My next door neighbor has several knock outs that are huge-- maybe 6' tall by 5' wide. They definitely have a light tea fragrance from up close. They get some disease, but no where near as bad as some other roses. Lastly, they are WAY too ubiquitous where I live, IMHO. (Please don't hate me for my opinion!)

:)

It's a family of roses developed in the 1990's by William Radler and continues to develop today. There are Red, Pink, Blushing Pink, Rainbow, Sunshine and Whiteout Knockout roses and Double Pink and Double Double Red. Additional, there are Knockout roses that are not trademarked as Knockout, such as Carefree Sunshine and Climbing Carefree Sunshine. Many of the Polyanthas are prettier and much more fragrant than the Knockouts. That said I have plenty of both and love them all.

When I moved to my current house decades ago, I discovered there were a couple Dr. Hueys growing in one of the beds. Since I had so many other things to do (plus I didn't know much about roses back then), I let the Dr. Hueys keep on growing for about 4-5 years.

Yes, they are quite striking when they bloom. They would ramble all over about the same time the old-fashioned lavender-blue irises were blooming (evidently, a talented gardener had lived in my house at one time). Everyone would stop and ask about that combination--it was quite lovely.

That said, when Dr. Huey quits its springtime blooming, it is a terrible plant--worst disease-monger I've ever grown. Within one month after its lovely spring bloom, it hardly had any leaves left on it--a total blackspot casualty! Even with spraying, I couldn't keep any leaves on that plant until autumn--but it wouldn't bloom again until the following spring.

But it was a lovely sight in May!

Kate

One of the professors at LSU ag. center in Baton Rouge told me they have an unpruned red KO that is now over 14 feet tall. Be carefull!

My knock Out is at least 8 feet tall and wide and this is with regular March prunning to approx.4x4.
Olga

That's all true. I had an 8 foot Pink Knockout. They grow really fast, but respond well to prunning. Some are leggy, some like Rainbow are short bushes. Radler has developed a smaller series of Knockout roses called the Drift Roses. They are available this year from Star Roses. Knockout is a trademark, and so Radler only calls specific roses, Knockout even though they all have similar hardy characteristics.