News

Buck roses: Celebrating legacy of Dr. Griffith Buck

In a scene that looked more like a horticultural flash mob than an academic endeavor, the horticulture faculty, staff, and students gathered around Horticulture Hall on 12 May 2025 with wheelbarrows full of rose bushes, shovels, and an unshakable belief in the power of horticultural therapy. Dr. Jeff Iles gave a dramatic pre-planting pep talk, while Ms. Tina Krug orchestrated a highly choreographed digging routine, complete with synchronized spade flourishes. Everyone fueled by Macadamia nut cookies and Minute Maid® mango and peach juice, dug holes of wildly varying depths—some suitable for roses, others more fitting for sunflowers, or possibly sunken treasure. In the end, it was a job well done!

Amid the chaos, Mr. Aaron Steil, chair of the Horticulture Grounds Committee, diligently took note of the placement of all the rose cultivars, passionately developed by Dr. Griffith Buck who was a researcher and professor of horticulture at ISU from 1948 to 1985 where he hybridized not only nearly 90 rose varieties, but also 15 varieties of geraniums and a heliotrope. Cultivars planted included: ‘Earth Song’, ‘Distant Drums’, ‘Folksinger’, ‘Prairie Harvest’, ‘Carefree Beauty’, ‘Rural Rhythm’, and ‘Quietness’.

Kudos to all students, staff, and faculty who participated and to Dr. Buck for his long legacy that the department still cherishes.