Two Buck Roses

'Spanish Rhapsody'

It's been some time since I blogged about the roses, but I'm happy to report that most of my Rugosa's are surviving and show no signs of rose rosette at present.  And, I noted this week that a couple of my remaining Griffith Buck roses are in their second or third bloom stage and I believe it's high time to share them with you. 

I give you first, the delicate shadings of 'Spanish Rhapsody'.  I've blogged about her before, but she's too beautiful to ignore.   This year, I first noticed her blooming from the window of the kitchen, clear down yonder in the garden, where I could see this diminutive rose blooming its fool head off, defying an attack from last few remaining Japanese Beetles.   

Described as pink and yellow and stippled at helpmefind/rose, she appears only pink to me this year, although I believe I've seen more yellow from her in the past, such as my blog from 2016.   The pictures at the helpmefind linked site show this is one of the more variable roses, with lots of different appearances across the US.  'Spanish Rhapsody' was bred by Dr. Buck in 1984.   

'Spanish Rhapsody' has survived since 2015 in my garden, but she is always much smaller for me than her advertised 4 foot height.   I don't know that I've ever seen her more than a couple of feet foot tall and wide.  Blooms are of moderate size, about 3 inches around, and start out nicely tight like a Hybrid Tea and then the semi-double blooms open quickly to some golden stamens.   I pray every season that she remains resistant to Rose Rosette Disease.   Certainly, she seems immune to blackspot and powdery mildew.  'Spanish Rhapsody' has a little dieback in my winters.

'Prairie Princess'

The other rose I'd like to introduce today was a "take a chance" rose that I acquired sometime in 2021, another Griffith Buck rose that was a surprise find at a big box store.  When you find a rose with "Prairie" in its name, it's either a Buck rose or a Canadian, generally, and so I took a chance on 'Prairie Princess', and she has lived up to my expectations.    

'Prairie Princess' is another short-statured rose,  but with a little more "junk in the trunk" compared to 'Spanish Rhapsody, meaning that she is a little broader in the middle  She starts out light pink, really just a blush pink, and fades over time to white.   Helpmefind/rose says that she should be salmon pink and 5-8 feet tall, so I'm wondering if I've got a mis-named rose here.  One commenter at that site suggested she looks like 'Morden Centennial', but my rose looks more like 'Morden Blush'.  Who knows?

This rose was bred early in Dr. Buck's program, prior to 1967, and introduced to commerce in 1972, but I would not have guessed it from the form or disease tolerance.  I don't know what has kept her hidden or out of main commerce.  About 2 feet tall and wide, she has good winter hardiness, better than 'Spanish Rhapsody' in my climate.  Disease resistance is still excellent as you can see from my un-cared for specimen with grass growing all around it.  She seems to be a floribunda in form, flowering in clusters, and rarely is without flowers.   I can't fault 'Prairie Princess' for beauty and she's Rose Rosette free, two years running so, I guess "one pays his money and takes his chances," but this time it paid off.   

Spanish Rhapsody

'Spanish Rhapsody'

About time for a new rose, I think. I've written about this one before, but I've got some better pictures now and she's a survivor.  Allow me to reintroduce you to 'Spanish Rhapsody', a Griffith Buck rose bred in 1976 and introduced in 1984.   I planted her late last summer, and she seems to have survived at least one very dry winter without protection here on the Kansas prairie.  She's blooming her head off now, her first season in my garden, and I'm in love with those delicately colored blooms.

'Spanish Rhapsody' is a shrub rose, officially labeled as a pink blend, although the blend is actually pink, yellow, and something stippled that approaches deep rose.  The medium size bloom starts out with hybrid-tea-form and then opens over a day or two into a semi-cupped double blossom with yellow stamens.   The blooms primarily are one-to-a-stem, but there are some clusters as well.   I'm convinced that the petals darken the first day or two, and then start to lighten as they age. There is a medium fragrance, raspberry-like as advertised by others.  Take a look at the photo on the left, which shows several phases that the blooms pass through.  Try to ignore the two copulating Melyridae on the bloom at the top right of the photo.  Seems like I'm not the only one stimulated by those blooms.


My 'Spanish Rhapsody' bush is nothing to be excited about yet, only about a foot tall and several months old, but at least she's growing. Leaves are light green with a matte finish.  She's got a little blackspot, maybe about 15-20% of her leaves at present, but I'm not going to hold that against her because we're having an unusually bad blackspot year.  Even 'Carefree Beauty' was having some lower leaf blackspot by early June.   I'm not going to spray 'Spanish Rhapsody' so I can judge how she'll carry through a long summer.

'Spanish Rhapsody' is listed as a cross of 'Gingersnap' and 'Sevilliana'.   According to helpmefind/rose, she is a full sister to 'Gee Whiz', and 'Incredible'.  I've grown both those roses and they do resemble 'Spanish Rhapsody' with their stippling.   Neither of the former survived their third winter here, so I'm hoping 'Spanish Rhapsody' does better in the long run.  She's certainly the prettiest of the sisters in my opinion, the Spanish Cinderella, if you will, of the group.

Rapture of Spain

'Spanish Rhapsody'

Don't you often find that the outer "dress" may not be up to societal expectations, but nonetheless the prettiest lass often lurks beneath the burlap and ashes instead of the velvet and lace?   Isn't that what our folklore and fables tell us?  Well, it's true that 'Spanish Rhapsody' is more plain-clothed than the glossy dark green accoutrement of 'Butterfly Magic', but the matte and lighter green leaves of 'Spanish Rhapsody' are just as healthy as the latter.   And, in the "there-is-no-accounting-for-taste" department,  I'm personally more partial to the individual flower of 'Spanish Rhapsody' than that of 'Butterfly Magic'.  I'd like to say that I try to look beyond the garments at the beauty within, but in this case I guess I'm looking at the beauty above the garb.  The superficial ProfessorRoush.

'Spanish Rhapsody' is a pink blend Shrub rose introduced by Griffith Buck in 1984.  To continue the comparison with 'Butterfly Magic', I'd have to note that the single-stemmed blossoms of 'Spanish Rhapsody' should be fuller, double-cupped, as it were, with 17-25 petals, but she is currently semi-double for me.  Perhaps those blossoms will swell as the plant ages?  The blooms open up quickly to a flatter, loosely displayed form.  She is one of the stippled roses from Dr. Buck, and her colors are a wondrous blend of light red wine, light pink, and yellow, a truly unique rose.  I don't know what it means, but the pistils seem overly large in the bloom of this rose.  Am I perhaps imagining traits that don't exist?   I am sure that 'Spanish Rhapsody' smells better that 'Butterfly Magic', a moderate fruity rose fragrance.  She repeats, but my young bush does not bloom as freely or rebloom as rapidly as 'Butterfly Magic'.

I've only grown 'Spanish Rhapsody' this season, so I can't speak to her winter stamina, but I can say that she is another healthy Buck rose with good blackspot resistance in my garden.  My 3 month old plant is only a foot tall and about 1.5'  around this summer, a little more rotund than tall.  She is listed as a 1976 cross of 'Gingersnap' and 'Sevilliana', and since I'm not familiar with either of the latter roses, I haven't much to add there either.

If, like me, you find a buxom and decorated blossom more comely, then give 'Spanish Rhapsody' a try.  She's not as shiny in the garden, but she has her own charms.