I have heard you aren't supposed to prune them the first year, but they are getting quite tall and spindly this year and have outgrown all the other stuff already.

Are roses like fruit trees, where if I summer prune they'll stay smaller and bushier? Or should I just let them go this year and prune them back harshly this winter?

Me? I'm too lazy to prune much of anything. I speak to my plants one time right after planting them, "You're on your own now." :)

I planted several Knockouts a few years ago and was pretty upset to see that they outgrew their location in a short time. We were going to move them and plant them elsewhere when 'the virus ', rose rosette, moved in....making the decision to yank them easy. That disease is the Achilles Heel of these high performing roses.

Though it's recommended that they be pruned (at least) once per year in the spring, they respond very well to good trims all summer long.

They are blooming so prettily now I'll wait for a week or some for these blooms to fade before I lop 'em off.

Robert and I are trying a handful of the 'Drift Roses ', purported to be lower growing than their cousins, the KOs. We selected the Peach Drift, very pretty.

For the people who do not like the KO rose, this one might change your mind after seeing it. Stunting. A tree in the making.

How large will a KO reach ? Along US 280, on the corner of 119 and Lazy Boy there is about 150 feet of this rose. It has been kept manicured to about 4-5 ft high as a hedge. If it had been left uncut I believe it would hide the Lazy Boy store and probably block part of 280.

As with Crape Myrtle ( crape murder) could we be a Knock Out murderer. I murder at will.... BUT, with these KO's I will give them more room from now on. Wish that I had planted the lot that I have 10-12 feet apart instead of 4ft.

Live and learn? I do it the hard way. When is big better? With the KO, bigger is beautiful.

Bulzi, my Mom only trims hers once a year and they can get HUGE, 10-ft. in diameter, 8 ft. tall. BUT, when she's finished trimming, the finished product is about the size of the shrub pictured below.

Something is killing the roses in the neighborhood now so we'll see if they survive.

Big roses are pretty in someone else's yard. After the 50'+ hedge I removed when I moved in I won't be letting the roses take over in front!

Not that you're in any danger, but it can go too far... Once a week I drive by a house where they planted them in a 12" strip between a picket fence and sidewalk, of all things! Not only that, they're less than 2 ft. apart. I really almost stopped the car to knock on their door and have a chat about it but didn't trust myself to find just the right words... Anyway, that was spring of '11 and they've been keeping them small and it looks really cute. If whoever's tending that stops tending it (for more than a week I'd say,) this is going to be a problem. I'll take a pic today. You'll gasp!

There are also some around the bank across the street, planted about a foot from the wall. After watching the gardener "meatball" everything for a few years, I was really nervous about what I'd be looking at when he put those in, (like would he constantly be cutting off the buds?) But he's done a great job keeping them looking super. Natural form but very small.

I planted the one I showed above with the notion that there's plenty of room for it untended if/when I move. Whoever takes over could move the perennials around it or let them atrophy from increasing shade. Realistically, they would probably end up mowing around the base of it (or chopping it down) out of frustration with the number of acorns sprouting.

I've had such thoughts myself and may end up moving most of the other plants and shrinking this bed, something I've never done before. The more organic matter I add, the more the acorns find it conducive to sprouting, a vicious circle. Unlike other trees I've gardened under, these acorns sprout about all year, not just all at once. (I used to think THAT was a pain - 5,000 silver maple seedlings overnight. Live'n'learn!)

These roses certainly help you out, though. By growing so fast any pruning errors are quickly hidden!

I am in trouble if KO's they can grow to be 8-10 feet in one year. Oh well, the house can use some shade. I'll be able to plant shade plants again.

I have a few roses that I am having trouble with. They will not keep leaves on them , but the flowers are nice. They ARE NOT the KnockOut. I do have a thought now and then of doing away with them. Over a period of time could they damage the KO's? Or another type plant - just talked myself into at least moving them down the road . Fooling myself ! They are headed to a garbage bag for the garbage can.

Nothing sentimental here. Mental.....it is or could become, so why worry !

The ramblin' rose on the fence in my pic above, there's almost always some black spots on some of the leaves but the KO next to it never gets them. I don't make any effort to clean up the fallen spotted leaves. The more banana peels I put at the base, the better it looks (but that's true of any rose that I've had.) AFAIK, rose rosette is the only known disease to which KO's are vulnerable.

Probably the best thing for any roses is to be scattered, not bunched together where any kind of malady would thrive in a large monoculture. Or at least companion-planted with garlic or whatever plants are supposed to be symbiotic with roses. I'm way too impulsive to try that kind of stuff but it intrigues me.

You really got me worried about the roses getting rose rosette. I am planting a LARGE amount of roses and after reading here and other sources I will prune some for sure. I will start to space out the roses from each other. Just can not pass up a sale on anything.

Cascade Rose 1974 (?) is by far my favorite. The start was given to me by a dear woman -Hazel- . She brought it to me in a hanging basket. Little did she know what a grand plant it was. She wanted to know if I wanted to do anything with it and boy did I. Sold and gave away countless ' rooted babies'.

Enjoy taking one plant and multiplying it hundreds of times.

Garlic is great anywhere and everywhere if snakes seem to be a problem. It is a great picturesque plant if given enough sunshine. There is lots of garlic here to dig to place around thru the roses..... In my head it looks just right. Thanks. It is difficult for me to connect the dots and then remember that I did, much less mix and match plants.

The roses in the old Ensley area of Birmingham seem to be trying to out do each other this year. This maybe a great place for the Rose Society to look for roses of the past. (before they are burned or bulldozed.)

Usually the amount of rain that we have received this year during blooming is bad, IT DOES NOT APPEAR TO BE, thus far. I could not do away with the roses with the black spot, I will deal with them awhile longer.