While the concept of delivering the water to the soil is good there simply is not much out there to do that, most all water delivery systems spray water and many people need to deliver water over very large areas and spays are just the best way to do that. If I were to spend a lot of money to have an irrigation pump and delivery system installed I might be able to design someway to use something other than sprinklers, but there is no way I have that much money to spend. I know many people that did spend lots of money on an inground watering system and they also now spend a fair amount of money twice a year on maintaining that system.
So my roses get sprayed from overhead and do not have any real problems from that. The only time I have seen Black Spot here in my gardens, once I got the soil built up into a good, healthy soil, is when I bring in a new rose form the garden center. Provide a soil well endowed with organic matter that is evenly moist but well drained and mulch well so the soil stays cool and moist and "weed" growth is suppressed and you will have fewer problems.

Roses want fewer, longer, waterings. You don't want to water a little bit every day. It is usually stated to give 1" of water (4 - 5 gallons) a week. For new plantings, I would give 2 - 3 gallons of water twice a week. Once the plants become established (3rd year) you can do with once a week. In hotter weather, you want more frequent watering.

Some people put the section of the soaker hose over a bucket and measure how long it takes to fill 2 - 3 gallons. That would be how much you want to let your water run. I use drip irrigation, with emitters that deliver the water near the base of the plant.

Sunny Knock Out grows very shrubby. You can shape it all during the season. In late winter (rule of thumb is "when the forsythia is in bloom"), you can prune more. However, unless it gets large and unruly the first couple of years, I would only give it a moderate prune, unless you get a lot of winter dieback. Then you can decide on how much you need to take back in later years.

Thank you so much diane_nj! That's a great idea to measure how much time it takes for the soaker house to fill up 2-3 gallons.

I have the feeling 2-3 gallons twice a week is about how much we've been watering our rose, and our newly-planted native shrubs. I thought the idea of watering every day seemed a little strange!

Thanks so much for the pruning advice...we'll go with the moderate prune. When the forsythia is in bloom is a great way to know when to prune! It's also good to know it's ok to shape it during the season too, especially if it starts getting really gigantic.

Thanks again, I really appreciate it.

-topie