mommom, your roses are just going through their normal blooming cycle. The rose will look better if you trim off the ends that are no longer blooming. Water well (but don't drown them) and regularly. . . and wait. After a rest (anywhere from a few weeks to a month or sometimes even 6 weeks), the bush will bloom again. At the end of that blooming cycle, again trim off the spent blooms, water, and wait--for the next bloom cycle. One reason your rose isn't doing much right now is that it is still trying to grow roots in your garden. A newly planted rose will probably take about a month or 6 weeks before it starts putting out new vigorous growth. Patience is a virtue all gardeners have to learn. : ) Kate

I am actually trying to get a handle on how low to prune if I want my knockouts to eventually be about 4 fet tall. Can anyone help? I just cut them back to about three feet but my hunch is that from here they'll go crazy. Two feet seems so smlll compared to where I am starting from. This will be their third year. Last summer they got to be about 5 feet and that is larger than what I want right now. The first year they were in they grew pretty slowly and last year I pruned in early April to about 2 feet and they grew to about 5 feet. Should i go back to 2 feet if i want an outcome of 4 or should I go to three feet and then cut back in the summer if they are larger than I want?

Hi Pam, I bought Sunny Knock Out 2 years ago. It was a bit more sluggish to get with the program, but it did bloom. It didn't really start growing much until the end of last summer, but now it is blooming non-stop. In this heat, one shouldn't expect them to thrive. I have two miniature roses that dropped their foliage and a couple of my other shrub roses are nearly naked, as well. None of my roses (any of them) are blooming normally right now in this heat, except my dark Pink KO and Lady Elsie May by the patio. They have good afternoon shade and at the bottom of the hill, their soil holds moisture better. So...Water, Water, WATER!!! :) You shouldn't fertilize newly planted roses. I hope you didn't. Just mix in some good compost with the fill soil, mulch around it 4-6 inches deep and water it weekly (or more often if it is a dry summer) the first year through the warm weather growing season. I water my Sunny Knock Out and all other roses every other day in my dry sandy soil. In normal soil, a once a week good deep watering is enough. I even water mine in the winter if it is a dry, cold winter. Right now, I water from daylight till dark - every freaking day, and still the heat is effecting their blooming. This weather and those blasted Japanese Beetles have been making life unbearable for them and me. And now aphids - bad! Even on the leaves of trees - very bad this summer. I am squishing bugs and blasting them off plants with the garden hose right and left in every area of my yard. I pull ten gazillion weeds here, and squish 50 bugs there, and water, water, water! I mow the grass every other day and use the trimmer on my paths twice a week, and I can't seem to keep up with it or even make a dent Good grief! What a summer this has turned out to be. The only good thing so far (knock on wood) is that I have tomatoes and the Ground Cherries are making fruit. Everything else the heat and bugs are getting. I could just cry. It's probably just this weather. Water them, honey, and pray for a break in this heat wave. ~Annie

The original Knock Out, along with Blushing and Pink, do very well here. There are several public plantings of the original Knock Out in Eatontown, they get minimal care. If they get any blackspot at all, it is minimal, and there is no leaf loss. Double is brand new this year (I saw 5 at Middletown Garden Center today, pounce if you're into it), but it is expected to have the same characteristics as it's "sister" Knock Out.