Rosebud: one of my customers planted six. When I saw them they were so covered with blooms it was hard to find the bush underneath. He said they bloomed all summer, sometimes more than others, but always blooming. They are planted toward the back of his lot, easily visible from the deck. He said even when the blooms are old they look okay at that distance. They have the same little twiggy stemlets that give you plenty of places for blooms as do the regular Knockouts. He's not particularly knowledgeable gardener. Was feeding them the same thing he was feeding his other shrubs. I thought they made an excellent landscaping addition. If I didn't want to buy 340 various other roses I'd add some to my place :-)

Florida roses share RRD susceptibility with all other roses; but (and this is where you have been lucky, so far) you have water on three sides and you seldom have winds from the north in May through September (this means you don't get cold fronts then either.) The vector mites for RRD are wingless and windborne. For them to carry RRD to Florida from areas to your north would require right wind condition + being a time of year, up north, when mite populations have built up. Florida isn't totally free of RRD. Two Hybrid Musks near Tallahassee were diagnosed with RRD over five years ago. Multiflora isn't common in the southern halves of the Gulf Coast states. That's a good thing for youall. A bad thing for youall is that R. laevigata can catch RRD. I know because mine has it, and I have a report of it just south of Charleston S.C. One thing on the pictures that is really interesting: the blooms on the affected roses. Your use of the word "Stunted" is a very good description of both leaves and petals. The blooms' petals are truly stunted but what caught my attention was the deep color of the petals. Of the many plants I've seen with RRD, I've never seen a situation when the petals got changes in the colors to make a deeper petal color. I've seen a lot of pink roses with RRD and pink Knock Outs with RRD....the colors have tended to become lighter, or splotchy. Do you have a scanner with your computer? Most scanners can be used as a microscope to see if you've a mite problem that is below the limit of what we see with the 'naked eye'. Ann

You could have more variety of colors if you got some of the other Knock Outs also. They come in more colors than the cherry red in your photos. There is also a double PINK Knock Out. Then there is a yellow one (that fades whitish) that my neighbor swears is quite lovely, but it may be a single. And there is the Rainbow Knock Out which may also be a single--I'm not sure, having never seen one in real life, but I have heard some KO owners praise it also. It probably wouldn't help much, but Home Run, a bright red single that is distantly related to Knock Out, is very disease resistant, but its bright red would probably clash with the cherry red of your current Knock Outs. However, if you have an area where there are no Knock Outs, you might try Home Run. It's true red is a bit easier on the eyes than the cherry red of the usual KO. How do rugosa hybrids do in your area? They are highly BS resistant for me and come in whites and pinks--and I love those crinkled rugosa leaves. Kate

Pictures would be a big help but there are a couple of possibilities that come immediately to mind. They could be Pink KOs that were mislabeled as red. But, it could just be a matter of the conditions they are growing in as well. Weather, soil and culture can all play a factor in bloom color.