Originally, the "Fairy Roses" were dwarf (two to sixteen inches) rose bushes with single or double blooms, cultivated in the 1800's. They are/were dwarf or miniature Chinas and are probably virtually extinct now. The fairy rose available today is a Polyantha Shrub Rose which is usually a smaller than average rose bush, growing to about three feet. The pros and cons between Polyantha Shrubs and Knock Outs are pretty much dependent on what you like, want to take care of, and how much you want to see the same thing (particularly in the case of the Knock Outs) in almost every garden from Maine to California and everywhere in between.

I'm sure that many people don't know this because of the number of questions that are always posted about Knockouts/Double Knockouts, or any others in that family, but Knockouts are not like HTs or other roses. They are shrubs, and shrubs are never supposed to be pruned like you would a HT. You can cut them back a third, or shape them up, but prune - NO. Transplanting should not be a problem for them.

Congratulations! The absolute first thing you want to do is mark that cane so no one "accidentally helps" you by cutting it off! If you want to dead head it, ONLY snap off the spent flower, leave every leaf there is on that cane to encourage it to grow. Don't cut any pieces of it off until there is a lot of it so it can continue growing even after you start cutting from it. If you want to encourage it to grow, you could begin removing the Knock Out and leave only the sport growing. That would funnel the resources into this mutation instead of sharing it with the other growth. Once there is enough growth on that part of the bush, you can begin playing with the various methods of propagation. You have the bottle method which is done with soft wood cuttings from spring through about fall. You have the wrapping method which requires hard wood material in late fall through early spring. You can begin practicing budding now so when there is appropriate material, you might be able to bud it to preserve it. All methods are fair game. You have to determine which works best for your climate, your rose and your style of gardening. But, the first thing is to secure that sport so it isn't accidentally lost, then encourage it to produce enough growth that you will have plenty of material to work with. Kim

Denise, Landscape roses like Knockout Roses are very vigorous growers, so you prune them to give yourself some control over them. Otherwise they can get amazingly big and start looking kind of wild. The "rules" for pruning them are not necessarily the same as they are for some other roses like hybrid teas because they are landscape shrub roses. Some people don't prune them their first year because they want to get a good idea of how the natural shape of the Knockout rose is going to progress. Some folks prune them back only every other year because they want them to be huge monsters but know they have to maintain some sort of order and control. You just have to figure out what works for you and the space you have as well as the vigor of the particular Knockout you have. Some Knockout types get larger than others and some grow more vigrously. When you prune in late winter to early spring, you are doing so in order to control the shape and size of the bush, and to keep new growth coming out near the bottom of the plant. Remember that I mentioned my mom quit pruning her roses and the base of the plants became very ugly. Well, that "ugly" is what you want to avoid. If you don't prune, then the new growth comes out higher and higher every year and the bottom of the plant looks awful. I haven't grown Knockouts, but they probably should be pruned back to the 5, 6 or 7 largest canes each spring--removing what you need to in order to maintain the shape you like and that fits in with your landscape. You always remove the oldest and woodiest canes, because as they get older they just get woodier and woodier and don't look that great. Because Knockout Roses can be very vigorous growers if planted in ideal conditions, they sometimes need "corrective" pruning in the middle of the growing season when they send out an occasional limb that just shoots out from nothing to 2 or 3 feet almost overnight and is growing in the "wrong" direction, like directly into the wall of the house or a pathway or whatever. I don't think you have to deadhead Knockout blooms though, as they are self-cleaning. A friend of mine describes the more vigorous Knockouts as taking on the appearance of a drunken spider if left too long without corrective pruning, with long legs sticking out this way and that way, and she's not the only person I've heard describe them that way. I have a couple of David Austin English Roses that get that same "drunken spider" look in the middle of the summer, especially after a big rainy spell. They just send out canes out of nowhere that go this way and that way. I prune them out as needed and don't seal the cuts. They heal over just fine on their own. I googled and found you info on "Pruning Knockout Roses" and linked it below. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Pruning Knockout Roses