Read About Deadly Disease Affecting Knockout Roses

Pamela F
by Pamela F
Love your 'Knockout' roses? Read about the deadly disease that threatens to kill them all.
Enough color to knock your socks off - that's 'Knockout' rose. Photo by Steve Bender.Introduced in 2000, 'Knockout' rose quickly became the best-selling landscape plant in the country. It had everything - showy, continuous blooms; compact growth habit; tough-as-nails constitution; and, best of all, no need to spray for black spot disease. But now, nature has tossed green kryptonite into Superman's garden. And 'Knockout' rose may just get its bell rung.A Deadly Threat
'Knockout' rose (the original single red, shown above, plus a bunch of newer colors) owes its uber-popularity to the belief that it's the first "no maintenance" rose - perfect for the lazy gardener in all of us. People think it needs no watering, spraying, pruning, or fertilizing - EVER. It's like an actual living plastic plant. You just stick it in the ground and it will bloom, bloom, bloom with zero care from you. How marvelous.Unfortunately, this belief is dead wrong. 'Knockout' does need water, fertilizer, and pruning. And now it's facing a disease so serious that its very survival is in question. Rose rosette disease. - by Steve Bender
Click here:http://thedailysouth.southernliving.com/category/the-grumpy-gardener/
Rose rosette disease. Photo: nicolewardukblogspot.com
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  • Marilyn B Marilyn B on Jun 05, 2013
    My knockout roses that I planted last year have holes in the majority of the leaves. I planted three more bushes and they do hot have holes. What could be the issue with the holes?
  • Doris Doris on Jul 21, 2013
    japanese beetles have devoured my leaves they look like lace--looking at some of the- non harmful - remedies-- maybe that could be the reason for the holes
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