Did you get that planter from a big box type of store? I've seen one just like it being sold at a Sam's Club here and there were almost no drainage holes. What does the bottom of your pot look like? And is that planter in full sun, what is the watering situation, etc. If there are only a few tiny holes in the bottom then I suspect they're slowly drowning in the container.

Yeah, my first question would be: are there drainage holes in that pot?

agree on above about drainage ....

then.. what media did you use ... hope not MG ...

how do you water ...

you planted them when it was already hot in june??? .. if i count back properly.. how hot was it immediately ??? .. was the plant in sun immediately after planting ????

it is mid sept ....even in fl .. it might be shutting down for fall ... due to extreme stresses ... i dont do FL.. roses go dormant dont they???

you said you did everything you were told.. well??? ... who told you what.. and why did you believe them????

you really havent given us much facts to work with ...

ken

If you just bought it a few months ago, you might need to wait for it to show you what it can do next Spring. I did the same - bought Double Pink Knock Out a few months ago and planted it at the mailbox because I want an easy care rose there. It sat there doing nothing through the heat, no growth, never mind bloom...and now it finally came out with some blooms. Very pretty but the bloom doesn't seem to last at all. The again it is still small and I am hoping it will be more convincing in the Spring.

You can't go by what you see during the first year after planting.

Here it is with a few blooms after some deadheading.

Thanks everybody for your comments. I did drill some holes in the bottom of the planters but maybe I need to put more. I do get some occasional blooms but the plant itself looks in rough shape. I used potting soil and mixed it with fertilizer specific for knockout roses. And I have been watering when it appears to be getting dry. However being brand new to this I don’t know the appropriate amount of water it should be getting and what would be considered too much. Also we get some pretty horrific afternoon thunderstorms down here in the summer so I have been bringing them under the patio during the storms. I am thinking maybe the summertime was just not a good time to start my rose bushes as it is just too hot. I will keep at it and see what happens in the spring.

A dark pot + being in the sun = extra hot roots. If you are able, put that in the ground for better results. Or paint the pot white.

Also, I originally had the rose bush in a smaller container and it was not thriving so I transplanted it to a larger container thinking that might help. So far no such luck. Does it matter what type of water is used (i.e. hose water, rain water, etc.)? I have been collecting the rain water to use as opposed to our treated water from the garden hose

Time for some positivity.

I say the glass is half full.

You say you used fertilizer specific for knockout roses, so at least interveinal chlorosis will not be an issue.

And the knockout rose people would thank you, if they participated in this forum.

If a rose looked like that in my garden, it would almost certainly be an issue with the potting mix. Some mixes become a dense airless soggy mass that roses don’t like. Others might dry out too much in my climate (but the plant would look different than what yours looks like). Or the pH might be off, which can happen in a wet airless mix. Putting in more drainage holes can help a little but if it is a poor quality mix, but it won’t help enough. Putting fertilizer on a newly planted rose is considered problematic as well, since it could be too strong for the young roots and burn them. Speaking of which, so will softened water. If that were my plant, I would take the rose out of the pot and check the mix quality. Just digging a little on the side is not adequate, you need to see what the mix looks like all the way down. If the mix is poor, then get entirely fresh high quality potting mix, (maybe someone from Florida can give you some suggestions, but something like MiracleGro moisture control is my guess for your hot humid climate). You would need to remove as much of the old stuff as possible and repot into fresh. You don’t need to wash the roots. Looking at your rose, I would expect that there aren’t many living roots anyway. In your climate you could do it even in this season.

That j you so much for your advice! I will do as you suggested. I just drilled some more drainage holes this morning. I did use the Miracle Gro moisture control potting mix but I think the issue is with the drainage. I did mix in some fertilizer so that could be where I went wrong and did use softened water at the beginning. I have recently been using collected rain water, so hopefully that will help!