Thanks. I just texted the landscape company and asked if they would purchase one 3 gallon double KO rose to replace the camellia. Hope they're good about it.

How weird: our neighbors just came over with a check for $35. The landscapers had contacted them; they didn't want to upset or lose the landscapers and so told them they'd take care of it themselves.

How embarrassing: I purposely did not want to involve the neighbors and feel odd taking a check from them.

Directions from the nursery recommend a 3 foot spacing between plants.

No offense if your hubby likes KO roses, but I think there are much more beautiful roses that are bred to be disease resistant (e.g. To blackspot) so that you dont have to spray with toxic fungicides. Why not look at roses hybridized by David Austin or Kordes?

If your hubby likes that fuscia KO color how about James L Austin which is one of the more disease resistant varieties?

https://www.davidaustinroses.com/us/james-l-austin-english-shrub-rose

Many Austin roses are fragrant too and will repeat bloom over the summer.

Hi totoro:

Your “that fuscia KO color” reminded me of 42’s ”... that woman”.

Which Austins are as prolific and disease resistant as KO, down by you in MD?

I was thinking along the same lines, totoro—-you’ve got lots of room there, CJ, and it looks plenty sunny. I would caution against planting a KO rose, since they can be vectors for Rose Rosette Disease (RRD).

If it was indeed the color you liked, there are many lovely roses in that hue.

There are many shapes too; rounded shrub, lax spreader, and tall climber are just a few.

A mannerly climber could help cover the wall, or a shrub could serve as punctuation at the end of the wall. Look into Kordes roses; there are many of us in the SE having great luck with these. They are bred for disease resistance. Antique roses are another great option and you would be helping to preserve a rose that might otherwise be lost.

I think your neighbor is being very kind, and that is a testament to the relationship you’ve worked on with them. Maybe discuss with them your choices, and who knows, your shared rose could be the beginning of a lovely joint gardening project! :-)

Perma n’ Posies/9A FL I would caution against planting a KO rose, since they can be vectors for Rose Rosette Disease (RRD).

!

Plant what will do well in your planting zone. Plant what you enjoy.

I think that my Teasing Georgia in part shade has as many blooms on her now as the KO down the street in full sun and TG is pretty disease resistant for me. With the exception of TG, I dont think any of my Austins dont has as many blooms as the DA catalogs, but I think that is because I dont have full sun anywhere in my garden.

But for me the quality and color of the blooms isp0 more important than many more blooms on the bush that are not as pleasing to the eye. Also fragrance is very important to me.

Ko roses C An be a vectors for RRD?? Really??

Any rose can carry the mites that cause RRD, but Knockouts are planted so widely in commercial spaces and tended so poorly that RRD can break out in them and spread before anyone bothers to notice. It's not that Knockouts are so very prone to RRD as that people think they're "no care" roses. More common in spreading RRD is the wild multiflora that grows on roadsides and things, and again as I understand it the problem is the lack of maintenance more than the particular weakness of that rose. The only rose that has some preliminary science to suggest it might be resistant to RRD is Top Gun. Apparently some scientists in a test garden and tried to infect it with RRD several times and they couldn't, but I don't think that has been written up as research yet. It's also a red rose but a little more single than most Knockouts.

I agree with Carol - plant what you like but keep an eye on things as we all do in our rose plantings. Avoiding the risk of RRD basically means never planting any roses, and I'm not ready to do that.

Cynthia

Cynthia: Was not that Top Gun thing shot down ( some time ago; certainly before Ollie north was knocked out by the other guy’s wardrobe)?

Went to our favorite nursery yesterday. The owner is very knowledgeable and specializes in native plants. I thought he would recommend some native shrub or antique rose, but he actually felt the double KO rose would be our best bet.

I had hidcote lavender plants in the backyard that weren't getting enough sun, so we planted them around the rose and it looks very nice now--except for the crumbling slope belonging to our neighbor. Guess we'll have to wait a year or so for the rose to hide it.

Thanks, everyone, for your help!

Easy answer. Zero. Plant a real rose instead.

Nice response, hugogurll, when I already posted I had planted one.

The double KO is prettier than the original KO.

Be careful, Lavender and roses like diferent soil conditions. Lavdender likes sandy, fast draining soil and a lot of heat and sunshine. Roses like more moist, richer soil. I killed my lavender hidcote because the soil was not fast draining enough and we get a lot of rain.