The Practiced Perennial Gardener

 Knockout Roses have taken the gardening world by storm since the first Red Knockout was introduced in 2000 and won the prestigious “All American Rose Selection Award”.  A very well deserved award.  The Knock Out rose quickly became the fastest selling new rose introduction of all time.  The breeder of these marvelous roses, Bill Radler was  a Wisconsin Roasarian and had been breeding roses for over 20 years.  He focused his breeding efforts on developing roses that where easy to grow, heavy flowering  and disease resistant.

He achieved success in 1988 when he crossed  rosa ‘Razzle Dazzle’ with rosa ‘Carefree Beauty’ the resulting plant would soon become the worlds most popular rose the “Knockout”.  Testing  took place on the new rose for several years and was conducted by Star Roses who after many trials introduced Radrazz as ’The Knockout Rose’ in 2000.  The new Knockout Rose was an instant success selling over 250,000 plants in the first year becoming the fastest selling rose in history.

 

The recipe for success was simple:

• Superb marketing
• An easy to grow rose that anyone can grow
• Repeat bloomer: Flowers from late spring through the first frost
• Disease and pest resistant; no more spraying for blackspot, aphids and other rose enemies
• Plants are self-cleaning; no deadheading
• Hardy in zones 5 – 9 and will grow in zone 4 with protection
• Beautiful plants with dark shiny green foliage
• Can be grown in partial shade

Since the fist introduction of Knockout Rose the breeder has added to the family to include:

1. Double Knockout – a gorgeous double red
2. Blushing Knockout – soft light pink
3. Rainbow Knockout – pink with yellow center
4. Pink Double - just as the name suggest: double pink ruffled flowers
5. Pink Knockout – bright pink
6. Sunny Knockout – bright yellow and fragrant

If you have tried roses in the past and have given up on growing them we strongly suggest that you give  The Knockout Rose Family a chance before throwing in the towel. You will be amazed at how easy these wonderful plants are to grow and the flower power they possess.   One of the best places to purchase Knockout Roses online is www.RosesKnockout.com  The plants are very affordable and are offered in a new type of growing container called The EGP.  A very interesting process of growing plants in field rows in a pot that has no bottom.  The bottomless pot allows for unrestricted root growth as the plants roots grow out of the bottom of the pot into ground.  These plants are called liners in the nursery profession and are purchased from growers who specialize in growing the liners for other nurseries who pot the liners into  1 gallon pots.  To give you an idea of why I feel like the EGP pot is the best option for home gardeners just think about this:

• An EGP potted liner is purchased by a nursery who will pot the liner into a one gallon pot.  That EGP liner will be ready to sale as a one gallon rose in about 6 weeks.  The price for the EGP potted Knockout Rose at www.RosesKnockout.com is $9.99  The average prices I found on the web for a one gallon plant was $25.00 – $30.00. You will not convince me that the 1 gallon rose is worth 3 times more in only 6 weeks.  You are paying for dirt!

I am not trying to pick on rose nurseries this is also true with perennials where plugs often cost as little as 50 cents and are potted up for 8 – 10  weeks then sold for ridiculous prices ranging from between $12.00 – $20.00 in quart pots.  I am not a fan of any perennial being sold in anything larger than a 4″ pot because I refuse to pay for dirt.  I know this because I am the head grower at Gorge Top Gardens. 

Take it for what it’s worth, it’s your money.

Happy Gardening!

Filed under: Uncategorized on February 15th, 2010