Happy Birthday Knock Out® Rose!

The Knock Out® Rose is 10 years old! It's time to celebrate this rose's gorgeous color and sassy style.

The Knock Out Rose actually started out as a twinkle in the eye of rose hobbyist Bill Radler, who had been fascinated with roses since a boy. Decades of growing roses in his backyard led him patiently to breed this exceptional rose for color, disease resistance and hardiness.

"I was hooked on roses by one plant in my parents' backyard," says Radler. "Through the years I figured growing roses should be fun with less work so I looked for ways to eliminate maintenance demands and bred them out."

Knock Out was not an overnight success story. After 15 years of trial and error and years of testing in locations throughout the nation, Knock Out arrived on the rose scene, and started a revolution.

Hailed as a "breakthrough shrub rose" by the prestigious All-America Rose Selections, The Knock Out Rose was awarded the 2000 AARS® Award and the rest is history. It has been stunning us with out-standing looks and carefree performance ever since.

Once the word got out about Knock Out's great attributes and hardiness in zones 5-9, demand far exceeded supply as people flocked to garden centers for this beautiful, easy-care shrub rose anyone could grow without fear.

Over the past 10 years, there have been six more eye-catching additions to The Knock Out® Fam-ily of Roses. All seven members of the Knock Out Family of Roses were selected for their disease resis-tance - especially against black spot, and because they require no pruning, deadheading or winter pro-tection.

So let's toast the rose that started a revolution. Happy Birthday, Knock Out® Rose ... you fabulous red. For more information, visit www.theknockoutrose.com.

Georgia Iris Society Meeting