Shrub Rose, Buck Roses Collection 'Golden Unicorn'

I planted this 4 yrs ago in a pot that was placed in a bed. Then I was bed bound 4 yrs. So no feeding, pruning or weeding and had a shrub...Read More that grew out over part of it. I was plrased to find it leafing out with lots of green stems today, as I am finally well enough to garden again. What a tough rose !

I bought a Golden Unicorn because it was advertised as "hardy" in a seed catalog. It is not as hardy as adverised -- I get it through th...Read Moree winter in my location (NE Wisconsin, zone 5) by boxing it up and burying it in ground, just as I get hybrid teas through the winter. It is more hardy than any hybrid tea I have found, though, and a lot more of the plant survives the winter if boxed and buried.

The bloom itself is glorious. The first flush of blooms in June is very heavy, and the rebloom is good. The flowers are fragrant and you can get a good whiff of the plant just walking by it. The color is richer in cooler weather, and lasts longer, so any blooms that come in the fall tend to be prettier than the summer blooms.

The flower fades and the petals drop very quickly. I think that when it is warm a flower probably lasts only about two days, and the heavy bloom leaves the ground under the plant littered with petals. Because it is a shrub rose, the flower stems are too short to use this one as a cut flower, and in any case, the blooms do not last long enough. I wish they did, because this is a beautiful, fragrant, reasonably hard rose. Thumbs up!

Bred in United States.

Parentage:
Seed: Paloma Blanca
Pollen: Carefree Beauty x Antike