Our local KFC restaurant has them in their landscaping.

I love Knockouts though! I hope they do not develop a canker or disease from over use.

If properly used I still see them as a part of good design.
I chose to plant lots of them for color.

The ones below have been planted for one year.
{{gwi:576377}}
There are Leylands in the far left of the pic that I check weekly for canker.

1sst,
That is so pretty. I, too, hope the knockouts will survive any problems. While very popular, I don't see that many yet in all the possible ways they could be utilized. And the pale pink Blush form has not really caught on, it seems to me, and it is my favorite. The red which to me are a vibrant rich dark pink, are a bit much for me up close, but at a distance are so eye-catching. That KFC owner ain't no dummy!!

It bothers me, too Dottie, only because I don't like having the most common of plants. And I have lots of knockouts.
I do keep mine large and billowy and underplanted so at least it doesn't look commercial.
Very pretty lsst!
When stellas showed up everywhere I decided I hated mine and gave them all away.

Bumblebeez,
I feel the same way about Stellas but have not dug them up yet.

Luckily I never planted Bradford Pears. At our last house all our neighbors had them and every time we had an ice storm, my husband was picking up all the Bradford limbs that had fallen from their trees onto our property.

Actually the KFC landscaping looks good. It is a new building all red and white and you notice the red roses a block a way. It is eye-catching!

What cracks me up about Knock-outs and Stellas is that the color of each is so challenging for me to work with. My original Knockout is crazy dark loud pink in my garden and the Stellas that I inherited are the hardest shade of yellow-orange. Why can't a girl get a nice clear pink and a sunny yellow in a tough-as-nails plant? I really am not a fan of the Stellas, but my Knockout I love(and its buddy the lighter pink one). I'd personally rather see a Knockout in every yard than another murdered Crepe Myrtle or a whole row of green meatballs as foundation plants!!!

ANd Fran took care of a whole bunch of Bradfords...the only good thing about that rotten hurricane. Could somebody ask Fishel to order up a storm that takes out the Bradford pears and leaves house and human unharmed? Is that too much to ask?!?!?!

Iris, I totally agree about the stellas. I have never liked them. There is a tough little clear yellow rebloomer called Happy Returns that I use instead. And I will ask my grandmother to talk to "Greg", as she calls Mr. Fishel! She has such a thing for him!! Hee, hee.

I'll run counter and say i like the color of both the stellas and the KO's. I love a nice saffron yellow, which is how the stellas strike me. I don't care for lemon yellow much. They are a bit overused, tho. I got my first at the swap and still don't know where i want them. I've seen KO's everywhere this spring! It's like they had babies suddenly. I'm always happy to see bradfords come down- a few more went down this spring from storms on our rd and i cheered. One of the few trees i feel that way about.

Knock Out has come out with a truer red one called Home Run.
It is a single bloom that is more red. The plant nursery where I shop got some in this week and they are a truer red.

I bought a softer yellow stella last year - but I don't recall the name. It has stella in the name. It's so much prettier to me than the yellow orange stella. The newer version is the same size - and mine are about to bloom. We'll see if they bloom as long.

I'll admit to having a Knockout. It all depends on how these common plants are used anyway. There's a poster on the Roses Forum (I think it's pappu) who has a stunning hedge of Knockouts in front of his house.

I have 7 KOs and am pretty happy with them....until the Japanese Beetles show up! They have been blooming nonstop and billowy since early April.

I have some Stellas from a friend, so I just put them with purple blooming perennials. That works fine enough for me.

I have planted 'Joan Senior' daylilies with Shasta 'Ice Star', 'Broadway Lights' and Angelonia 'Lavender Pink'. I'm hoping it will be a good combo of yellow and white with a dash of lavender. I added a pale yellow daylily, but the name escapes me right now.

Cameron

KOs with clematis and lavender:
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IMHO, using "common" varieties creatively is different from planting outside the local fast food place.

Stella d'Oro opened yesterday beneath the Japanese Maple.

{{gwi:576379}}

Knock Out has come out with a truer red one called Home Run.
It is a single bloom that is more red. The plant nursery where I shop got some in this week and they are a truer red.

This overuse is no different than what has happened in the past to Loropetalum, Indian Hawthorn, Nandina, Bradford Pears ....

I have two KO's - installed five + years ago, not sure what color class they fit, but they are very gratifying and pretty maintenance free.

My yards were designed, pretty much in my absence, by a team who had sat down w/me and just let me ramble (as I'm inclined to do! :o) ). In CA I'd inherited a rose garden with all its assorted problems, told the garden elves I didn't want roses - too much work. They came up with the KO and they were right (as usual). The KO's are great.

Glad also to see mention of the Stella d'Oro daylillies. As pedestrian as they may be, they are troupers and were part of my low maintenance install from the start. Now they are huge and sorely need to be lifted and divided, but they have never disappointed me. They just keep chugging along despite the neglect. This fall I'm really gonna dig and divide - honest!

