KnockOut Roses

[PrettyInTink]

Has anyone ever grown these? They are not supposed to get black spots or mold and are only supposed to be clipped back once a year and bloom from May till Late September. Sounds too good to be true, but HGTV swears by them. Any opinions???

 

[UrsulasShadow]

They're pretty good. They DO get some black spot, but not much. When stressed, they react just like any other shrub rose and quit flowering, but will pick up again when conditions are more to their liking. The flowers are brightly colored, but not very nicely formed. If you like very casual roses, these are nice. There are others I like better, though. My present favorite is "Lady Elsie May", which is this very bright, coral-pink, semi-double flower on a shrub with very, very healthy glossy green foliage. Honestly, not a spot on any of the leaves! I don't spray, so I find this remarkable.
As far as the Knockout Roses go, they're hyped by all the mags and shows, but I'm not hugely impressed.

 

[PrettyInTink]

They're pretty good. They DO get some black spot, but not much. When stressed, they react just like any other shrub rose and quit flowering, but will pick up again when conditions are more to their liking. The flowers are brightly colored, but not very nicely formed. If you like very casual roses, these are nice. There are others I like better, though. My present favorite is "Lady Elsie May", which is this very bright, coral-pink, semi-double flower on a shrub with very, very healthy glossy green foliage. Honestly, not a spot on any of the leaves! I don't spray, so I find this remarkable.
As far as the Knockout Roses go, they're hyped by all the mags and shows, but I'm not hugely impressed.

Good to know. I wasn't going to buy any until I got some other opinions. Thanks for the tips on the other roses though. I like a well formed bloom and the knockouts looked kindof sloppy online. Thanks!

 

[PrincessMommyof2]

I like them. I bought mine at (*gasp*) Walmart because I needed something to make my dog stop digging that day. Okay, so it was 100 outside when I planted them. They didn't like that and I thought they bit the dust. No loss of love there, I just left them in the ground because the thorns deterred my mud loving dog. Lo and behold, 2 weeks later they came back full and even had wee bitty blossoms a few weeks after that.

They aren't my favorite, but they sure get a huge for being able to withstand my stupidity and bouncing back in the scorching zone 9 sun.

 

[dixipixi]

I agree that they are very tough. We planted some by our front porch. They get full, extremely hot afternoon sun from around noon til sunset. When I first planted them it was only May, but already very hot and we had about 6 weeks with no rain.

I watered them everyday and they looked kind of puny for a while, but we started getting rain about the middle of June and they have been beautiful.

They have been in full bloom all summer. They are still covered right now. The guy at the nursery told me that they will bloom here from April til December. I'm waiting to see.

 

[shrubber]

If you want a low to no maintenance rose Knockout is it.
If you want a little better looking flower on amore compact plant
try the new Double Knockout rose
http://www.doubleknockoutrose.com/
I grow both( about 120,000 doubles and 85,000 knockouts) and am very impressed.