Knockout Roses

Fun fact: Knockout roses were created in 1999 since then they have sold like crazy and become the most popular rose among homeowners.

Knockout roses are hybrid roses breed to beautiful and low maintenance. They have many attributes of traditional roses, with a few exceptions. One such example is they are still very attractive with thorns but lack fragrance and are mostly disease resistant. These shrubs produce vibrant flowers in three primary colors pink, red, and yellow. Knockout roses are tough, vigorous plants that are realigning easy to care bloom, bloom, bloom. The knockout rose does require some care but compared to it's relative roses bushes they are odor proof. A great example of this is that they “recycle” their spent bloom's by dropping them to the ground to decompose and be reused by the plant as a compost. So, no deadheading required, but no hips are produced to be used in jelly, jam's, and delicacies. On the other hand the tight petals and lack of hips mean less pesticides resulting in a more environmentally friend plant.

The knockout rose originated when a breeder, William Radler, devoted and passionate about roses since he was a child decided to dedicate his life's work to gardening and roses. He realized that not everyone had the time or dedication to care for traditional roses. With his extensive experience he began cross breeding plants for their best characteristics. What eventually resulted was seven varieties of the knockout rose. This new rose hearty, drought resistant, cold tolerant, disease resistant, and low maintenance all while still being beautiful. The knockout rose plant is the top selling rose variety today.

Planting and maintenance is relatively easy for the knockout rose. First look for an area that reduces at least 6-8 hours of sun each day. If left alone knockout roses can reach 4 feet tall and wide, this should be considered when deciding on spacing. Also, a rule of thumb when gardening is to plant in odd numbers such as: 1, 3, or 5 plants. Now that you have selected a suitable area dig a hole twice as wide as the root ball and things same depth. Knockout roses are hearty but if the soil needs amending you should dig the hole deeper and nix with a compost, peat moss, or potting soil. Taper or pack the down the newly amended soil to prevent sinking later. If no amendments are necessary, work the bottom of the hole a inch or two to aerate and loosen for easy rooting. Remove the root ball from its container either by cutting the side or tilting upside down and working out with your fingers. Place the base of the plant level to grade of the earth. If plants are planted below grade water can set in the hole similar to a bowl leading to rotting or fungus. Finally fill the rest of the hole with amended soil, original soil, past moss, or potting soil. Immediately water and at more soil if necessary after settling. Water for the next couple of weeks, mulching is also recommended. When maintaining knock out roses you need to consider how large you want the plant to be.