Griffith Buck taught horticulture at Iowa State University for 41 years. His real passion, though, was hybridizing roses, and many of the ones he developed are so extraordinary for their hardiness and beauty that they have brought Buck posthumous renown since his death in 1991.
As temperatures fall, it’s worth thinking about plants that can handle a Midwestern winter without a lot of coddling. Iowa’s winter temperatures frequently dip below minus 20 degrees, and Buck bred his hybrid teas and shrub roses to withstand the harsh climate and bloom freely throughout the growing season.
His breeding program succeeded, but because he was not particularly concerned with marketing the plants, most rose lovers had never seen a Buck rose before his death.
Three women rescued the Buck legacy. Ruby Buck, his widow, found someone to carry on his work and bring his roses into the marketplace. His daughter, Mary, has made it her mission to educate the public about them, and Kathy Zuzek, a horticultural scientist, tends and propagates Griffith Buck’s roses at the University of Minnesota.
Buck helped cultivate roses at his family’s home in Rockford, in north central Iowa. Buck arrived at Iowa State in 1946, where he received his bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees. He joined the faculty as a horticulture instructor, conducting rose research in the process. He became a full professor in 1974 and remained in that position until he retired in 1987.
When Buck set out to produce cold-hardy roses, he began with proven performers, including Rosa laxa, a species native to the Siberian steppes. Once crosses were made and the resulting seedlings sprouted, they were planted in outdoor fields, neither sprayed nor irrigated and left to survive the elements. The young plants that thrived under the rigorous conditions passed Buck’s first and most critical test.
Ruby Buck said in a recent telephone interview from Ames, Iowa, that her husband also looked for “pretty foliage” and blossoms and growth habits that made the roses good garden companions.
Griffith Buck introduced his first four roses in 1962, registering them with the American Rose Society. Among them was `Iowa Belle,’ a hybrid tea rose with large white blossoms edged in red, which was also the first in a long line of roses with Midwestern names. `Prairie Princess,’ introduced in 1972, has fragrant, vivid dark pink blooms and can grow to a height of 8 feet; and `Prairie Star,’ introduced in 1975, is a fragrant white.
Some of the most beautiful of Buck’s roses are the yellow varieties, including `Golden Unicorn,’ a medium-size shrub rose whose gold flowers are tinged with the slightest hint of peach. `Pearlie Mae,’ named for singer/actress Pearl Bailey, has pale yellow petals that intensify to darker lemon yellow at the flower’s center.
Yellow roses have a longstanding reputation for fragility, but the yellow Buck varieties have withstood the same conditions as his other roses. With a maximum height of about 4 feet and a spread of 3 to 4 feet, they are also suitable for smaller gardens.
At various times, Buck named his plants after prairie phenomena, Spanish dances or square-dance steps.
Yet he did not follow the tradition of naming an especially lovely seedling after his wife. Ruby Buck said the rose her husband dedicated to her was Mavourneen–the name means “my darling” in Gaelic–introduced in 1984. “The color,” she said, “is ruby red.”
When Griffith Buck retired, the horticulture department at Iowa State did not have an interest in continuing his work with hardy roses. Four years later, at the time of Buck’s death, “about a dozen were in the marketplace to a limited degree,” Zuzek said.
These included `Carefree Beauty,’ probably his best known, a large, shrub with medium pink, semi-double blossoms that is still among the most popular of Buck’s creations.
At that point, Zuzek said, “Mrs. Buck took her husband’s career and carried it on.”
Ruby Buck contacted Harold Pellett, one of her late husband’s former students who is now professor of horticultural science at the University of Minnesota’s Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chanhassan.
Using roses from Griffith Buck’s private garden and a variety of other sources, Pellett and Zuzek found, named and propagated more than 60 of the 88 Buck roses, and introduced many of them to the market.
When word got out about the roses, commercial vendors began climbing aboard the Buck bandwagon.
John Clements, a nurseryman and rose breeder who owns Heirloom Roses in Oregon, said that since his company began carrying the plants several years ago, he has been inundated with inquiries about them and requests for more varieties.
Sources for Griffith Buck roses
Griffith Buck bred his disease-resistant roses to withstand conditions in Iowa’s winter hardiness Zone 4, even harsher than Chicago’s Zone 5. Here are some mail-order sources, but also check with your local nursery.
– Heirloom Roses, 24062 Riverside Drive NE, St. Paul, OR 97137; 503-538-1576; www.heirloomroses.com. Carries 60 varieties of Griffith Buck roses, grown on their own roots. Catalog online; complete printed catalog, $5; abbreviated introductory catalog, free.
– The Roseraie at Granite Ridge, P.O. Box R, Waldoboro, ME 04572; 207-832-6330; www.roseraie.com; e-mail zapus@roseraie.com. Carries several varieties including `Hawkeye Belle’ and `Mavourneen.’ Catalog online; free brochure.
– High Country Roses, P.O. Box 148, Jensen, UT 84035; 800-552-2082; www.highcountryroses.com; e-mail roses@easilink.com. Carries several varieties, including `Carefree Beauty,’ `Applejack,’ `Country Dancer’ and `Prairie Joy.’ Catalog online; free printed catalog with no pictures.
– Hortico, 723 Robson Rd., R.R. 1, Waterdown, Ontario, Canada L0R 2H1; 905-689-6984; www.hortico.com. Carries more than 20 Buck roses, including `Summer Wind,’ `Wild Ginger,’ `Folksinger’ and `Earth Song.’ Catalog online; printed rose catalog, $3. Ships to U.S.
— Beth Botts
