Beautiful, thanks for sharing Kristi!

I just got Earthsong this year so can't really say to much yet...We do like its blooms though...

I have Earth Song in my z4 area and it survives & thrives very well here. The canes die back to the ground here usually but they grow back quickly in the spring. Produces lots of blooms & repeats well also. Seems to be resistant to BS but will get PM in my area. Carefree Beauty, Quitness, Polonaise & Prairie Harvest (for the fragrance) are 4 others I like. A small rose bush of his that I also like is Mountain Music, usually doesn't get more than 12-16" tall for me.

Earthsong and Folksinger are probably among my favorite Buck roses, but I probably have about 20 of them. I can't find a photo of Distant Drums, but the apricot/pink/buff color is hauntingly beautiful to me. Not all of them are as hardy as zone 4-5 - I've lost a few to winter kill - but they're good roses for my climate, being bred next door in Iowa. I'll post photos of some favorites with notes:

Country Dancer - mine is in part sun and doesn't bloom this much, but this photo is from Laurenzen Gardens up in Omaha and even with zero care and deadheading as far as I can see, she's doing quite well.

My EarthSong is reliably 5' by at least 4' wide, even in years like this where it dies to the ground. I love the color and fully double blooms, and it almost always has clean foliage for me. Here's just a portion of my bush - you can see it starting to level off with the climbers to the back of it.

Here's Folksinger in its prime, with Quadra and Eden climbing at the back. It is almost never without blooms, and varies from a creamy apricot to a darker amber/apricot in cooler weather.

Paloma Blanca is a lovely double white that handles the zone 4 regions of my yard just fine, as does Folksinger.

Pearlie Mae has lovely apricot blooms, though the open up to show stamens sooner than I'd like. I love that she's named for Minnie Pearl.

Cynthia

OK, I ran out of room to show more Buck roses in the previous posting. Here are some more - they really are treasures!

Prairie Princess gets very tall for me - at least 6' if I provide support, and it's fairly floppy, partly because it's in part sun. Still, the blooms cluster well and are lovely.

And how could I forget Prairie Sunrise - that would be also a top Buck favorite. It bushes and blooms a lovely light apricot, and laughs off the cold in my zone 4 pocket. Here she is with the same Folksinger and Quadra in the background.

Quietness is another that does well for me and many people. Mine doesn't bloom as often because it's in part shade, but the color and shape is lovely, and it's hardy for me.

Prairie Sunset is also lovely, and a brighter combination of colors than some of the other Bucks. The picture is blurry I'm afraid, but it captures the colors.

OK are you tempted yet? I'm sure other folks will have a lot of other great Buck rose suggestions.
Cynthia

Thank you all for the 'insight' and for the gorgeous pictures! I know they're not all created equal according to zone, vigor, height, performance.. but I'm more than tempted and I'm going to take the plunge. I'll begin with one Buck rose, but now the problem is which one? Lol!

If you are going to get one, the one should be Earth Song. I've grown a fair number of them, and most have been actually quite disappointing. The hardy ones aren't that blackspot resistant, and the resistant ones aren't hardy. Earth Song seems to be the exception.

Thanks, I think I'll go with Earth Song! Actually I did plant Distant Drums (I didn't realize that was a Buck) at my mother's home a few years ago. The color was unusual and really nice but not much vigor and it did black spot.

My favorite is Quietness. It's a large bushy, healthy plant that blooms all the time. It's also very hardy.

Nest favorite is Winter Sunset. Not as big a shrub but also healthy and hardy and blooms in good flushes through the seaason.

I also have Rural Rhythm and Country Music. They're much smaller plants and not as healthy but always hardy.

Thanks Seil, I always appreciate your advice, beautiful pictures!

DISTANT DRUMS, purchased from Home Depot --- (defoliated on me a couple days after these photos taken, but has leafed out nicely again and giving me blooms) --- not a cut rose, but wonderful spicy (myrrh?) smell that I just had to have in my collection.

