Saw some Knock Outs at the BigBoxes this past Sunday.. some of them actually look like roses and actually have a decent scent! Not overly strong, but still noticeable. Wish they'd use those in public landscapes rather than the originals, but the originals (at least here) are so hardy, don't want to yank them up if they're growing & blooming!

foraygardengirl said:Jumping in here....I have planted three Knock Out Roses and never had them come back after one Minnesota winter, and they are supposedly rated for zone 4. I have one Flower Carpet coral rose, that is rated zone 5, that I have had on an exposed northwest corner of my yard for 7 years - I don't cover it for the winter except to mound some compost in the middle. Always get some cane dieback, but it bounces back bigger and better every year. It blooms almost until it shows - the color gets darker as the weather gets colder. Never had a disease problem with it whatsover. I can't find them around here anymore because they are supposedly not hardy....ha. If I want anymore I will have to find them online or try to propagate mine. The other rose that works pretty well here is Nearly Wild.

I do love that shrub (NW). Thanks for the input!

I went to Home Depot, hoping to find another pink hybrid tea rose to complete a planting. No such luck. There were two long outside tables and two shelves full of roses - all of them Knockouts - most of them the single red or single pink variety. No roses for me that trip. I wouldn't call them self cleaning. They look like the needed to be deadheaded.

I hope that whoever is selling these shrubs to the big box stores is selling virus free plants. If people can knock off a Gucci bag, the can knock off a knock out pot.

They aren't self cleaning here. They have seed pods right now. I still have 5 more to cut down. Hate them. Lol.

Awww, tell us how you REALLY feel about Knock Out roses, Clint!

I am afraid he has been for a while now.


@clintbrown, it is good to hear from you, please don't hold nothing back! LOL.


When it says self cleaning it means they will sit there and dry up, then they blow away during the next storm. I kinda like that because it saves me a lot of work. Not that I was going to do anything anyway, that would defeat the purpose of having Knockout Roses.

The seeds came up by my mailbox. Lol. I have a yellow one blooming that is six inches tall. I can't get rid of these ugly things.

Are you beginning to feel persecuted?

Yes. LOL. Seriously. They are annoying plants. I will never plant another rose in my yard after I get these all removed. I replaced one with a Vanilla Strawberry Hydrangea today. The blooms on those last so long and no thorns!

Wow Clint, can you at least show us a picture before you kill it? Seems like there should be a homeless shelter for unwanted Knockout Roses.

Yup. You can send that little six inch bloomer right over here!

Or here.

Amazing how easily seedlings seem to grow for you, Clint. Never happened accidentally here!!

I find seedlings all the time. Right now it's Penstemon and Baptisia all over the place. I just thought it was hilarious that these roses are coming up from seeds when I don't want them anymore. Lol.

I thought they were sterile. I have never seen any seeds on mine.

Clint, you could be weeding out the next hot rose! I guess if you don't like the parents, you won't like the progeny either. You could always post on craigslist - free knockout rose, dig it yourself and save yourself a bit of work.

I wouldn't mind the knockouts if the stores had other roses also. I have two holes dug and waiting for another pink hybrid tea and for Don Juan climbing rose. They may be waiting until spring because i haven't seen any roses but knockouts in the shops. There aren't any rose nurseries nearby, but the stores had better than average roses in stock this spring.

I was at Home Depot last week. They had lots of roses - two large displays and a tall shelf - all knockouts. Most were the single red and the single pink. The teenage guy they have watering the plants doesn't know what he is doing. I think the blacktop gets more water than the plants. The roses were definitely not self cleaning. They looked a mess. I suspect there will be a knockout blowout this holiday weekend.

I have another pet peeve with shrubs in general. I like shrubs planted close together and groomed in a hedge. It is not common in this area, but I admired the hedges and groomed shrubs when I visited England. I also like natural, carefully pruned shrubs. The Japanese gardeners are masters at that.

As I ride around my neighborhood, I see aesthetic tumors dotting the landscape. People take the hedge clippers to a shrub and round it to a asymmetrical blob. Why bother. If you don't want to nurture and groom a shrub, don't plant one! The latest trend is knockout tumors - tumors with red or pink zits. Lovely.

I have gotten accidental seedlings, but they were all rosa multiflora.

Andi - loved your "aesthetic tumors"! My California buddy and I call them green meatballs.

A friend calls them turd bushes.

He is maintaining his parent's home. The bushes were planted in every yard by the builder. He has to rebuild the concrete steps. The contractor had to remove one bush, but my friend had him take them all! I am potting up some hostas, toad lilies, cranesbill geraniums and stonecrop with a planting plan for the north facing house. His mother likes purple and lavender, so I am using plants with shades of green, green/white foliage and white/lavender/purple flowers. It will be both prettier and easier to maintain than the despised bushes.

We are a city of zits! LOL.