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I've been struggling with my (once) gorgeous Knock Out roses for the past few years.
Red, pink, palest yellow.... I have about 20 bushes. My front garden was a blaze with carefree, gorgeous color all season long. Their delicate, multilayered petals danced in gentle breezes. Glorious!
I cut them for arrangements. Never had to spray.
Knock Outs were a dream come true!
Then, 2 or 3 years ago, I started noticing that they were getting spindly.
"Prune them back hard," a gardening pal said. So I did.
Blossoms started to decline. A few bushes shriveled up and died. Then the deer started eating them - a sure sign that something was wrong.
"Fertilize them with 10-10-10," someone said.
"Give them aspirins."
"Spray the leaves with baking soda and water."
I did everything everyone told me. Nothing helped.
Spring is rolling around and, even though it was a mild winter here in Virginia this year, my Knock Outs look, well, knocked out.
So this morning, I took to the internet.
Guess what I found?
It's not me. It's the plant!
Knock Out gardeners everywhere reported the same thing....
On average, Knock Out rose bushes live only about 6 years.
Mine are 10 years old. No wonder they look so bad!
Traditional rose bushes can easily live 30, 50 or even 100 years.
One gardener even reported a 1000 year old bush growing in Germany.
Knock Outs were introduced to the market in 1999 so there is no history on their performance.
One gardener went so far as to say she thought they were bred to have a short life so you would have to replace them. Ouch!
So, I'm going to pull them out and pitch them.
I'll replace a few I'm sure (because I do like them) but Knock Outs seem to be the annual of the rose world - a very expensive annual!