I got Distant Drums for my mother, very nice but it's a bs magnet and defoliates in my area.

So that's a common thing then? Hmmm... I still enjoy it though :)

At least here in zone 6 NY, many people enjoy it and are intrigued by it though :)

I was going to plant Distant Drums once and actually even bought it but decided not to so I sent it out to Kansas to a friend. It Blackspots in Kansas for her...

That is my main objection to Buck roses. In concentrating on producing hardier roses, the breeder overlooked the need to produce more bs resistant roses. Otherwise, there are several Bucks other than Earth Song that I would like to try. However, the standing rule in my garden is that a rose must be beautiful AND display some bs resistance.

My apologies, Sam. I did not intentionally lie--nor do you need to accuse me of intentionally trying to mislead readers.

If as you say, Dr. Buck's goal was to develop disease resistant roses and he may have had a no spray program, the simple truth is that many of his roses are susceptible to BS. They do not stand out as bs resistant roses like, let's say, recent Kordes roses do. Perhaps the Buck roses don't lose their leaves--I wouldn't know since that is an issue I've never paid much attention to.

While I will take your word that Dr. Buck was primarily concerned with disease resistance (although I have always heard that he was looking for cold hardiness), I can only recommend Buck's Earth Song for beauty AND bs resistance. In fact, I have grown Earth Song for about 7-8 years in my garden. However, regions that have lots of bs pressures probably won't be pushing lots of Buck roses as exceptionally bs resistant, though I'm sure there might be some other Buck roses that have fairly good bs resistance.

Honest, Sam--I was not trying to insult the Buck program, so please calm down. No matter what you say, I do not rank Buck roses as a whole as high on the scale of bs resistance.

Kate

I'm sorry I'm confused, does that mean my plant should not have lost leaves? I assumed that it was just blackspot because almost all my plants succumbed to it (two weeks of rain every night it seemed).

I bought this plant from the store March/April 2015.

5/24/15 Distant Drums

5/31/15 Distant Drums

6/11/15 as long as it produces it's distinctive bloom and has a strong smell, I'll enjoy Distant Drums --- it has leafed out and has buds after just two weeks!

Thanks everyone for providing your thoughts and experiences. It has helped me become a more knowledgeable gardener.

I grow several Bucks roses in Florida zone 8b. I have a no spray rose garden and rain almost everyday along with heat and humidity is normal here. They have been in a year or less, and I have seen some BS but not an unacceptable amount and no defoliating . I got some of them from a lady who had been growing them for years here without a problem. I just had a garden tour and 'April Moon' was the biggest hit of the garden.

That's great to hear webuser!

But Buck roses can lose leaves to Blackspot like any other rose msdorkgirl...

But also waterlogged soil or transplant shock can cause leaves to drop...

We all have to remember our climates, soil, etc. etc. are all different...Our failures and successes are different...

I have Quietness and Folksinger. Quietness has very pretty blooms and a sweet, fresh scent but it has hardly grown in 5 years or more in my zone 6 central MA garden and seems very stingy with blooms. Folksinger has stellar performance. Last year I had to cut it to the ground due to winter damage. By June it was 4 feet tall and covered with buds. This year it had to be cut back again in late April because of cane breakage from the weight of the 5 feet of snow covering it til mid April, and is already 4 feet tall and covered with buds. The flowers are nicely formed, last a decent amount of time but, sadly, lack scent. The leaves are healthy until late in the season and it is a prolific bloomer. I would highly recommend it and would definitely grow it again. Both were bought from Heirloom as tiny bands several years ago. I had Earth Song and distant Drums, both were weak growers and Distant Drums blackspotted horribly. It seems that location is everything!

