Rosa 'Buff Beauty'

Rosa 'Buff Beauty'

This beautiful hybrid musk rose can be found nestling in the scented garden among the valerian and wisteria. Its warm apricot blooms carry a most delicious scent, and it flowers continually from June through to the first frosts. The colour of the flowers, held in sprays, is at its most concentrated when it first opens into a rich intense apricot, gradually fading to a pale blush. It seems to be disease free here at Harlow Carr, and even the aphids left it alone last year!

Vital statistics

Common name

Rose 'Buff Beauty'

Family

Rosaceae

Height & spread

1.2m (4ft) x 1.5m (5ft)

Form

Vigorous, deciduous shrub rose

Soil

Moist but well-drained, humus-rich, fertile

Aspect

Partial shade

Hardiness

Fully hardy

Rosa

Rosa is a genus of about 150 species of semi evergreen or deciduous perennial shrubs and climbers. They are found in a wide range of habitats in Asia, Europe, North Africa and North America. Roses have erect, arching, scrambling, or sometimes trailing, often thorny or prickly stems.

Roses are grown for their attractive, often fragrant flowers, borne mainly in summer and autumn, and sometimes for their fruits and hips. The flowers are solitary or borne in clusters and vary greatly in colour size and form. Roses are suitable for a range of garden situations from a specimen to standards in a mixed herbaceous border, and as climbers up walls pergolas, trees and arches.
 

Rosa 'Buff Beauty'

Rosa 'Buff Beauty’ is a hybrid musk rose. These are vigorous shrubs with long, arching stems bearing glossy foliage, with large clusters of small fragrant double flowers in summer and autumn. This flexibility means it can be used as a climber or trained into a fence-hedge (a 'fedge'). 'Buff Beauty' is perpetual flowering with large clusters of apricot-buff blooms, borne on slightly spreading growth. It has glossy bronze-green foliage and a distinct musk fragrance produced by its semi-double, apricot-yellow and buff flowers that reach up to 9cm wide.
 

Cultivation

• Plant roses any time during winter and early spring as long as the ground is not waterlogged or frozen; roses like plenty of water but also need well-drained soil with a pH around 6.5.
• Prepare a hole 2½ times the depth of the pot incorporating lots of organic matter into the bottom and sides e.g. well rotted stable manure, leafmould or garden compost.
• Use bonemeal or another slow-release phosphorous-supplying fertiliser at 85g/m in the backfill.
• Plant slightly deeper (2.5cm) than it appears in the pot.
• For spring planting prune back to a healthy outward-facing bud 5-8cm above the ground and remove any dead and decaying material.
• Water thoroughly and apply a 4-8cm layer of mulch using well-rotted manure or similar, making sure it is kept away from the stem of the rose.
• Stake and deadhead as necessary and remove any suckers by pulling away from the rootstock.

Propagation

• Root hardwood cuttings in early autumn. Choose pencil-thick current year stems and cut to 23cm/9in. long. Strip off all but top pairs of leaves and snap off thorns.
• Set in a slit trench 20cm/8in. deep in an open area of the garden out of the midday sun. Line the bottom of the trench with 2.5cm/1in. of sharp sand to improve drainage.
• Set the cuttings 15cm/6in. apart in the trench and firm in well and water.
• Alternatively, propagate by budding in midsummer on rootstocks planted in the previous autumn.

AGM

The RHS Herbaceous and Woody Plant Committees awarded Rosa 'Buff Beauty' an Award of Garden Merit and described it as a:

'Vigorous, spreading, medium-sized shrub with fine, glossy dark green foliage and fragrant, well-filled semi-double, apricot-yellow and buff flowers 9cm wide.'