Rose Yellow Button

‘Yellow Button’ is a charming, compact English Rose and David Austin’s first foray into yellow colouring. Its rosette blooms open in soft, yolk-yellow shades with a button eye and a gentle fruit-musk fragrance. Though modest in size and growth, it brings reliable repeat flowering and old-world beauty to front borders and small garden groupings.

FLOWERING

This rose variety ‘Yellow Button’ has a recurrent flowering habit. Blooms in flushes with breaks from summer until frosts, especially when regularly deadheaded. The number of blooms per plant during the growing season is profuse, but there are too many to count.

The flowers of ‘Yellow Button’ are its standout feature: rosette-shaped, shallowly cupped, and roughly are 6 cm (2.4 in) in diameter. They appear in small clusters of 3 - 9 blooms together, with each bloom beginning a rich, egg-yolk yellow at the centre and fading gently to pale cream or white at the edges. This gradient deepens the impression of a central button-eye - a charming feature from which the rose takes its name.

Petals are numerous and arranged in an informal, sometimes quartered rosette form, with inner petals remaining folded and outer ones reflexing backward as the bloom matures into a pompon-like form. Though delicate and ephemeral in hot climates, where colour may fade quickly, the flowers hold their tone and form far better in cool weather. In such conditions, ‘Yellow Button’ rewards with a continuous parade of warm golden tones across the season.

The fragrance is light but discernible, with fruity and musky notes, particularly in the early morning or after rain. While not overpowering, the scent complements the visual appeal and makes it a lovely choice for cutting gardens, where the blooms hold surprisingly well in posies and hand bouquets.

PLANT

Rose variety ‘Yellow Button’ is classified as a Shrub rose and is part of David Austin’s English Shrub Roses collection. This rose is a low-growing shrub rose, averaging from 80 cm to 100 cm (2.7–3.3 ft) in height with a similar or slightly wider spread. Its arching, flexible stems, and its compact, spreading habit makes it ideal for planting at the front of a mixed border, in cottage garden schemes, or for underplanting taller shrub roses.

The foliage has light to mid-green colour, slightly glossy txture, and not overly dense. The number of leaflets on normal mid-stem leaves is typically 5, including the terminal leaflet. The edges of the leaflets are serrated, the type of serration is single and large. It emerges alongside light green, almost thornless new shoots, giving the bush a tidy appearance throughout the season. While generally healthy, the plant may show some susceptibility to blackspot, particularly in humid climates. Regular spraying, mulching, and good airflow are recommended to maintain foliage quality.

Rose variety ‘Yellow Button’ performs best in cool or temperate climates, where its blooms retain colour longer and disease pressures are lighter. In hotter zones, it may require partial afternoon shade to prevent premature fading and stress. Generous feeding and deadheading enhance both vigour and repeat blooming, which is notably good for such an early English Rose variety.

Rose variety ‘Yellow Button’ is recommended for growing in climate conditions similar to USDA 6 and requires winter protection in more colder climates.

Unfortunately we do not have information about the origin of the name of this rose.

English Shrub Roses

ORIGIN OF THE VARIETY

Rose variety 'Yellow Button’ was bred by David Austin and was his first successful introduction of yellow into his English Rose breeding program - a significant milestone in the development of the group. This rose is result of crossing the seed parent English shrub rose ’Wife of Bath’ with teh pollen parent - the vigorous yellow Floribunda rose ‘Chinatown’.

USDA 6