The Knock Out Rose has gained a lot of popularity over the last few years and for good reason! The shrub doesn’t require much care and still puts on one of the best shows in the landscape having a blooming cycle of every 5-6 weeks throughout the year to the first hard frost. This particular shrub can be left alone and expected to grow to about 3-4’ tall and 3-4’ wide. There are also a wide range of colors from the light pink color of The Blushing Knock Out Rose to the rich red of The Knock Out Rose and even the yellow Sunny Knock Out Rose.

With that being said, the Knock Out series of roses reaches their maximum performance with an early spring pruning to help promote new growth. Take the following steps to help you Knock Out reach its full potential:

• Prune in the spring: Always prune the Knock Out Rose in the spring just as you start to see new shoots growing from the cane.

• Have the right equipment: Knock Out Roses still have thorns so make sure you are wearing gloves and maybe even a long sleeve shirt. Also have a set of lopping shear for the larger canes and a set of hand shears for the smaller canes and the touch up work.

• Have a plan: The rule of thumb is that the shrub will almost triple its size once pruned back. So if you want a 3’ shrub prune it all the way back to 1’. 

• Plan to leave 3-5 canes coming up from the base once you are done and select the greener canes which are the younger canes. Take out the older canes all the way to the base. Prune back the younger canes to desired height. Finally, prune off any extra branches off the selected canes.

When you are done you will have a pathetic looking shrub will 4-6 short sticks poking into the air but don’t worry. Once the shrub starts to really take off it will fill in and grow up to be a fantastic addition to you landscape and pay you back for all your hard work with lot of color!

Of course if the whole process seems a little daunting or you have more roses than you can shake a pair of loppers at give us a call and we can lend a hand.