I know that you didn't mention Kordes or Easy Elegance but both of these have exceptional winter hardiness and little to no disease. Centennial, an Easy elegance rose, wintered over in a pot stuck in the ground and had no cane loss at all. All of their roses are own root and guaranteed for two years. I just purchased "Yellow Submarine", which is very pretty and has a light scent. "Sisters Fairytale", a Kordes Rose, died back to the ground but is recovering nicely and always covers herself in loads of flowers with zero disease in my no spray garden. You might want to give these two companies a try. I have "First Crush" from Kordes, bought new this year from Chamblee's. It's a beautiful shade of the softest pink, is already on it's second round of blooms since arriving in late April and smells heavenly. It is supposed to be very hardy so we'll see how it weathers another potentially brutal New England winter. If it does as well as my other Kordes it will definitely be a keeper.

Sharon

Sharon, thank you for your recommendations about Kordes, Iv'e heard good things about Kordes. In fact I'm pretty sure I purchased a minature Kordes, a lovely red. I forgot the name as it was quite a few years ago. I have ordered from Heirloom before, and now there's new ownership, they offer a choice of either band or gallon size roses. I just received mine today, The Magician from Heirloom, which is a stellar show stopper. I planted 2 of them in my mother's garden and I finally took the plunge to get one in my garden. I was happy with the larger size own root plant from Heirloom as well. I'll check further into the Kordes plants. In looking around further Folksinger seems to be a pretty apricot color and a rose with more of a hybrid tea shape form. As luck would have it Heirloom has a gallon size available! In retrospect I do have a short pink climber and a minature pretty pink Sweet Sunblaze, but no apricot! Nevertheless I think I might end up with Earth Song and Folksinger lol! Thanks again everyone for all of your kind and thoughtful responses!

I have also understood that Dr. Buck's goal was to grow roses that are winter hardy. Once I established a no spray garden, I have only been able to grow a few of the Buck roses. The few that I grow are not nearly as beautiful as those that I had to shovel prune. Quietness completely defoliates, and regrows the leaves. Dr. Buck's goal may have been to grow roses that did not require spray, but only a few can be grown without spray.

I can only speak about my roses in Tulsa, Ok.

Sammy

Dr. Buck's breeding goals changed over time. He started out trying to breed cane hardy, disease resistant roses and ended up with Applejack. While Applejack has a lot of good qualities, repeat bloom is not among its virtues, so the next iteration was crown-hardy, disease resistant roses. The last iteration was roses with interesting colors or patterns, with apparently no more care for growability than the major breeders had at the time. The result is, that IMHO, the roses have to be evaluated individually. I've grown Buck roses that are indestructible (Applejack), Buck roses that are hardy but have explored new levels of disease (Hawkeye Belle), Buck roses that are disease resistant, but much too tender for here (Prairie Harvest), and Buck roses that are dogs (Distant Drums).

It also helps to remember that these rose were not bred to be grown own-root. This year I got Prairie Harvest from Palatine for a garden a bit warmer than mine, and I'm very curious to see how it does.

Folksinger does have a tea rose look to it and produces, at least in my garden, quite a few blooms on long single stems. If cut in a pretty tight bud they'll last a while in a vase.
I have ordered some gallon DA's from Heirloom, they were a nice size and survived the brutal winter we had. All of the bands I ordered, except one Cram Abundance, survived too :-)
Sharon

I'm glad Heirloom has the gallon size for Folksinger, they also have the band size for Earth Song. Burlington Roses also has Earth Song in a 5" band. I never ordered from Burlington before so I wonder how much success I would have with their plants.

You might want to consider shipping costs too. Heirloom is having a sale right now and shipping is included in their prices. I live in MA and shipping from the west coast and Chamblee's is expensive. I've never ordered from Burlington, but many members rave about them but it would probably be less expensive to order both from Heirloom even though their prices are a bit higher to begin with.

Quietness is a nice rose. It doesn't have as much scent as earthsong. The Quietness flower holds its form nice. I have an own root quietness which i rooted from a cutting . This quietness is the most perfect rose in my yard. It gets nothing but an inch of compost once a year. There are many buck roses that are found roses. Growing with no attention in old farms. Carefree beauty is a found rose which was actually an old buck rose. The best roses are not found in a store.

