Even if you are new to landscaping, you have probably heard of these roses. I was there the year they came out on the market, so excited to be able to work with such a superior rose in the high humidity climate of Illinois. I had worked with 'Carefree Wonder', 'Carefree Beauty', 'Carefree Sunshine', and was now ready for the red version.
I must say I was not disappointed either! It was an amazing plant, it grew fast, bloomed profusely, hardy to zone 4, and desease resistant with bright raspberry red flowers. Even if I was a bit disappointed that the blooms were only singles and not doubles, I didn't voice it, because there was nothing else that compared on the market.
At the time of it's coming out, the nursery I worked at stocked up on it, and I pushed it at those home owners with big expectations for their plants. People were always asking, "I want something that is hardy, blooms most of the year and is low maintenance, what do you have?" For years my reply was 'annuals', but with 'Knock Out', it fit most of those requirements, and was a perennial in our zone! So it was, in five years, you could drive through our city and see 'Knock Out's in front of almost every house and business. Mass plantings, single specimen plants by front doors, hedges, signs post plantings and in parking lot medians. Ugh, it was overwhelming.
Since then, they have come out with even more new and improved versions of the original 'Knock Out', there is now a 'Knock Out Pink' and a 'Double Knock Out', and so the plant is used even more widespreadly.
I say all of this to lead up to the fact that I no longer use this plant in my own garden because it is so overused everywhere else. If I need a rose, I will probably not use a 'Knock Out' unless it is the only thing that will grow in the spot.
Do I still love them? Yes. Do I still think they are a superior rose? Yes. But I want my gardens to be original and I am not limited to the 'Knock Out's any longer. Since their coming out, many superior roses have been developed with a hardy nature and disease resistant. They also come in a wider range of colors, like the new 'Flower Carpet' series or 'Simplicity' series hedge Roses. Those two are fairly new and I have not grown all the colors, obviously, but they have won many awards and if you read reviews, they are very comparable to the 'Knock Out' series.
One of my personal favorite roses to use in my gardens though are the old fashion Rugosa roses. My special favorites in this category are 'Hansa'(pink) and 'Wild Spice'(white), both of which are very hardy, large shrub roses, produce large hips (fruit) and have a spicy scent that goes well with lavender planted near by. They grow in difficult sites, and are easy to manage.
Some don't like the rugosa roses because they are rather thorny, very prickly to prune, and the fruit is large, so some find it unsightly. I rather enjoy the large fruit in the winter months as a winter interest, and it also makes great rose hip jelly, very similar to apple jelly in flavor (takes a lot of rose hips to make a batch though).
So, maybe I should have entitled this entry as the Rugose Rose review, since I have more favorable things to say about them. I am just tired of the over use of the 'Knock Out' series. Roses use to be a center piece plant, and now they are everywhere and anyone can grow them and they have become boring, sort of...
Final note to end on, I had always thought this plant and roses in general were fairly deer resistant, but in one yard I worked in, the lady had some ravenous deer that would roam her yard in the early mornings, eating from almost every shrub and perennial in her garden. The Knock Outs were not immune in this case. They ate the new leaves and young stems and thus, ate the spring flush of blooms in the process, it was very sad.
So if you have a deer problem in your area, keep an eye on your Knock Outs and see if they don't get munched. It all depends on what else is available for them to munch, and if they are desperate enough, they will gobble all kinds of garden plants, not just roses.
If deer are a problem for you, check out this website for resistant plants: 13 deer resistant plants
Thirteen is not the total number, scroll down and read some of the comments and there is a lady that lists some more plants that are resistant near her home in Canada. Enjoy.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
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