Shrub Rose 'Knock Out'

I think Knock Out roses are weeds. Yes, they very disease resistant and they bloom a lot. However, they're still a rose and still requi...Read Morere some level of care. Their abundant blooming means they need to be constantly deadheaded and if they aren't they get leggy and very spindly/ugly.

The biggest downside in my eyes is how they are used in mass plantings, especially commercially, and aren't taken care of. Because of this they become vectors for disease like rose rosette and chili thrips.

If you want roses, grow REAL roses. Roses give what you put into them. Otherwise, plant something else.

This is an excellent performer: hardy, vigorous and floriferous. It blooms more or less continuously from June till frost. It's highly re...Read Moresistant to black spot disease that troubles most roses here (Boston Z6a). Under ordinary conditions, it does well without fungicide sprays or deadheading or fertilizing.

The formless flowers have no fragrance, but they're valuable for adding color consistently to the landscape. They don't make good cut flowers.

All roses are susceptible to Rose Rosette Disease. 'Knockout' is no more susceptible than average. People who grow roses where RRD is present without inspecting them regularly (weekly) for RRD are helping to spread this terrible disease. Roses that are exceptionally resistant to black spot tempt their owners to neglect this essential part of their care. Don't blame the rose for this.

In the 15 years since Knock Out was released, many roses have been bred that are just as easy to care for and just as floriferous---many are more beautiful, and come in a much wider range of colors---some are highly fragrant. I especially recommend Ping Lim's Easy Elegance series, and also the many Kordes cultivars released since 2000. They are easy to obtain by mail order, and now are showing up in box stores.

Sadly, I'm going to have to give this plant a negative. Five years ago we planted 6 of these in a bed at the front of the house. They wer...Read Moree absolutely gorgeous, very low maintenance and offered an endless drift of color. Sounds like the perfect plant.....right? Not so fast! Last year we noticed discoloration and strange, distorted limbs. After some research, we discovered our knockout roses had become infected with Rose Rosette Disease. This disease is highly contagious, and once your roses have become infected there is no cure, the plant will die. Knockout Roses were hailed to be disease resistant. Unfortunately, they are not resistant to Rose Rosette. I'm heartbroken over the loss of these plants, but out only option was to dig them up and burn them. After walking around the neighborhood, almost all the roses have been infected. The only way to combat this problem is to stop planting them. http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/4990/

I'm posting neutral due to my double pink surviving the zone 4 winter, a brutal one, with protection - its totally leafed out and beauti...Read Moreful with very little dieback. However, my double red is black to the base. It was gorgeous last year and much bigger and more prolific than the pink one. I started to dig it out and found one small area of green . I had given this one winter protection and it actually was in a more protected area. There are no buds at all. I was very happy with it until now. Of course I liked the red best. So will it live? who knows. I don't even know if I want a replacement or use a different rose there.

Boring rose. No scent, uninteresting flowers. Bush scraggly. Waste of space. Get a real rose.

I planted three Rainbow Knockout Roses in front of my house about four years ago. I live in southeastern Pennsylvania. With a minimum o...Read Moref care (a little pruning I do to shape the plants in early spring, and infrequent deadheading), I have had healthy plants, which bloom profusely starting in mid-May and then continue blooming sporadically until frost. I am not happy, though, about the fading of the flowers on this variety. The flowers start off as this beautiful pink-coral-yellow center color, and then fade to a sickly-looking cream-like color, which is not pretty. I am looking for a knockout variety that does not fade - or at least does not fade to the extent that these flowers do. I realize that all flowers have to die, but I would prefer flowers that die with their color more intact! Any suggestions out there?

I know some rose enthusiasts believe they are 'over-rated', over-planted and hyped but I love them. Having tried to raise hybrid teas in...Read More the past with the endless spraying, feeding and still watching black spot take over, Knockout Roses are like a dream come true. Endless blooms, no black spot, little watering required and they bloom even if you don't feed them. We have two of the red's at our farm sign up at the top of our long driveway far away from a watering hose and even in the hot, dry summer, they contnue to perform beautifully. I intend to try other hardy shrub roses elsewhere but for lasting season-long color, vigor, ease of care and beauty where you can't fuss with them all the time, they can't be beat!