I have no idea how my same reply posted twice!

zig zag, I am glad you posted. I wondered if they would look as good a few years down the road.

From the other side of your mountains, y'all need to know about the rose disease that will kill KnockOut and all other roses.
As long as you understand that you have to act on this disease, that it won't just go away, KnockOut will do well.
There are at least four different colors for KnockOut now. Home Run is from a different hybridizer. And you might want to consider Zack, from Almost Heaven Nursery, just north of Charlotte.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rose Rosette E-book

Anne is right. Rose Rosette Disease is horrible and R. multiflora is especially suspectible to it. I have cut down all of the multifora on my place. I have not yet had RRD in my garden but I have seen poster after poster on the Roses Forum deal with it.

so, you just watch for witch's brooms to diagnose it? Can the plant be saved if you catch the first witch's broom and trim a ways back? So far so good here.

Tammy I think some roses have been saved that way, others not.

I intend to look at Ann's e-book in more detail later but this subject brings me to the question- what is the pink rose flowering on roadsides right now and is it a danger for passing RRD?

That's Dorothy Perkins. Any rose can get RRD but that one is a ground hugger so it's probably less suseptible; the mites that transmit the disease travel by wind.

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

I realize this is an old thread but since I last posted on this thread in 2008, all of my knockouts have developed RRD.

I just planted a rose parterre garden this past spring with OGR roses. This fall, I noticed two of my new roses have developed RRD.

There is a hotel in my city that has RRD on all their Knockouts.

My neighbors also have roses with RRD.

I am trying to educate everyone near me that has RRD on their roses what is is and what to do about it.

I am afraid with the over planting of shrub roses and lack of knowledge of RRD, the disease is becoming more widespread.

I read the eBook in one of the posts above.(admit to skimming the last few chapters)

It's very scary and it amplifies my concern that the creation of KOs was for the lazy gardener or the non-gardener whose yard is maintained by non-gardening landscape crews.(Not calling those of you who have them 'lazy', but the marketing of KO's as carefree is designed to appeal to non-gardeners)
I just think anytime one plant material is grouped closely as they are in these KO hedges, it improves the development of disease and insect vectored disease.

Over the past two years, my small garden areas have been attacked with the oddest of viral caused 'weirdness' of growth patterns. Rudbeckias have opened with fully tubed petals, some have had conjoined stems. The vitex, the easiest carefree shrub tree has had wicked witches broom growths and only hard pruning, way back taking off three year's growth, enabled it to finally sprout leaves from all branches/twigs.

One or two of a perennial or permanent plant spaced farther apart than we are doing now (instead of these prescribed groupings of 3-5-7) may be what saves our gardens from disease.

I agree Dottie.

I see so many subdivision entrances with KO roses and I am fairly sure that the landscaper does not know about RRD.

I had no clue about RRD until I saw info here and compared photos of RRD to my roses.

I planted KO roses to create color in my yard against the backdrop of many evergreens.

I am wondering if I bought a KO rose with the disease not knowing it and now it has spread.

I have around 45 roses and about 70 percent of them have RRD.

Oh, the KFC that I mentioned in my post in 2008 no longer has the KO roses. I wonder why?
All the other plants are still there.

Well, if rose rosette disease is so suddenly prevalent and unnoticed in the big box garden centers I'm surprised RRD hasn't been brought up in every regional forum AND on an annual basis just to educate the masses of neo-gardeners who jump right in buying 'easy care' KO roses.

So, questions I have are if you notice RRD at your favorite garden center should you chance buying a rose that appears not to have been infected?

What comes first, leaf deformation,sudden appearance of hundreds of thorns, redness and witches brooms developing?

Trouble with KOs is how they're marketed..plant and forget.
So no regular inspections are done that would detect a problem with virus or insects. All newbies notice is JBs.

I am noticing the topic of RRD more and more on the GW forums.
I plan on contacting one of my local plant suppliers that conduct plant seminars and suggest they do a seminar on RRD to educate people.

I am holding off buying any more roses until something is developed to kill the mite. Cygon2E is used but it is hard to find, expensive and you must follow directions exactly to prevent breathing it in.

Thanks to anntn6b for educating people on the subject.

As far as the symptoms, On my latest rose, Ebb Tide, the leaves started out red, narrow and twisted.It already had the twisted witches broom look.

Round Up can mimic RRD symptoms but I do not use Round Up.

On the first rose a couple of years ago, I saw the classic symptoms of RRD but did not know about RRD. I thought my rose had a crazy mutation and I left it that way for a year until seeing a photo of RRD on GW.

I immediately took action but it was too late.

Well, if the mites carry the virus then it would seem that finding and cultivating a predator population wouldn't be the quickest solution. Right? Helpful but for the roses once bitten they are infected.

That makes sense to me.