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Tue, May 27, 14 at 11:33
| First, I am a total novice when it comes to gardening of any kind, so I'm at the very beginning stages of learning ANYTHING! I planted 2 knock out rose bushes at the front of my house (eastern exposure) last summer. I fertilized regularly throughout the summer and they bloomed beautifully. Our winter was very harsh, however, with quite a bit of snow and temperatures often plummeting well below zero. As per directions, I pruned the bushes back to about a foot in height late April. There is NO sign of any new growth on either bush yet. Is there anything I should be doing, or are they goners? :( |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Well I'm in one zone warmer than you and I have noticed at a local church which has 40+ Knockouts planted that half of them hardly have any leaves. So half of them are leafing out decent but the other half not so good... I'm not sure what's going on? I have noticed this elsewhere too locally some KO's have leafed out fine but others not... Maybe partly due to planting location of each bush? I don't know... |
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| I have heard that zone 5A can be hard on regular Knockouts... Hopefully yours come back... Wish I could tell you one way or the other if they will come back or not but I can't... What color are the canes? I suppose your Ko's are ownroot and its possible they may come back froom the roots if the canes are all dead to the ground... |
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| My knock outs leaf out at about the same time as my other roses, so if some roses are leafing out and KO isn't, it's a bad sign. |
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| I lost 2 of my 7 Knockouts here in southern Ontario, and the other 5 died back to close to the base. I'm guessing I needed to plant them deeper. Of the remaining 5, 4 look vigorous and 1 looks a bit slow but is growing reasonably well. If yours haven't leafed out yet in New York, then it's a bad sign. Do you see any green at the base? Or does it all look brown? |
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| I don't know how warm it's been for you but I would think they'd be at least starting to leaf out by now. If other roses in the area are already leafing out but yours aren't then they probably died over the winter. Don't feel bad. A LOT of people lost roses this winter. It probably wasn't anything you did. Pick out something new and try again. Maybe something a little prettier than plain Knock Outs. Take a look at some of the OSO Easy or Easy Elegance ones. They're supposed to be very easy to take care of like the KOs but are quite attractive bloom forms. Hopefully we won't have another polar vortex winter any time soon! |
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| I would say give it some time. I have never ever done anything to my KOs. They get blazing mid day sun and only God's watering. They bloom something ridiculous in clay soil. Everything is slow to come in this season. I thought I lost all of my cannas. And lo and behold I see 2 babies peeking through. So lots of things that should be in bloom aren't yet. The one thing that gardening has taught me is patience. Mother Nature rules. |
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- Posted by adelgrenfam 5A (My Page) on Thu, May 29, 14 at 7:43
| WOW... you guys are wonderful! Thank you SO much for your thoughts and suggestions. I think I'll give it a few more weeks before I throw in the towel and replace them with something else. In talking with others here in western ny, it seems that most everyone is experiencing the same thing, and that most new plant growth seems to be delayed. When I pruned last month, I followed directions and left about a foot of growth. Most of it doesn't appear gray-dead and brittle (I've removed those parts); the bark seems to be reddish and still mostly supple. Would it be better to prune back even more or should I just leave it? What kind of fertilizer is best at this stage? Again, thank you for your help... I'm so clueless :( |
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| Fertilizer cannot help plants until they have leaves. But the most popular fertilizer among folks here is Espoma Rose Tone, Plant Tone is just as good if you find it priced cheaper. If you are pruning down by sections, look for a ring of green inner bark in the cross section. This indicates life. Canes that are only one year old will have green outer bark. These young canes should have white center pith. Brown pith in young canes indicates winter damage and calls for further pruning. |
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