The only gardening I really do is to grow roses. Oklahoma has not been good this year. Recently it has been too hot, and newly planted roses may need special care.

You need to plan a certain amount of space for your rose. The Knock Out will grow to about 4-5 feet, and be about that wide. Your plant is way too close to your house. (in my opinion) What kind of soil are you using. Much of Oklahoma does not really have soil, we have clay. I purchase soil and compost, and dig up the plot for my rose to be about 5 times the size of the rose. I dig down about a foot, and make a huge plot. I put in the soil, pack it down, water, and add more. When I plant the rose, I put it in high knowing it will sink, and cover most of it with soil. I am careful to water it frequently, but not drown it. Our high temperatures have not been good recently.

At first you do not concern yourself too much with the blooms and leaves, but consider the roots. Keep them moist, but do not drown them.

If you have the rose planted well, you might want to put a type of shield over it until it gets over the shock of being planted.

Knock Out roses are beautiful, but they seem to be vulnerable to a disease that we have recently seen in Oklahoma. Once the rose gets started, I or many others could discuss that disease, but it should not affect your new rose.

Good luck.

Sammy

Thanks for the response. The soil is the clay and some Miracle Grow garden soil I mixed in. I mixed it with the whole bed, so size is not a problem.

Would you recommend moving them? I was not planning on letting them get the full 5 feet - I was going to trim them back occasionally to keep them around 3 feet.

I'm so bummed! I've had zero luck getting things to grow in our front, west facing bed and thought that knockouts would be simple. :(

It could just be shock, and it has been so hot. My first flush of roses fried on my bushes. SAD. I added a few pink knockouts this year too. I haven't have much trouble, but they do look a little worse for wear for now.

I grow several kinds of roses. Sammy, I'll put up a pic of My ArchDuke Charles rose.

I hope it's just shock as well, if they don't start looking better this next week - when it's supposed to be considerably cooler - then I will move and shade them some.

Here's some pictures of mine, the newer flowers just showed up this morning, hopefully a good sign!

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n35/trilogy6/53ab4531-2d42-4113-8551-50c1678915ab_zps7a36a86e.jpg?t=1399588121

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n35/trilogy6/IMG_8330_zps75bff7b0.jpg?t=1399588302

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n35/trilogy6/IMG_8328_zps7781d99f.jpg?t=1399588439

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n35/trilogy6/IMG_8327_zps2ac8f8eb.jpg?t=1399588169

Looking crispier today, which you can see a lot of in the last picture.

This post was edited by E511 on Thu, May 8, 14 at 18:37

They look really good to me. Mine knockouts look more worse for wear than yours do!

They are really close to your house. As much as I warn other people about that..I do it too!

Well that's good to hear! I guess I'll do as I said and keep an eye on them next week and move them out if I have to.

Thanks for all the help guys!

I have two Archduke Charles roses, and your looks beautiful.

I am concerned about your terms west facing near the house. Regardless of the heat, they do need sun. Our weather has been rather harsh to get roses established, but near the house on the west side means you will not have the bloom you expect.

Some people are warning rose growers about the Knockout series. I am not totally in agreement with what they say, but you do know what to watch for in RRD, (Rose Rosette Disease) don't you?

New growth of a red rose comes in red. If the new branches are larger than the ones they come from, or if the red does not soon turn green, be sure to be vigilant about getting info of RRD. It is carried by a mite in the wind, and can devastate a rose garden.

Some say the Knock Outs are most vulnerable.

Sammy

I had RRD here at our new home there were several bushes and we took them all out. So sad but some of the neighbors had it too.

Thanks Sammy! I hung out around the Antique Rose forum for a few years and they rubbed off on me and my rose selections!

I do know about RRD...I had it a number of years ago and I was just sick! I had to take out a couple of rose bushes. I go walking through a nice neighborhood with another gardener friend and we've been watching a knockout rose that sure looked like it was infected with RRD last year. It was all I could do not to walk up to the house and warn them about it last fall. They did cut back the rose, so I'm wondering if someone suspected a problem. I've been watching it this spring to see if it comes back.

Here is a link that might be useful: RRD

This post was edited by lisa_h on Fri, May 9, 14 at 14:30

"I am concerned about your terms west facing near the house. Regardless of the heat, they do need sun. Our weather has been rather harsh to get roses established, but near the house on the west side means you will not have the bloom you expect."

They are getting full sun from 1-4, then shaded sun when the sun gets behind our tree, then it comes back to full sun around 6-sundown. So anywhere from 4-6 hours of full sun a day. What will happen to the bloom keeping them close to the house? From my picture you can see, I can only move them another foot tops out from the house, will that amount help?

I had not heard of RRD, thank you for the information. They are only three weeks planted here, but I will keep an eye on it.

Right now my biggest worry was why the leaves were getting dry and crispy.

Thanks for all the help guys!