I receive a huge amount of questions about growing The Knock Out® Family of Roses and it’s easy to understand why they are so popular.
The original Knock Out® Rose was introduced in 2000 by The Conard-Pyle Co./Star® Roses. Created by Wisconsin rose breeder William Radler to reduce the rose gardener’s to do list with a plant that was cold hardy, disease resistant and incredibly floriferous. Knock Out® is cold tolerant to zone 5, heat tolerant throughout the U.S., reliably resistant to disease and produces a bevy of blooms every 5 to 6 weeks from spring until the first hard frost. I’d call that success! No wonder it won the AARS Award that year.
P. Allen Smith now has a dedicated place for all your Knock Out and Drift Roses. View it here
There are seven beautiful members of The Knock Out® Family of Roses in a wide range of colors ranging from cherry red to creamy yellow.
 The Knock Out® Rose |
 The Double Knock Out® Rose |
 The Pink Knock Out® Rose |
 The Double Pink Knock Out® Rose |
 The Blushing Knock Out® Rose |
 The Sunny Knock Out® Rose |
 The Rainbow Knock Out® Rose |
The natural inclination of The Knock Out® Family of Roses is to grow to about 3′ wide x 4′ tall, but they are easily maintained at a smaller size through pruning. They are ideal for growing in mixed borders, in containers or as a hedge.
Just like other roses, The Knock Out® Family of Roses perform best when planted in full sun. The soil should be well drained and fertile.
Plant the roses 4 feet apart to allow for room to grow and good air circulation.
To keep the flowers coming feed your roses with a fertilizer blended especially for roses. This should be done after each bloom cycle. There is no need to remove faded flowers because these roses are self cleaning – another task you can remove from your to do list!
Prune in late winter or early spring, while the plant is still dormant. Remove any dead or damaged wood, do a little shaping if necessary, and take out some of the interior stems to improve air circulation. Every 2 or 3 years remove about one third of the old branches to stimulate new, fresh growth. If you are trying to keep the roses at a certain height, you can cut them back hard with hedge shears. No need to worry about usual rose pruning rule of cutting back to an outward facing leaf bud – just lop them down to the desired size. I’ve even seen Knock Out® Roses spring back beautifully after being cut down to 6-inches.