I bought the original Knock Out because it was listed as an Earthkind rose and I wanted all of them. It does not do that well here and I hate the fact that it has thorns on the back of the dead heads. It is planted as a landscape shrub at the entrance of practically every subdivision around, Just that association is enough to make me dislike it.

The fact that it is over-planted makes me avoid it, too. But that doesn't mean it's a bad rose.

When I gardened in NJ - Zone 6b - Knock Out was the only rose whose frame pleased me. It grew into an ideally shaped hemispherical shrub. It was generous with its flowers. And in one case of three there was a lovely, subtle scent to them. While most hybrid tea roses have flowers of the 'right' form I have yet to find a hybrid tea rose that can please me half so much. In NJ hybrid tea roses died of fungal disease. Here they die of spring frost. Or of weak root systems. Or of drought. Or because they are just not very vigorous plants to begin with.

I think there might be a few David Austin roses that please me more than Knock Out did. A number of floribundas do, too. A few old garden roses. And maybe some of the Kordes introductions from Palatine Roses. I tend to believe Knock Out is vastly overused because people are somehow predisposed to like roses and they want them to succeed in their own gardens. For many gardeners in the NE and Plains states it's just about the only rose they've heard about that does.

My hope when I moved here was to succeed with enough other roses that I'd not have to resort to planting Knock Out. So far I have not planted one.

Knock Outs definitely do better for me than Hybrid teas! Over the years I've had many Hybrid teas - at first because they were most available locally and later because they were given to me - few of them survive today. They usually look great for the first year or two and then die off cane by cane growing smaller each year until they're gone. I'm just glad to have a couple of near-by nurseries that sell old garden roses that can tolerate my standard of "care".

Hi Clint,

I agree with you in so many aspects regarding Knockouts... I think of them as "generic roses" ... I have 2 ! I am a rose snob - by all means! to me a rose needs to have at least a resemblance of a scent... But after loosing more than 100 roses (and some of them I totally cried over! specially because I can't buy again!) I have my 2cents about those blasted Knockouts... whichever way the name is spelled!)

So I have to confess that the one I got when I first started my garden still growing and it's actually a strong plant. No black spot ~ ah the blessing! It's a light pink and I believe is called Nearly Wild (???) very nice shape and plenty of nice single roses... NO SCENT at all... which frustrates me...

The other one is a bright pink - it was a gift from a friend and it's a huge plant... this year specially is a monster! Filled with roses... they are single but they are just so bright I think they can pinpoint my garden from a satellite!


on May 10th...

just took this pic on May 30th

I am shocked by the price this year! I saw it at Lowes and I checked several other pots to make sure I was not seeing things! No- I will not be adding them to my garden, but the 2 I have don't give me any problems... oh if only they smelled like a rugosa...

I do like the Pink Double Knock Out ok. I have 2 tree roses of it and they do well. We have so many Japanese Beetles this year that it makes me question the Roses altogether. The only good thing is they keep the Japanese Beetles off most everything else because they prefer them. LOL.

I have Nearly Wild. I didn't know it was a Knock Out (?) Mine are very small and thorny and definitely survivors.

I've had Nearly Wild for several decades - isn't it too old a variety to be a Knock Out?

Nearly Wild was created by the Brownell Family in 1941 so it's not a Knock Out rose.
http://www.helpmefind.com/rose...

Just to add my 2 cents. I never met a plant I did not like. If I did not plant something because everybody had one I would not have one tree in my yard. Everybody in my neighborhood have trees.

When I plant my gardens it is for look and smell. If I want fragrance I add fragrant plants, if I need a certain color flower and if the knock out fits that color in my garden in it is going. I guess it is like 2 women wearing the same dress it can be a killer on one a beauty on another. It depends on what someone puts in that dress.

There are a bunch of roses out there without smell. Believe me I have had a few. You could not smell them unless you stuck your nose in it and sucked up the darn bee in your nose. But it was a pretty color so I liked the rose. It just does not matter to me I call it a flower, and as long as it flowers I do not care what they call the plant. JMO

Ha! Cinta, you make a good point. I have lots of flowers that I dearly love that have no scent. But since I can't grow the hybrid teas here, and that is the type of rose I really like from an esthetic standpoint, I WANT rose scent at least!

I do not like david austins that look like torn up used kleenex. The hybrid teas are a pretty flower to my eye but that is a useless plant for my garden conditions and funds to have to continue to replace them.

I can understand people want what they want and plant what they want. Gardening is fun.

FYI - Sunny knockout is fragrant it grows good in zone 6 I have seen it grown in a lot of garden center display gardens and a neighbor's yard. It is always in bloom and is a nice addition to his garden bed.

Clint, I remember when you were very interested in Knock Out roses. What happened?

http://garden.org/thread/view_...

I still like the Pink Double one somewhat, but the others are so ugly. The yellow one is the worst. Boy, did I make a mistake when I bought those! The Yellow one attracts Japanese Beetles worse than any plant I've ever grown. The blooms are so ugly and fade so quickly. I just cut down the yellow one called Sunny Knockout yesterday.

So as not to scare people away from Sunny Knockout totally, I will say that it is a beautiful rose in this part of the country. As Cinta said, it has a wonderful scent. I have both Carefree Sunshine and Sunny Knockout in a bed that gets no additional irrigation and they bloom all summer long. Since they get a bit taller than other roses, I combine them with ornamental grasses, yellow echinaceas, heliopsis, coreopsis, Tiger Eye sumac, golden barberry, Honeycomb buddliea, baptisia, currant bushes and a smoke tree. I love the way Sunny Knockout has blossoms in 5 shades of yellow at any one time. Nothing gets any spray in my yard, as i have bee hives. The butterflies love this particular bed.

Cindi, that sounds beautiful. Like you I garden for looks, and what works in my garden in my climate.

Gardening is very much local. What is a dud in one yard can be a beauty in another. It would help if we recognize that people should consider their growing conditions vs another growing conditions.

I'm happy that you are somewhat fond of the double pink knockouts. I have so many roses in my "Rose Gardens" (mostly hybrid tea, floribunda, and grandeflora), but for this garden I'm using a first row of Paprika OSO Easy Roses, a second row of Red Drift Roses and the furthest row back of Double Pink Knockouts.; These are being used in a new bed where I don't want to put all perennials and like the idea that there will always be a bloom on them.

Cindi do you have a pic of your bed. The more I think about your description the more I am thinking this may work for a bed I am redoing. The smoke tree is there and a yellow barberry,

I picked up a new barberry Proven Winner Sunjoy Gold Pillar. It is red and yellow. The new leaves are red.

Teri I put in a all mini-rose bush garden, I did not do a color scheme, wish I had, as I saw mini-bushes I purchased and put them in the area. I have pink, red, purple, white and planted Rosanne Geranium ground cover. I will probably remove some of them and redo that bed next year. I am not pleased with all the different color roses. But I have had blooms since May.

Actually, I have one far away garden border with all different colored miniature roses and I really like it. It fits right in with all the different colored perennials that are in that garden.

PS: I have 2 smoke bushes at the front of my driveway. One "smokes" and the other one never has. They are 5 years old. Hardly pruned.

I'm in zone 9B so I'm mostly in to tropical plants but I always wanted to try a few roses. This knock out rose looks like one to try or for my zone is there a better choice?


RobertB