Buff Beauty Shrub Roses

Buff Beauty Shrub Rose

Buff Beauty is one of the most famous of the hybrid musk roses. It is a large shrub rose reaching 5ft but it can also be trained as a small climber when it can touch 7ft. In summer, between June and September, it is covered in clusters of small, scented double flowers. Part of this rose's charm is that their colour can be a bit variable. The same bush can carry blossom that ranges from apricot (sometimes) through primrose to a warm pale yellow and finally a gentle cream. Top the looks off with good scent and the whole effect is sensational. Buff Beauty is another of those "must have" roses; it is beautiful, scented, good with diseases and is altogether such a good rose that, nearly 100 years on it still holds an RHS Award of Garden Merit. Given the competition, this makes it a really outstanding rose.

If your plans include shrub roses then (unless you are allergic to yellows) Buff Beauty should be on your short list, but if it is not for you or if you want to look at other roses to plant in the same border, then take a look at our full list of roses here

Great for your garden

Buff Beauty does best in full sun which heightens its perfume, but it is as tough as old boots and can cope with a little shade and cold feet. Because it is a shrub rose, it can handle a bit of shade. No rose will grow in the dark, but Buff Beauty is better than most in this regard. In the right position, this is a rose that will form a well-rounded bush about 5ft tall and maybe 4ft wide (1.5m x 1.2m) so it is of a size to look good in the middle of a rose border. Another treatment is to grow it against a wall or small fence. It can be trained flat against a wall - a little bit like Cotoneaster horizontalis and it looks fantastic against red brick or grey stone. However you grow it, do not hide it away - it is simply too beautiful.

Rosa Buff Beauty facts

• Type: Hybrid musk
• Colour: Gentle shades of yellow and gold
• Flower shape: Small but fully double
• Fragrance strength: Good
• Final height and spread: 5ft x 4ft
• Flowering season: All summer
• Repeat Flowering: Yes
• Disease resistance: Good
• RHS AGM 

Buff Beauty Trivia

Buff Beauty was probably bred by the Rev. Joseph Pemberton (the father of hybrid musk roses) somewhere around 1918-1920. However, he kept the secret well as it was only introduced to the public (13 years after his death) by Ann Bentall in 1939. She had worked for Pemberton and it was to her that he left his nursery in Romford when he died.