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| This shows the massive blooming of the red double KnockOuts. I can see a new Veterans Honor red rose in bloom on the lower left. Ten bargain roses ($5) are blooming around the maple tree, which was once the Dogpatch of our yard. |
One reader wrote that he was unwilling to throw a lot of money into roses and fail. That reminds me of the people who said they did not plant asparagus because there is a delay of several years in harvesting. Twenty years later, in the same backyard, they kept repeating this remarkable excuse. Yes, I planted asparagus, even though we rent. Luther said he would plant a tree even if he thought the world was ending.
Last year I was able to buy 20 rose bushes for $5 each, a total investment of $100. They were put on clearance by a rose wholesaler through Gurney's. I plan on buying seed from Gurney's again with the hope of this offer being made again. I ordered 10 at a time, twice. They did not promise a given rose, but a mix of colors. Because I ordered two each time, I received two of each color. Some are classics like Europeana. Another is Fireworks, a favorite of Norma Boeckler.
To be clear, the basic offer was - a group of five roses for $25.
Sometimes potted hybrid tea roses are sold for a bargain price at local nurseries. You will never find the all-time favorites remaindered, but many very good roses are overlooked.
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| A few double red KnockOuts will increase your confidence and rose self-esteem. They provide a mass of color with some aggressive pruning. |
KnockOut Option
Some say the KnockOut roses have gotten people into rose gardening for the first time. No wonder. Even my rose magazine tends to scare people with complexities and work in their "rose gardening for newbies" series. The experts cannot help gushing about intricacies that new gardeners know little about.
For $100 a gardener can buy three double red (really magenta) KnockOut roses. They are shrub roses, easy growing, free from roses diseases like blackspot.
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| Mr. Lincoln is a classic that can be ordered early for a good price - large, robust, and fragrant. Newly introduced roses tend to be $30. Mr. Lincoln is often less than $20 each. |
KnockOuts:
- Thrive on pruning. They are not self-pruning.
- Love a deep mulch, either Jackson Mulch (newspaper layer, plus wood mulch) or Jackson Super Mulch (cardboard plus wood mulch).
- Need watering.
- Appreciate a sprinkling of red wiggler earthworms.
- Attract beneficial insects and spiders that remove pests.
- Enjoy Eastern sun, but not roasting on the South or West sides of the house.
No Rose Bush Likes:
- Insecticides
- Fungicides
- Herbicides
Aphids and other pests will come, but think of them as beneficial insect food. Aphids promptly ravaged my white KnockOuts, white Pope John Paul II blooms, and some Peace flowers. It was a slaughter for the first bloom cycle. But they doomed themselves by taking on the Jackson Rose Farm. The beneficial creatures made merry with them, laying eggs on or near them, so the hungry beneficial babies grew up on their nasty kin and established their families in the wild areas I left for roving beetles, cursorial spiders, and many beneficial insects.
As I wrote before, I often found spider webs on the mulch and one web stretched out just below the most beautiful blooms.
This spring I will prune all the KnockOuts (8 in all) at once, which will create root and shrub growth, plus massive blooming. I get abut 50 blooms per bush now. I cut some for the altar and our neighbors and leave many on for color. But I continuously prune the aging flowers to get more. John 15:1-10. The dead wood is removed. The fruitful branches are pruned to make them even more fruitful.
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| I have two Fireworks roses, enormous canes that bloom often - $5 each. |