I have only had this rose for maybe 3 days i keep the soil slightly moist but over the last day i noticed the roses pedals looked burned ...Read Moreis it getting too much sun? The buds look healthy and I didnt have in the ground until the second day after purchase. Could this effect the way it is growing?

I am very satisfied with the knock out roses. I have planted 2 double pinks and 2 double reds. The reds were planted in 2009 and the pi...Read Morenks in 2010. Very satisfied with them, growth has been phenominal. Last year I did not cut them back very far and the reds grew to about 4 1/2 feet. This year I trimmed both kinds in the late fall and then again in the spring as they were beginning to sprout new growth. I even thinned them out like you would do on a normal rose bush. Growth has been good and they just began to blossom over this weekend (5/20-22-2011). I dead head them during the season and learned early not to go beyond the first leaf on the branch if I want additional flowering.

I have two pink doubles and they are blooming like crazy, although they haven't gained any size, I think I am going to loosen the soil an...Read Mored add some organic fertilizer and see if I can give the whole plant a boost. I did have leaves all winter though.

Planted red and pink knockout roses last May - did very well during the summer and fall.

Pruned the bushes to keep it low ...Read Morein December -

Started to leaf out and setting buds in mid February -

Now in mid March, it started blooming - bushes much fuller now.

My location is suburban north/Houston.

I bought my only Knockout because my row of roses, along the south edge of my garden, passes within 25 feet of the neighbor's flowering c...Read Morerab -- a variety that gets totally loaded with black spot every year and spreads the black spot to my roses. So when Knockout came out and was advertised as 100% resistant to black spot, I tried one.

My Knockout never grew all that well. It hardly got over a foot high, even though I fertilize weekly until August 1. (That's the kind of pushing one has to do in NE Wisconsin, where even "boxed and buried" roses typically get through our 25-below winters with only 4 to 8 inches alive at the bottom.) I don't really like the color -- it's too much to the pink side of red, and I like truly red roses. And it is absolutely useless as a cut flower -- there is no stem long enough to cut. I am aware that one does not plant shrub roses to get cut flowers, but it is possible to to get some flowers off of some of them, for example, "Cuthbert Grant."

I eventually transplanted the Knockout to get it out of the main rose row. It still lives. it is hardy enough to survive the winter with only a heavy much, and it is really resistant to black spot and other diseases. But as a rose I think it's very overrated.

The plants are great, they are tough, but heck yeah there are tons of more choices out there. Knockouts are overplanted. It is likely ...Read Moreplanted at your local Mcdonalds in large masses. I like diversity, which is better for the eye and for our virus/disease proned biology. If a disease comes through that likes the genetics of these plants so well, it will go by way of the elm very quickly and leave many cities with empty plant beds.

I have two of these planted in a location right up against my house. They get sun from 11 am until the sun goes down. They are wonderfu...Read Morel performers, and have reached the height of 10 feet in only 6 years. They do not seem to be growing any taller anymore. I have never pruned or fertilized mine. I just planted them and left them alone.. They are a must have for any rose lover!

Easy care, and an early bloomer. Mine is already in flower.

It tolerates shade, does not have that wonderful rose aroma...Read More, but for the beauty she provides, that's fine. Does well in a container, or in the grouond.

On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest, I rate this Rose a Five.

Should this plant be covered during a freeze just at freezing point? I have buds and full flowers which may need coverage this week. I'm ...Read Morefrom the sunny South, where many plants can die when it gets down near the freezing point. However, I'm not sure what a shrub rose does when the weather is within its cold hardiness. Please advise.

I planted two bushes during late summer, and the blooms continue into mid-autumn in zone 5.

I have only had mine just this summer and I love the Knockout Roses! They bloomed and grew all summer long and we had a Very wet summe...Read Morer and cold too, up here in the Northeast. I have 2.. one is pink and one is red. They are still blooming and it is now October with cold nights and more rainy days ! We did not have too many Japanese Beetles this summer for some reason.They always ruin my other roses , but they did not harm the Knockouts. I think I will be buying more of these, since they are very hardy and kept blooming all summer. I never had to water them because of all the rain we had all summer long and now most of the Fall. I did dead-head them whenever I was out there to look at them. They are still full of buds. I will put some leaf mulch around them bottom of the plants for the winter as I usually do my other roses. I am looking forward to learning more about these great roses!