Sam, you're so lucky. My own root Quietness never did much growing but the flower sure is pretty and mine smells so sweet. Maybe she just needs a new location!
Sharon

Yes my Quietness is slow growing. It took 5 years to get big. It gets top dressing of yard waste compost once and fish seaweed every 2 weeks. Now I have a lot of Quietness. I used rooter pots to get me more Quietness. The first couple Quietness I got at roses unlimited. I don't think it ever gets disease and it keeps going with little dieback despite 2 of the worst winters.

Sam, what is a rooter pot? I think I bought mine from RU. I will try the fish seaweed. We don't have any yard waste since we don't have a lawn ;-), maybe I'll steal some from my neighbor.
Sharon

Your town or city has yard waste compost. Rooter pot I got 5 from Lee valley tools .

There are 85 buck roses.

I just have to chime in that Distant Drums is not a dog for me and even if it were a prima donna I might grow it just for the uniquely colored blooms. Grafted, it is mostly cane hardy, it's a well shaped bush with nice foliage, repeats regularly. My mom has one that is own root and it barely survives Z6 winters and is very frail. I spray for blackspot, she does not. Curiously her DD is less susceptible to BS than most in a very BS prone climate.

Country Dancer is pretty cane hardy here and it makes up for any lost cane quickly, because it's a vigorous grower, tall.

I'm glad to know that someone is having good success with Distant Drums. I just added 2 DDs to my garden, one on its own roots and one grafted on Fortuniana . Help-me-find has 25 votes rating the disease resistance as excellent-. Texas field trials on 80 Buck roses, in results presented by the Houston rose society 11 cultivars that have shown excellent results. DD is one of them.

Oh Marigold33, visit my blog (Garden Musings) if you want to read and see photos about a number of Buck roses; I grow around 40 and there is a clickable category to find all entries tagged with Buck rose. There is also a separate page that lists all the Buck roses and a few characteristics about each. If I were only going to grow three (I'd find it hard to pick one), they would be Prairie Joy, Carefree Beauty, and EarthSong. Unfortunately, all are pink, but those are the most trouble free I grow. If you like orange, Winter Sunset, as other's have recommended, is a good rose. Queen Bee is a dark red to die for, but burns in very hot sun.

Thanks, I thoroughly enjoyed the tour! I just planted "The Magician" I hope it's not susceptible to the rosette virus although the 2 I planted in my mother's garden are quite healthy. All were purchased by Heirloom roses. I also enjoyed looking at the daylilies, I might consider some more for future purchases. I like the fact that "Earth Song" is fuscia, which I prefer and I love reds! Sorry that Queen Bee burns out :( I'd also love another compact, good red bush, recommendations welcome! I also liked the "White Dove" :)

Quietness

Bright Melody is a nice medium red Griffith Buck rose that is double and forms a nice small bush.

While searching high and low for Earth Song in a gallon pot, I was able to find it at a place called Roses Unlimited. This year I have acquired The Magician, Julia Child and now Earth Song. I think I'm going to try a few more Bucks and maybe Rio Samba. Thanks for sharing your beautiful roses, happy gardening!

Those that have been blackspot resistant for me are Earth Song, Winter Sunset, Prairie Harvest, and Les Sjulin. The first three are somewhat fragrant. Most can get cercospora spot. Prairie Sunrise has one of the nicest flowers, and seems somewhat resistant, but I spray it occasionally. Quietness is resistant in some gardens, but it depends on the strains of BS in your particular garden. I haven't found it slow-growing at all. My own-root Q grew quickly to 4' x 4', now 5'x5'. The beautiful Q flowers are resistant to botrytis petal blight and balling.

Distant Drums is one that didn't grow vigorously on its own roots. It's basically a normal hybrid tea with exotic coloring and fragrance.