• Blog
    • General Gardening
    • Gardening for Children
    • Gardening Videos
    • Insect Pests
    • Landscape Design
    • Trees
    • Vegetables & Fruits
    • Weeds
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Event Announcements
  • Gardening Videos
  • Resources
    • Western North Carolina Gardening Guide
    • Online Resources
      • Soil Testing Information for Home Gardeners
    • Speakers Bureau
  • Garden Helpline
    • Collecting Samples of Plants and Insects
  • The Learning Garden
  • About Us
    • About Us
      • How to Become an Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteer
    • The Association
    • Contact Us
    • Speakers Bureau
    • Sponsors
      • Sponsors: 2019 WNC Gardening Symposium
    • Donate
Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteers of Buncombe County
Blog / Flowers / Roses / Are Knock Out roses really the easiest roses to grow?

Are Knock Out roses really the easiest roses to grow?

June 23, 2015

Knock Out Roses

Actually, Knock Out roses are akin to hit movies — they are showing everywhere, there are many “sequels” and they are even spawning merchandise capitalizing on their name. Resistant to black spot, these roses have a long blooming season, without the need for deadheading. They are relatively heat and cold tolerant, making them admirable performers in much of the United States. That said, they are shrub roses, not a new species, and benefit from the same care as other shrub roses, such as proper planting, fertilizing and annual pruning.

The first Knock Out rose, bred by William Radler, received an All American Rose Selection award in 2000. A whole family of other Knock Out roses — a double red, pink single, pink double, as well as Blushing, Rainbow and Sunny varieties now join the cherry–red, single-flowered original. These may differ in some ways besides flower form and color. The yellow Sunny Knock Out, for example, is the only fragrant Knock Out rose, and may get a little taller than its relatives.

Although Knock Out roses are black-spot resistant, Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service researchers report them susceptible to less familiar rose diseases, such as rose Cercospora leaf spot, which causes leaf yellowing and premature leaf drop. With the arrival of rose rosette disease to North Carolina, many Knock Outs have succumbed, perhaps because they are used in many home landscapes, as well as in mass plantings, making it easier for mites to spread this viral disease.

If the Knock Outs have given you courage to grow roses, branch out and make your landscape your own! If you want low maintenance, look for other varieties that do well without extra care. These include many older rose varieties, such as the small rose “The Fairy,” shrub roses, such as “Care-free Beauty” and even large climbers, such as “New Dawn.”

Give any rose at least six hours of sun in soil with a pH of at least 5.5; don’t overdo lime. Fertilize with balanced fertilizer from early spring to August. Keep watered and mulched. Prune your roses in early spring, removing dead, diseased or crossing shoots.

Article written by Debbie Green, Extension Master Gardener Volunteer.

For more information about rose care see:

http://content.ces.ncsu.edu/roses-for-north-carolina/

For more information about rose rosette disease:

http://ncsupdicblog.blogspot.com/2012/08/rose-rosette-hits-close-to-home.html

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Categories Roses Tags knock-out roses, rose rosette, roses

NC Cooperative Extension; Empowering People, Providing Solutions

Blog posts written and published by Extension Master GardenerSM volunteers in Buncombe County.

Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to our blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 3,716 other subscribers

Recent Posts

  • Saturday Seminar: Pruning Tools Workshop—Tool Selection and Sharpening, February 18
  • Online Seminar: Fruit Trees for Home Gardens February 16
  • Dramatic Winter Damage? What Should I Do?
  • What’s THAT Evergreen? Can I grow it?
  • A Gardening Guide for Our Mountains: The Perfect Holiday Stocking Stuffer

Categories

  • Events
    • Extension in Buncombe County
    • Extension Master Gardener Plant Clinic
    • Lectures & Seminars
    • Plant Sales
    • School Garden Grants
  • Flowers
    • Bulbs
    • Perennials & Biennials
    • Roses
    • Wildflowers
  • Gardening for Children
  • Gardening Videos
  • General Gardening
    • Installation & Planting
    • Mulch
    • Native Plants
    • Propagation
    • Seasonal Chores
    • Soils & Fertilizers
  • Houseplants
  • Landscaping
    • Firewise Landscaping
    • Landscape Design
    • Site Conditions
    • Water Management
  • Lawns
  • Pest Management
    • Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
    • Invasive Plants
    • Pesticides
    • Weeds
  • Plant Diseases
  • Plant Insects
    • Beneficial Insects
    • Insect Pests
    • Invasive Insects
  • Shrubs
  • Special Gardens
    • Container Gardens
    • Herb Gardens
    • Pollinator Gardens
    • Rain Gardens
    • Shade Gardens
  • Trees
  • Vegetables & Fruits
  • Wildlife

Contact Us

Buncombe County Extension Office
49 Mount Carmel Road
Asheville, NC 28806
Helpline 828-255-5522

Events

Keep up with our events by subscribing to the blog or checking our Events Calendar.

Explore the Archives

Back to Top

Copyright © 2023 Extension Master Gardeners of Buncombe County. Privacy Policy.