I have a few Knock Outs (Red, Double Red and Rainbow) . The red ones are doing OK - some Japanese beetles here and there but they continu...Read Moree to bloom through it all. But the Rainbow one is covered with Japanese beetles - not much left of the leaves or the blossoms at this point - and it's still covered with JB every morning. I kind of feel like it's now the sacrificial plant for the entire garden. Guess I'll just stick to the earlier varieties.

Great plant for mass plantings. I saw these in N. Dallas planted in the medians and fell in love with them. When we moved to our N.E. Te...Read Morexas ranch, we planted a hedge (20)along the entrance to our garage. They have bloomed profusely every summer since 2006. Originally, after a very wet winter two plants' leaves showed yellowing with brown edges and stunted growth. I kept watering and occassionlly fertilizing them during the droughty summer. A local nursery woman told me I was watering them too much and that they loved abuse. No problem! Quit watering the remainder of hot, dry summer- they did great. Highly recommend them for this area 7a,b, especially for someone like me that doesn't know anything about raising roses.

I have this rose planted towards the back of our lot, and it's always chock full of blooms that are visible from our back porch.

My father bought me my first knockout rose for 2007 Christmas while visiting form Puerto Rico. This was my test to begin a garden in my ...Read Morenew house. Well, he planned this very well because I am hooked. Since December of 2007 I am on a role with these roses.

I have a very hectic lifestyle with 2 teenagers, 2 dogs, a husband and a very demanding career. I am truly enjoying all the blooms the rose provides daily. So far I am the happy owner of 2 single (1pink, 1red) and four dbl knock outs.

I highly recommend this rose to anyone who is just starting a garden(ing) and even if you are a pro this rose is a must have. Presently looking for the rainbow knockout.

Knock out Roses were specifically bred to handle the hot summers of the south. Will grow in the north, but knock outs need heat to flour...Read Moreish. These roses LOVE water and need to be mulched at the base. If you let them dry out, flower production will be way down and the bushes will look ratty and will loose leaves quickly.

I have 18 planted forming a hedge in front of my house. As of 3/19/08 in zone 8, Everyone of my bushes is profusely covered with new buds, and should be blooming by the first or second week in April. The hedge is now two years old. At the end of the first season in '06, most of them were nearly 4 feet tall. In late january of 07, I pruned the roses back to 3 feet each. During the 07 season they spread out and the hedge has totally filled in. At the end of the 2007 growing year, the roses were nearly 5 feet tall.

The trick to getting these bloom prolifically is to cut of the rose hips and not letting them go to seed. These bloomed all summer for about 3 weeks at a time, rest for 3 weeks and then repeated blooming. This pattern lasts from mid April to early November.

Knock outs tolerate abuse well, but to see the full potential of this rose, it takes some care. I use Bayer 2 in 1 Rose food, with fertilizer and systemic insectide. I never saw any evidence of mildews, fungus, or black spot.

I really like this beautiful rose. It does have a fragrance, and a very nice one at that. When there are many blooms, it is very notice...Read Moreable. Otherwise, you have to get very close in order to smell it. It has flourished in over 100 degree heat with full sun exposure. My soil is very acidic and the rose blooms like crazy. This rose is a source of constant color from early spring to late fall. Like a previous poster commented, it will have deep red blooms which fade to a light pink shade before they fall off. I am very happy with this rose because it take very little maintenance and is resistant to extreme heat and humidity and freezing cold. It is nearly a no-brainer shrub that is perfect for those who have difficulty keeping plants alive and thriving.

I love the color of these roses.

I am disappointed in the face that they didn't survive without dying back to the ground i...Read Moren my Z5 garden this past winter (1st winter in the ground) since everyone raves about how hardy they are. I only lost one plant (out of 11) but all the survivors died back to the ground. All are back and growing, but some are doing better than others.

