Reiman Gardens is the home of the National Buck Rose Collection
Reiman Gardens’ Buck Rose collection is part of the Plant Collections Network (PCN), a network of botanical gardens and arboreta working to coordinate a continent-wide approach to plant germplasm preservation and promote high standards of plant collections management.
Buck Roses were developed by Iowa State University professor Dr. Griffith Buck who believed roses should be as easy to grow as dandelions. During his nearly 40 years at Iowa State, he introduced 86 rose cultivars plus 15 geraniums and a heliotrope. Buck roses are on display in public gardens and enjoyed by home gardeners across the United States and in Canada. Dr. Buck anticipated today’s desire for low-maintenance roses and used traditional breeding and hybridization techniques to pioneer the National Collection of Amazing Roses, a development of roses that were easy to grow, disease resistant, and winter hardy.
Buck retired in 1985, and today Reiman Gardens grows many of his 86 roses as well as other Buck rose varieties developed or released from his original work. This collection also serves as a germplasm preservation site ensuring his work and passion for roses will continue.
For more information about Dr. Griffith Buck, click here.
