I admit my ignorance. Why would the popularization of KO's lead to RRD? I have had KO's for many years and love them. I like odd things in my garden too, but it's good to have a few bloomers that are as carefree and prolific as some annuals. To me the original hot pink single is the winner, although I also have blushing, rainbow and double. The flowers are bigger and brighter, contributing to the desired splash of color in the landscape. BB's here in Sanford have Weeks' Home Run. It is quite different from KO in form and has an American Beauty red color. It's completely BS free and blooms constantly. I've enjoyed mine. Lots of people at the garden center at Lowes think roses should look like roses, i.e. hybrid teas, but they have no idea what is involved in getting them to thrive. I've been buying Griffith Buck's from the lady at the Raleigh farmer's market. She'll tell you which ones are disease free. Earthsong and Prairie Harvest are, totally. I have a few Austins and they all have different issues, so it's great to have troopers like KO's and these others in the mix. Anyone know any others that are disease free? I might be off topic here. claire

If you want a big statement plant somewhere along the strip, you could try Darlow's Enigma. He makes a nice architectural statement, and I've never in my life deadheaded him. Wouldn't know how to get close enough without serious bloodletting, and he never needs it. I don't think he sets noticeable hips, and he blooms more or less around the clock. I also rarely if ever prune him, maybe a little tip trimming if I feel like it, but he mostly drops off nonfunctional twigs at the ends of branches without much help from me. I agree that Bonica is mostly self cleaning, or at least doesn't look ratty if I don't clean, and Marie Daly is similar. Several of the Easy Elegance roses do fine without any deadheading from me at all, and they're both winter hardy and pretty continual blooming. Little Mischief is short and wide dark pink, Yellow Brick Road is tall and slim, Kashmir is medium and red, Pinktopia is about 4-5' and medium pink. I'd say that Calypso, Music Box, and Sweet Fragrance can be left without deadheading but look a little less clean if they're not tended at least once a month. I think the hybrid musks like Wilhelm or Penelope would do fine without deadheading, and bushy singles like Ballerina or Robin Hood might be good. You don't want roses in a public space that are too tempting to nip off the flowers for cutting, so the singles and mass clusters are better than any hybrid teas. I know what you mean about maintaining church roses with a minimum of effort. My church has 70 or more Home Run bushes around their property, and about 5 years ago put a notice in the bulletin because no one had ever pruned them and there was all kinds of dead wood looking terribly ratty and half dead. Easy care isn't no care, even for Knockouts and similar roses. Now I just go in every spring and do a fairly brutal prune once a year, throw on some fertilizer, and they get absolutely no care till next spring. Driving by they look fine, though I'm sure my fingers would be itching to deadhead something if I got right up close to them. Oh, there's also a Seafoam or two around the other side of the church that I don't prune any more than my own Darlow's Enigma, but I rather think Seafoam looks ratty at the best of times so more care wouldn't help it much. I'm sure the congregation appreciates your attention and care. Cynthia

I have one red Sunblaze rose that I rescued from a grocery store last year. The colors on the rose are gorgeous and this year, it is starting to take off. I have a ton of blooms on it at the moment that are just getting ready to open. I have not had any issues with diseases but then in my area, I am not prone to having plants with fungal diseases. My rose tends to grow more upright rather than cascading. However, it is still a baby so I don't know what the final result will be. So far, I am happy with this rose. Color stays a true blue red, not orange. My phone does not photograph red roses well so sorry for the poor picture. I have not taken a photo this year (just video) of the bush, so I don't have anything that is a better picture for you.

Hi HU, citrus blooms can be triggered by stress. After a period of stress "drought" they may bloom. How many times per year depends on the cultivar of citrus. The larger the size of the fruit of the cultivar the fewer number of blooms. Some limes and lemons, for example, can produce up to four times a year, while the citrus blooming season for those big navel oranges is only once in the spring. There is a plethora amount of hack videos on the web about how to pollinate citrus for a bumper crop. The videographers all state this a necessity indoors. Its all BS. I tried it once with the tiniest artist paintbrush I could find and it knocked off 80% of everything I touched. Most citrus are self pollinating. I have a bummer crop of sweet oranges from last November that all bloomed indoors with no help from me to pollinate. Two of my trees have about 16 full size sweet oranges between them. 3'rd tree is the same cultivar and dropped all its fruit. My 4'th orange tree is a different cultivar and did not bloom last year. I harvested fruit last fall and again they bloomed indoors the year before and were never hand pollinated. https://www.walterreeves.com/food-gardening/pollination-requirement-and-seeds-in-citrus/