I agree, but wonder if the potentially difficult pruning resulting from the wires being concealed by the plant growth would be worth the hassle? I deal with a weeping cherry that has such lights wrapped through it. The effect is quite pretty when lit and it hasn't hurt the tree at all, but maintenance is a real pig, trying not to cut through all those wires when I have to remove errant growth. Kim

well hey, I have a gravel garden using pea shingle as a mulch and I have had a couple of ground cover roses growing for 6 years in it. Looks fine, weeding is not a big problem, especially since there is a landscape membrane under some of the mulch. Anyway, the roses I have are County series, I have Gwent and Sussex. Tough, hardy, completely disease free but small. But, in truth, roses don't look right in a gravel mulch and they might be planning something rather different. Mine look fine because the roses are planted with grasses, lavenders and other meditterranean types of planting, especially helianthemums and cistus (sunroses, rockroses). I am sure you will find an appropriate gift for them.

Joanneb, I too am a new gardener, never planted a thing outside in my life, and whaddya know, I started with a tree rose (in March 2009) hahaha! of all things... But really I urge you to take the advice of DublinBay and Mad_Gallica...Really reconsider whether you want to have so many KOs... In my opinion there are sooooo many more lovelier and just as hardy roses.... I don't like KO because they don't have character in the formation of their petals and shape and they don't have scent...Bees don't particularly seem to care for them either... I see KOs everywhere and if you choose KOs it would be like choosing a landscape that looks like a typical apartment complex...KOs are everywhere, on every single sign, even fast food restaurants have KOs outside, every apartment complex is plastered with them, hotel chains, etc. etc. I too as a newbie did too many same kind of roses. Two Special Occasion roses, 2 Lincolns, 2 Sutter's Gold... And I guarantee, once you get hooked on roses you will wish you had far more than just one kind... Roses are like MAGIC... there are so many prolific bloomers like KO but with much more loveliness and all kinds of color...For me the magic is also fragrance, so I say take your time and best! of all just like everyone says, visit a real rose garden...Stupid me didn't do that, so I've got too many same kinds even though I love them all except for boring Queen Elizabeth with zilch fragrance (when I first started roses as a newbie and didn't know any better)...It's just that now I've discovered so many more roses and because I only have very limited space, I am indeed "stuck" with what I originally selected.

I live in Tulsa, zone 7A. I have many roses, but the die back on the Knock Outs are worse than any other. I have a bed of 10 Knock Outs. Die back to me is winter freeze. In Tulsa it usually means that the rose begins to grow in the spring, and is suddenly zapped by a freeze. Many of the roses get zapped on some canes, but Knock Out gets it on almost all of them. As I look out my window, I see my Knock Outs are knee high. They grow very fast, and will be up to more than 5 feet before too long. But more than any other rose, they are injured enough to be cut way down. I think that winter hardy is talking about a dormant rose. Die back means that it happens in other conditions - like in the spring when we have a sudden freeze. That is the worst gardening factor in Oklahoma in my opinion - even worse than the wind. That sudden late hard freeze after the plants are growing! Sammy