I live in a very open, windy area, so maybe this had something to do with the dieback. I do love how these look so they are sticking around for another season or two. I hope as they establish more they will get more hardy. Otherwise I'll have to cover them like any other rose.

ET (June 3, 2008): These are still not doing well in my garden. They consistently die down to the ground every winter and I lost three of them this winter, even though we had good snowcover.

I LOVE these roses. It says that they only have a slight fragrance, but we have them planted near our pool and by a walk way and they ha...Read Moreve the most delightful fragrance. I have had no disease problems, whatsoever. I bring them in my house as cut flowers all the time. They flower abundantly all summer! It's one of my favorite flowers.

I've been gardening for many years and, like many gardeners, I had lost patience with roses. A friend who works at a local nursery assure...Read Mored me I would like Knock Out. She was so right! I have 7-8 of them now and each one has adapted well to its location. I had to transplant several in August. They tolerated the move nicely and they even rewarded me with new blossoms. It's now Halloween in New Hampshire and I am still cutting buds to bring indoors. I enthusiastically recommend them. If you are new to gardening and want to try rose shrubs, plant Knock Out--you won't regret it.

I give it a 'neutral' only because the Japanese beetles chowed on it without mercy this past summer, I'm happy it survived and now seems ...Read Moreto be doing well.

We have been growing this for 3 years. The first year was very successful, with copious blooms.

At the beginning of the s...Read Moreecond season, I cut the plants back a little, esp. some dead canes. Blooming was not as good as the first year.

This is now the 3rd year and blooms are good, but there is very little repeat flowering. There are Japanese beetles all over them (I pick them off by hand) and there is now some evidence of black spot and some other fungal disease on the stems. This is disappointing.

The only rose I have grown with no die back with no protection in my zone 5 garden. I have them in an exposed site with no winter protect...Read Moreion and they came back in better condition than roses in a protected spot with protection. They look great in a mass planting. An amazing rose.

Beautiful color! I can smell the flowers but my husband says that they have no scent to him. Fairly disease resistant as long as it is pl...Read Moreanted properly.

Highly recommended for new rose growers because of this plant's strong resistance to the dreaded black spot disease. Blooms are initiall...Read Morey a florescent cherry red, fading to a soft pink. In my experience, you'll get the most profuse blooming in full sun and with regular deadheading, but no special cutting techniques are required. Mine have a light scent when the blooms open, but it fades after a couple days.

My neighbor planted one and it is now 5 ft. tall despite the claims of being a 3ft tall bush. I noticed it is putting on hips too. Very...Read More small hips. It is north of a very large hedge.Blooms like crazy.

Great shrub rose, very easy care. Blooms throughout the season even in the south if given sufficient water.

I have three of the red "Knock Out" roses in various degrees of sun in my garden, from full sun to mostly shade. The one in full sun has...Read More grown the largest, but all of them have grown and bloomed profusely for me.

As mentioned above, I think the most effective use of these roses is in mass plantings packed tightly together and pruned to make hedges about 24 inches high. Planted singly, the bush growth habit tends to look somewhat scraggly and thin.

Jeremy

I planted 9 Knockout roses under less than ideal conditions (soil not well amended, part sun) and they have bloomed and bloomed for me. T...Read Morehe only disappointment I have had with them is that they did not produce the beautiful hips that the supplier promised. Maybe they would have under better conditions.

My experience mirrors maggiemoo's, including the thorns and no fragrance. I have five of them in a raised planter bed. They are thrivin...Read Moreg and blooming with little maintenance.

Though everyone calls it a single, it's not a true single like, say, a cherokee rose. I'd call it a semi-double. Grows very nicely (on Fo...Read Morertuniana) here in Florida in filtered sun. Does like fertilizer, but otherwise absolutely zero maintenance. I don't even bother pruning.

This single rose is a great bloomer and hardy in zone 5. It's also a very heatly rose.

south-east florida : fort lauderdale

I WAS IMPRESSED HOW WELL THEY SURVIVE AND CONTINUED TO BLOSSOM WITHOUT ANY SIGNS OF T...Read MoreROUBLE. FALL LEAVES WERE BEAUTIFUL AS WELL.

pss : i was so impressed i give this plant out as gifts whenever i can thru mail orders ..to new hampshire and florida
----

I have 16 of these roses in various areas of my south florida home.

