I have never really liked roses, except to buy a bouquet at a florist. My mother had me plant and care for several grafted tea roses on the east side of the old house back in the 1960's & 70's. I always have gotten pricked and/or scratched when working with hybridized cultivar roses. This line of new Knock Out cultivars has been planted around a lot the last two decades and I had to prune and work with these shrub roses for some customers when I was working with a small garden-landscape company from 2002 to 2018. No matter what I wear, I get bitten by these. This line of shrub roses does not need to be fertilized and sprayed. I don't remember any of these having a good strong scent. Deer can nibble on them a little or a lot. A new viral disease spread by some mites called Rose Rosette Disease is killing off lots of these and other cultivated roses. This new disease must be native to eastern North America, as it does not really harm the native species of roses as: Virginia Rose, Illinois Rose, Carolina Rose, Swamp Rose, etc.

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