I don't have either, but I believe carpet roses are low to the ground and KOs can get to 6 feet high and are more upright.

Just from my experience the knockouts are way more outstanding than the carpet. The carpet are lower growing than knockout but mine definitely don't have no where near the amount of blooms the knockouts have. I have seen some peoples carpet roses that are gorgeous in the spring and thats it. My knockouts only get about 4 ft. tall and wide. Good luck choosing. Judy

In my zone 5 yard my Knockouts only get about 3 feet tall. I do keep them deadheaded though so that may be the reson they only get that tall. I've tried the Carpet roses.
They were suppose to be like the Knockouts but never lived up to their hype. My Carpet rose died the first winter.

Other easy care roses include Buck roses (especially Earthsong and Quietness) and Easy Elegance.

Predfern, do the varieties you mention require more care than the KO or Carpet? Do they continuously bloom? Do they need to be deadheaded during the season?

do the varieties you mention require more care than the KO or Carpet? Do they continuously bloom? Do they need to be deadheaded during the season?

Yes! to all of the above.

I have 5 Knockouts in various locations around my house. I also have Flower Carpet Red and Flower Carpet Coral growing in partial shade.

Both are effective landscape plants. They are both hardy and vigorous and do not seem to need fertilizer, fungicide or much pruning here.

Neither produces beautiful individual blooms, but both produce masses of color. Neither have long-lasting blooms, but don't require deadheading. FC can get 4' high vs. KO which reached 6'. FC produces more blooms and does so continuously. KO is more upright while FC spreads.

Knock Out
{{gwi:257917}}

Flower Carpet Red

{{gwi:225248}}

{{gwi:257918}}

Harry those were really nice! I would like to ask if Carpet Coral gets as wide as Carpet Red? According to HMF the former sprawls less.

Kate

Hi guys, The red flower carpets seems to do better around here too than the pink and yellow flower carpet. They (pink and yellow) just don't rebloom well or at least all of the ones I have seen around here. I'm sure someone out there can beg to differ. To me they both have a beautiful bloom but you get so many more on the ko than the fc. Judy

Looking fo roses of all colors tht will grow in big pots (2-3ft diameter) and will not get moreo than 3 ft high

I'm zone 7a and heavy clay. I have knockouts that don't get very high and only bloom twice unless deadheaded. On the other hand the scarlet carpet rose is ridiculously prolific, even blooming in the snow. I also have yellow, pink and white and they are not a patch on the scarlet which is 5 feet wide and 3 feet tall after 4 yrs. The other ones are slow to shed dead blooms and re flower. Any one of them though is far superior to knockout, which is a shame because I love the hot pink KO next to my pool. I've had 8 blooms so far and it's July. That's on 2 plants.

I would be interested to know if that is normally for KnockOut to only bloom twice or is the Rosette Virus slowing the blooming down? I am not a fan of all the hype of Knockout roses. I think they are crossed with Rosa Multiflora. Its impossible to tell if they would do what are supposed to do without the Rosette virus. I would like to study some of them planted that I knew were virus free. The Rosette Virus makes roses less cold hardly, and causes them to get more powdery mildew. And they can just not come back in the spring because they will actually die in two to five years with the virus. But, I am not going to buy any, I don't want to reward this type of thing, but I would be curious to know how they are fairing, as my roses are coming down with Rosette now. Rosa Multiflora can live along time with Rosetta.

I think you are confusing Mosaic virus with Rose Rosette. A rose can live with mosaic virus, but it will be less cod hardy. Rose Rosette is lethal to a rose and it should be removed right away. Even if the plant is still alive, it should be removed because it will serve as a vector to spread the disease to other roses. Most KOs get Rose Rosette when they are planted in yards, not from the nursery.

Diane, Check for rose midge, that might be the reason for KOs without blooms......

I have KO's here at home, a couple at work in the garden that I take care of and about a dozen at my church that I take care of. To start off with, I do give them decent soil. I mix Garden Soil (StaGreen is what I use) and native soil, 1/2 and 1/2 mix. A good, happy root system makes all the difference in the world over the long haul. Feed them once a month with any 10-10-10 fertilizer and water them once a week and they are happy, blooming machines all season long without any dead heading. If you want to mix the color a little, put Sunny KO's at each end and one right smack in the middle.

Laurel Knockouts have very red new grow that perhaps is looking like rrd. If you post a picture we could let you know. They are also by nature very thorny.