Michigan Gardening: phloxfan, Central Lake, Mi. Welcome to Daves Garden., 1 by Loon

Loon wrote:
Most of my roses are the Knockouts. I have a row of them along the fence. They are extremely hardy. I covered them with rose cones mostly to keep the deer and rabbits off them in winter. I had to prune them back in the fall so they'd fit under the cones. It didn't hurt them a bit. When I was fairly certain we wouldn't be having a hard frost I took the cones off. Much to my surprise, they didn't suffer one bit of die back..........not a bit. In fact, they were already sprouting out from green canes under the cones. If I hadn't have covered them the deer would have eat them to the ground. I have a driveway alarm and it goes off when the deer are huddled out there munching on my plants. I rush the little dogs out to bark them away. :) I know then it's time to respray the Liquid Fence. I liked the knockouts so much that I bought ten more double pinks to go across the front of my perennial bed out front. I like them planted en-mass. It makes a bold statement. I mostly like they don't need spraying or fussing over like most roses do. I've gotten to be a lazy gardener in my old age and won't baby those hybrid teas any more.