Focusing on disease resistance, a good place to start your research is at the earth-kind website from Texas A&M, linked below. So far, 21 cultivars have been designated Eart-Kind but only one, 'Knockout', is red. If I were to list the ten qualities in a rose that matter to me, I think Knockout would possess 9 of them. Unfortunately, the missing one would concern the beauty of the flowers.

Here is a link that might be useful: Earth-Kind Roses

Try to find Kashmir or Superhero. These are part of the Easy Elegance series. This is a wonderful series for beginners. They are very hardy & disease resistant. They are prolific & beautiful. Unfortunately the one thing they are not is fragrant. You will never find the rose that meets all your specifications, but these are a good place to start.

You are in an area with high pressure from blackspot disease, which attacks the leaves individually and kills them. Since only a few varieties are completely resistant, many growers spray fungicide every two weeks.

Some red roses that are resistant are Knock Out, Home Run, and Quadra. The fist two may be available locally. Quadra is a large shrub or climber, and you would need to order it online for planting next March. See HelpMeFind for pictures and vendors.

If you seen red roses at a school, those probably were double red knockout or regular red knockout (less petals).

Here is a link that might be useful: double red knockout rose

Thanks everyone!! I'll look at all of those plants :) I'm not sure those were the roses, the flowers were just a little bit smaller and the overall plant was more compact. I think it had clusters of flowers, instead of one long stem. Tomorrow is the first day of school - I'll try and snap a shot in the morning!! Thanks :) Christy

I frequent a rose park often with hundreds of varieties. The one that stand out the most is double red knock-out,

It's twice taller than single knock-out, and gets to 6' tall, heavy with flowers.

I also saw a double-pink TREE knock-out bush, the tree-form is much more elegant than the bush form.

Both of the above are eye-catching masterpieces, even from a far distance.

That's weird Strawberryhill, the double red knockouts in our area stay 3ft x 3ft and sometimes reach 4' x 3'- 4'
The single knockout on average grows larger here. 4' - 5'

Here they are :)

{{gwi:251484}}
{{gwi:251485}}

I think those roses are some kind of "groundcover" roses that seem to be popping up recently in public places. Don't know their name (wish I did), but I'm pretty sure they are not Double Knock Out--at least that kind of bush, with its graceful drooping, is not remotely like the much more upright bush on my Double Knock Outs, and the blooms on Double Knock Outs aren't quite as full and attractive as they are on that bush. Knock Out blooms are known for their color, not for their beauty and symmetry of form.

Why don't you ask the school who does their landscaping and then call that business. I'm sure they'd be happy to tell you the name of that rose. And then tell us--I want to know also. : )

Kate

Let's hope that all still exists after this storm!!!

I'd like to know what they are too. They do not look like our double KO rose bush either.

There are a number of low growing rose series. There are Flower Carpet roses, Drift roses and the Carefree roses. I think all of them have a red one. It could be anyone of those.

My guess would be that it is "Fantasy Red Groundcover". That is a very easy to grow rose, and resistant to diseases. But..of course...just my guess:)

For Jim1961: There might be 2 different varieties of Double-Red Knockout. The first time I saw Double-Red Knockout at Lowe's - I didn't like its pointy petal look.

The tall Red Double-Knockout at the rose park is different: the petals are more round, and there are more petal count. It's an improved Red Double-Knockout. My hubby is 6' tall, and the bush is up to his height.

strawberry, I think it might have more to do with how much watering the Double Red Knock Out gets. At least with mine, the blooms tend to get a bit "pointy" when I haven't been watering as much as usual.

My Double Red Knock Outs (2 of them) are 3 or 4 years old and get no taller than 3.5-4 ft. Probably regional differences. My neighbor's regular KO gets about 5-5.5 ft tall.

Regardless, KO's are not known for the beauty of their blooms, but for the bright color. And for frequency of bloom and disease-resistance. If they weren't about the most disease-resistant rose in existence, probably very few people would bother buying them since color is their only other asset.

Kate

Strawberryhill,

Here's two pics of our double knockout red blooms. 1st pic a honeybee is cuddling with it...lol

{{gwi:321943}}

{{gwi:321944}}

Hi Christy,

I don't know what your pictured rose is, but one that you might like would be John Franklin. It does well in the south, not just in Canada. Antique Rose Emporium carries it, and that's an excellent and dependable place to buy roses. Theirs are ownroot 2-gallon plants that are a bit larger than most places send.

Maggie is definitely a rosy red when it blooms and I'd highly recommend that one, even though as it ages it gradually turns purply. Not a spot of disease anywhere on ours. I really think everyone ought to have at least one Maggie in their yard; it's a perfect rose on a very healthy bush! Ours is relatively slow growing. Planted in the yard from a gallon-sized plant in April here, it's only about maybe 14" high now, but we let its buds develop and bloom lots (or it might have been a larger plant by now).

We've had Double Knockout and liked it. No disease of any kind, even though it was planted in too much shade to bloom heavily. The small double flowers were attractive too, though not the very large kind you might think of for filling a vase with. The plants themselves were well-filled with unusually attractive foliage. A nice landscape plant.

General Schablikine is often considered a red, but I don't think of it as a red, but as variously shaded tones of deep pink to dusty pink on the same bloom. It needs no spray and the flowers are ultra interesting. They don't last particularly long in a vase, but we keep cutting them anyway because I want to keep looking at it all the time. It will bloom on into the beginnings of wintertime.

For all our roses here in the Piedmont of the state, we don't use sprays. We choose roses that are suited to no-spray conditions, and there are a good many of them. If you get a rose that's claimed to be as healthy as this one (Antique Rose Emporium is careful to be truthful in their descriptions) and if you use all-organic growing methods and fertilizers from the start, there's every chance that you won't need to use poisonous chemicals in your yard in order to grow roses successfully. Variety choice is key here.

Best wishes,
Mary

P.S. I hope you made it through the hurricane in good shape.

Here is a link that might be useful: John Franklin

Okay, so I had a meeting at the school today, and afterward I asked about the roses :) They said they were planted 2 years ago by a nursery 5 minutes away. So I drove there and asked them. They found one person who was working there 2 years earlier, and he remembered them exactly. He said they were knock outs!!! He thought he might have some in inventory but asked I come back in a few days, because he needed to look for them. I hope he can find some!!!

Two or three planted tight (18" apart) makes a stunning display. I've seen it around my area.

Thanks everyone!! I went to Lowe's the other day and they had double knock outs in pink. I really wanted the red and they had some, but the pinks just looked fantastic!!! I took your advice Ken, and planted in them in 3's about 18 inches apart at each side of the driveway at the end. I'm looking forward to seeing them next year!!!

I'm sure it will be a lovely display! You'll have to post a picture when they're in bloom. Please feel free to ask any questions about their care.