantic and may make you think of either body building or an uninteresting shade of beige. Fortunately the “buff” in this rose has nothing to do with beige and everything to do with mellow sunny tones. “Buff Beauty’s’ apricot buds open into yellow flowers that glow golden at the centers. The blooms fade with age, like those of many hybrid musks, and the petals are nearly cream-colored by the time they drop. As Quest-Ritson points out in his article, the flowers’ color intensity deepens as fall sets in. ‘Buff Beauty’ also has a pronounced old rose fragrance, another characteristic of the Pemberton varieties. Though the scent is not as potent as that of its sister hybrid musk, the pink-flowered ‘Felicia,’ it is strong enough to tickle your nose at a distance of several feet.
My first requirement in garden roses is beauty, followed by hardiness and fragrance. Roses with a history speak to me and though the historical voice is inaudible to most garden visitors, I think it resonates subconsciously. ‘Buff Beauty’ has a history that goes back hundreds of years to China, pausing in early nineteenth century South Carolina, before proceeding to France and finally England. Its family tree features the beautiful and exceptionally hardy ‘Reve D’Or,’ introduced in eighteen sixty-nine, a vigorous climber with similar golden apricot buds and clustered flowers. Joseph Pemberton was long dead by the time ’Buff Beauty’ was introduced, but Pemberton’s gardener, J.A. Bentall, carried on his work and launched new hybrid musks from his nursery.
‘Buff Beauty’ is a souvenir of nineteen thirty-nine, a watershed year in many ways. Hitler swept across Europe, Kate Smith first recorded “God Bless America” and Hollywood produced both “Gone With the Wind” and “The Wizard of Oz.” In the world of roses, Bentall brought out ‘Buff Beauty,’ while French breeder Francis Meilland prepared to introduce a large-flowered, pinkish-yellow rose, named after his mother. The introduction was pre-empted by the fall of France, but the seedling rose bushes were spirited out of the country to the U.S., Italy and Germany. When Meilland’s rose was finally introduced in 1945, it had been rechristened ‘Peace’ and swiftly achieved worldwide acclaim.
‘Peace’ became the epitome of rose beauty in the post-World War II era. It was my rose-loving father’s favorite. I like it, but I find ‘Buff Beauty’ easier to live with. It ignores neglect with a great deal more equanimity than ‘Peace’ and never seems to get black spot, the bête noir of all yellow roses. ‘Buff Beauty’ has gone on now for three quarters of a century, exuding quiet radiance wherever it is planted. I expect that in one hundred years, rose lovers will still seek it out.