Pearlie Mae

Audio Description, forthcoming
This rose's location in the garden is NW 10.
  • Classification: Grandiflora   
  • Flower Color:  apricot blend
  • Flower Size: 5 inches
  • Flower Form: cupped, borne singly and in large clusters
  • Petal Count: 35   
  • Fragrance: moderate  
  • Repeat Bloomer: yes
  • Foliage: leathery, semi-glossy, dark green olive green, tinted copper
  • Plant Height: 4-6 feet
  • Plant Width: 3-4 feet
  • Growth Habit: upright, bushy
  • Disease Resistant: yes 
  • Hybridizer: Dr. Griffith J. Buck
  • Registered: 1981
  • Parentage: Music Maker x (Queen Elizabeth x Country Music)
  • ARS* Rating: 7.8 (a solid to very good rose)
    *American Rose Society Rating 

Awards:
  • None
 
Notes:
  • ‘Pearlie Mae’ was named after Pearlie May Bailey (1918-1990), an American actress, singer and author.  “After appearing in vaudeville, she made her Broadway debut in St. Louis Woman in 1946. She received a Special Tony Award for the title role in the all-black production of Hello Dolly! in 1968. In 1986, she won a Daytime Emmy award for her performance as a fairy godmother in the ABC Afterschool Special Cindy Eller: A Modern Fairy Tale. Her rendition of "Takes Two to Tango” hit the top ten in 1952. In 1976, she became the first African American to receive the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom on October 17, 1988.” --- (Wikipedia “Pearl Bailey”). Retrieved April 2023.

  • Griffith Buck (1915-1991) was a researcher and professor of horticulture at Iowa State University from 1948 to 1985.  While he earned his living as a professor, his real passion was hybridizing roses that would be hardy and disease resistant in the difficult climate of the central US.  During his lifetime he hybridized nearly 90 varieties. He was not a commercial developer, and many of his roses were lost after his retirement at age 70.  However, several have survived due to the work of friends and other rose enthusiasts. --- (www.ag.iastate.edu/centers/cad/GriffithBuck)

  • See “Roses Listed by Hybridizers” for other Buck roses grown in the Rose Garden.