Water-wise and Disease Resistant Beauty

Many homeowners would love to add roses to their landscape, but are scared away by the rose's thorny reputation as hard-to-grow, high-maintenance shrubs.  The Knockout Rose ® offers the vibrance and beauty of the shrub rose while being easy to grow and maintain.  Under the botanical name Rosa "Radrazz," the Knock Out Rose was introduced by the Conard-Pyle Co. and bred by William Radler out of Milwalkee, Wisconsin.  It is a compact, mounding shrub rose and is hardy through USDA zones 4 through 10. 

I planted my Knock Out Roses in April of this year in a newly established bed.  By newly established bed, I mean that I picked a spot in the yard, dug a hole in the grass, discarded the grass, planted these rose bushes, and mulched around the new planting.  I did not pre-treat the soil for diseases or amend the soil with peat moss.  I used Osmocote ® fertilizer and simply planted the rose bush with the joint slightly above ground level with a water well around the perimeter.  I noted new growth within two weeks!  These roses have consistently bloomed and bloomed and keep adding new shoots and foliage. 

The blooms are cherry red, with the antique five-petal cupped bloom, and fade to light pink as the bloom ages.  I have not noted much of a fragrance, though the literature states that the rose has a tea-rose, slightly spicy fragrance.  My bushes have been totally resistant to black spot and even tolerated an aphid invasion.  If find the bushes are not as thirsty as other roses that I have, and actually have held up quite well with our drought.

As the new growth of the Knock Out Rose exhibits that beautiful deep purple-green that I so love about roses, I chose to plant rangy sweet-potato vine as ground cover to complement these bushes.  I also placed a few of the large black elephant ears in the landscape to pull the color of the new growth of the rose bushes to the eye as one gazes at the landscape.  I also recommend the black-strap liriope (Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens') as a border for these roses.  The black-green of this liriope really contrasts well with the pink-red of the blooms of the Knock Out Rose, and its upright growth pattern complements the mounding growth of this shrub rose.

Whether you are an avid gardener familiar with the peculiarities that different roses can present, or a new homeowner looking to add color to your yard, I cannot recommend these roses enough.  The Knock Out Rose will become one of the foundations of your landscape, and bring you months of beautiful blooms year after year.

Blush Rose Climber: The Shade Rose

It's true.  There is a rose that will grow in at least partial shade.  Any rose lover will tell you that one of the most frustrating aspects of planning a landscape with roses is that they MUST have full sun, and ideally they should get six hours of morning sun.  Well, I have great news:  the Old Blush Climber.

I purchased my first Old Blush Climber in 2001from a wonderful grower in Texas, Peaceful Habitations (www.ph-rose-gardens.com).  I purchased two bushes and planted them to train over an archway in full shade.  Within the year, the two bushes had completely covered the archway!  To this day, the canes are thick, vibrant, and healthy. 

Also known as ‘Common Monthly', ‘Common Blush China', ‘Old Pink Daily', ‘Old Pink Monthly', and ‘Parsons' Pink China', the myriad of names of this semi-double hybrid of R. chinensis attest to the friendly familiarity with which it has been grown for over two hundred years. Old Blush has medium, semi-double, lilac pink flowers in loose clusters.  It blooms so steadily that it is not a very good cut flower: the blossoms drop quickly to make room for their successors. The Old Blush's perfume is soft, but fruity and pleasant. This rose also seems resistant to disease and pests.  Old Blush should be treated simply as a flowering shrub and not fussed over.  I find a LIGHT pruning in the fall does this climber wonders.

Old Blush is such a vigorous climber, though, that I find it does NOT do well threaded through a trellis.  It will literally lift the trellis with it as it grows.  As you are training your Old Blush, use loose strips of cloth to tie the vines loosely to the trellis, so that you can untie and move them as the bush grows.  This rose blooms from last frost to first frost.  I have literally had these roses blooming at Christmas.    The soft pink, cupped blooms are really quite lovely in snow.