Pruning Knockout Roses

I have a summer home in Asheville, NC and will be leaving in early November and not returning until April. When should I prune my knockout roses- before I leave or when I return? I was thinking of pruning in September so they'd have a few months to rest before winter.

I don't know much about your zone, but here we usually prune in the spring more heavily and then do some light pruning in summer up until around September. Anything after that could subject the new growth to frostbite. But in your zone, you probably don't have to worry so much about that, so I'd think you could prune in September or even a little later and any new growth would be ok until you get back and prune again in April.

Asheville, NC is NOT her displayed zone. She'll likely get frost, freezes, and snow this winter.

Sorry, I was looking at the FL tag, thinking she meant the roses in FL, not the Asheville NC roses. In that case, don't prune til next spring when you go back! Although it probably wouldn't hurt to dead-head in early Nov, depending on when you normally get first frost up there.

Thanks for the answer, I needed to know for my own KOroses!