My Knock Out® roses have had quite the journey here at The Three-Acre Wood, but this spring as I watched and waited for signs of life from my three beauties by the curb I quickly realized that my girls were hurting. I’m not sure if it was last year’s Japanese Beetle infestation, the unusually long, cold winter or a combination of both, but I was afraid my rose bushes were gone for good.
After a long wait, I started to see signs of life as a few little green leaves appeared, mainly from the deepest parts of the plants. I did a bit of research on the best way to care for these ailing gals and decided to heavily prune them to about 18″ from the ground. Ugh, this was so disheartening (and thorny)!
I’m happy to say that all three of the Knock Out roses are gaining some momentum this spring, but they aren’t real attractive at this point. Several branches have green leaves growing, they are gaining a bit of height and a single small rose actually bloomed this morning!
I’m hoping that if I baby them through the summer, they will reward me with their usual splash of color come this fall or next spring.
