I think your rose will appreciate having shade from the harsh western sun. We have neighbors whose house faces due east and they have k/o's fronting their foundation shrubs which, come 1:30-2PM are in full shade of the house and doing fine.
Are you planning to bucket/hose water this rose? Once it's established it will seek moisture from under the yardbarn and the roots will be cooler.
Go for it!

Well, our property is flat with a very gentle slope towards the garage area (you can't see the slope - I can only tell it's there by the way rain or heavy watering tends to collect). I expect I'd have to hose-water it to begin with, but once it's settled in (barring drought conditions) I hope it wouldn't require too much manual watering.

VERY good info about your neighbor's k/o's... everything I've read about them says "full sun, full sun!!" I think I will "go for it" and put this guy in the ground... he's growing like crazy!

You always come through for me, dottie! ;-D Many thanks...

Claudia

If that's a tulip poplar you can trim it up higher as it grows. I have a couple of huge ones in my other yard and they seem to benefit by being limbed up every couple of years. They grow VERY tall and as you probably know, drop the first leaves as excess in the heat and dryness of July.
I think your k/o rose in that location will brighten your day every time you look at it against the white background.
Leave it unfertilized for this season and (if it were mine) I'd not mulch it so you can catch any vole activity and deal with it. I think we tend to over mulch and the stray shower doesn't do more than wet the mulch and then evaporate.You want roots this year more than leaves and flowers and try to get rid of the stray grasses first before you plant.
You might, while you're digging the hole, plant some perennials or bulbs near the rose. Can't think what I'd suggest but underplanting is best done as you're planting the main flower/shrub/tree.
If you can, collect rain water and use that to establish this focal point rose. It will love you for making the effort to give it a good start.

Good eye, Dottie! ;-) It IS a tulip poplar... we've got a bunch out here, too. DH is actually the tree guy in the family... he keeps them limbed up and they've done beautifully over the years. The property our house is on has been in the family since 1970, and years before the house was built he planted tons of seedlings to augment the mostly oak-pine forest out here. Thanks to that, we've got sycamores, poplars, sawtooth oak, and lots of other hardwoods that are all huge now... the one in the photo is actually one of the smaller ones! ;-)

DH has a small forest of trees growing in containers, too. My favorite story is of how, a few years ago, he kept coming home with these little inch-high seedlings (usually wrapped up in a wet napkin!) that cropped up underneath the Japanese maples planted as landscape trees where he worked. The landscape crew thought he was crazy... told him to take all he wanted! All together, we've got about 20 now (maybe more), some still in containers and some in the ground. The biggest are between 8 - 10 feet now... can you imagine what they'd cost to buy now?? :-O

Love the idea of bulbs around the k/o, too. The bloom has a yellow center that fades to pink to the outside so I may try daffodils... I should be able to get some from my mom. Is it OK to plant them now or should I wait until fall?

I do have buckets that catch the rainwater... I use it to water my containers. What I don't have - but have dreams of - is a rainbarrel. Our house doesn't have gutters (yet - that's a project for when we eventually put a metal roof on the house) so I'm still reading about them to figure out the best options. There's so much info out there that it's hard to decide!

Thanks for all the tips, Dottie! I've said it before, but this forum has done more for my landscape than all the compost in the world could have! ;-D

Knockout Roses in general can become quite full and robust. For that reason, in your second to last photo, I strongly encourage you to plant your rose where the "AS" is (rather than your X), and in the last photo where the "EA" is.

Good point... thanks! ;-)

I have three K/O Rainbow bushes. They bloom a pretty pink with a yellow center but the hot sun fades them to the palest pink. So if it doesn't get sun all day long that will help them stay pinker. If it is to be far from a water source you could take several milk jugs full of water, put a pin hole near the base and set them near your rose to water it slowly. I plant my K/O roses in a saucer shaped depression so there is no "run off", all the water that is poured on soaks in, no waste! This past year I decided to do all my perennials that way and they grow like crazy and I save water. Enjoy your new rose:)
Tina