Before I bought any I was subjected 3 roses to my own experiement/s. I needed something that i did not have to
care about , that would bloom reliably and dependably.
I did not care whether they gave fragrance, although a plus.
i care about color and security aroung my yard. I also had to think about how they would look with a carefree attitude garden that i enjoy.

I bought 3, for my experiment.

1, was kept in its nursery pot and in a water dish on my concrete patio, left in a corner of my patio that received full sun in morning and no sun in evening. watering was by handwhenever i remembered and no pruning.

2 others, were put in the ground on my nothside property side yard. they were sheered to be hedges, behind them was fence that planted vines of jasimine & bougainvillea
in a cypress mulch bedding inter planted with purple shade and white shades of verbena. watering was with a drip system which sometimes didnt not work...and pruning to create a hedge. sun was morning and evening.

After 1-year , the plant on the patio was thriving in its pot ( still after 2-3 years ). now holding its own in the same pot on my front door step , put simply in another pot. Since this is the one i left unpruned --it looked graceful and somewhat wild. the rose hips are orangy... very nice. i just have to remember to add water.
the planted in the ground are doing quite well.
i use a 3 ft wooden vine trellis that sometimes come with vine plants from the garden centers to remember where i have to prune them back to. theya re doing just fine...

--- since then i have added 5-6 to the north side back yard.
all red, i ahve added new additions to the front yard under the front window...mixed with white liriope, louisiana irises and white vinca... to create a natural grassy area. looks nice
near the 3 tier italian fountain that makes a dramatic display under a live oak near by ...

OVER ALL ---I would recommend this plant to anyone and have to say I am convinced this plant --is a good choice for beginners.
---
SUN OR PART SHADE
PRUNES NICE
NO DISEASES NOTICED
THRIVES WELL IN THE HUMIDITY.
no noticeable fragrance

thanks for listening

beautiful fluorescent cherry red - practically maintenance free as far as roses go. agree with the 'very thorny' - be careful

'Knockout' roses are one of the easiest, most profuse blooming, and disease resistent plants. Used in mass plantings for landscape use i...Read Moren a very clay type moist soil in south Louisiana, this rose continues to thrive. We have had several nights with freezing temperatures as low as 26 F, and sevaral days of rainfall, as much as 4 inches at a time. The plants kept their blooms through late November and continue to produce new growth throughout the winter season. The summer months don't seem to affect this plant neither. Constant blooms and good growth are a plus for the rose family and all gardeners should have this one in their collection.

I've had this rose for almost a year exactly (I won it for Valentines Day, 2003.) Texas A&M has designated this an "Earthkind" rose, mean...Read Moreing it can pretty much handle all types of soils and neglect, and still perform. In my 8b - 9a zone garden it is just now finally takng a rest. Otherwise, it always has blooms on it, and while it did get some black spot, it never bothered the plant. I've never been able to detect even the slightest fragrance, but its good looks coupled with low maintenance make up for it. Other than a lack of fragrance, the only negative I can find is that it has killer thorns, so watch out when you're working around it! One of the garden call-in shows I listen to on Sat mornings is hosted by a landscape company to the north of Houston. They use this extensively as a landscape shrub. It doesn't really need pruning, but I'm going to trim back a few branches that have kind of struck out on their own, just to keep it in a good shape. I'm pretty new to gardening, even more so to roses, so this has been a pretty satisfying experience for me.

Striking, deep red-pink color; dark green foliage; very hardy in my NE garden; black spot was not a problem, but it doesn't make a great cut flower.

Class: Shrub
Bred in the U.S. 1999 by William Radler
Bloom: Cherry-red, orange-red, orange-red blend.
ARS Color: mr...Read More Medium red
Fragrance: tea
Petals: 7
Average Diameter: 3 3/4 inches
Disease Resistant
Shade Tolerant
Single flower, repeat
Low Maintenance
Awards: All-American RS