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.

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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

I keep waiting for the J. Beetles to appear, we get a lot of them, but they've never bothered my Roses before.

I didn't fertilize when I planted the Sunny, I think I waited a few weeks.

My other Roses are blooming great but I keep them watered every other day and they're heavily mulched.

The KO's get sun from morning til night.

Here's a picture of my Floribunda or Grandiflora (I forget, lol) that I took just this morning. It gets sun until around 3pm.

It's planted in the strangest place in my garden too! But it's thriving.
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