Buff Beauty Shrub Rose Bushes

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 Buff Beauty should be on your short list of yellow varieties. 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.

How to plant

You can order Buff Beauty at any time. Our bareroot stock can be planted between November and April, and we have containerised plants available for the rest of the year.

Choose a spot in the border or shrubbery with good light; at least half sun. Dig a hole deep enough to allow the graft union to finish at soil level and with plenty of room for the roots. Clean up the soil from the hole by taking out roots, weeds, large stones and other bits and bobs and mixing in a good measure of well rotted compost or manure. Spread Rootgrow mycorrhizal fungi over the bottom of the hole so it will make contact with the roots. If planting pot grown roses gently tease a few larger roots loose before planting.

Place your rose so its roots are spread out and the union is at the right height. Backfill the hole with the planting mix, firming it down as you go. Water in thoroughly.

Feed and mulch with well rotted manure in spring and keep well watered during dry periods for the first year.

Prune Buff Beauty roses as follows:

Your objective is to build a framework progressively over 2-3 years. You do so by pruning good new growth back by about 30% in January-February each year and shortening healthy side shoots to about 3 buds. Once you have this framework, just work over the plant gently in winter. Take out damaged or overcrowded growth and remove a few old branches at ground level to promote new growth from the crown of the plant that should flower next year.

During the flowering period, deadhead spent blooms as they fade, to encourage production of further flowers.