Knock Outs

As you can tell by the photo below the front of our house needs a little bit of TLC. We have big plans for the future (paint, new siding, wood columns, etc) but for now we wanted to be able to make quick changes that over time would grow into bigger changes.

So the best Nana in the world picked up some Double Knock Out Roses that would fit nicely in the space just below the porch. Our only requirements were that we wanted the space filled and whatever went there had to be easy to maintain. These only needed watered twice a day for the first week then down to once a day. We also need to trim off the dead roses as they come along so new ones can come in (I've had to do that only once in a week). The particular roses we got were from Walmart and were about 3 feet tall (and will eventually spread 3 - 4 feet wide) for $17.95 each, but we scored a heck of a deal. While looking around for them we saw them for as much as $25 for a much smaller size (from Lowe's and Home Depot) and most weren't Double Knock Out just the Single. We went with the Knock Out Rose, mostly because Nana told us to, but with research I'm really glad we did. These roses are resistant to black spots, are winter and drought durable, are pest and disease resistant, and are super low maintenance. 

Here's what they look like when you buy them off the shelf. 

After we pulled up all the grass the best Pops in the world tilled up the dirt in the area to make it easier to dig up the rather large hole we needed to place the roses in. 

Then Nana took all her nifty tools to dig up the dirt some more and loosened up some clumps. 

Then after digging half way to China (ha, just wait till we actually plant a tree or something) we finally had some roses in the ground! Then we laid down some black landscape fabric which helps block out weeds and grass. If we want to plant anything around the area in the future all we have to do is cut out a small section then we can dig down into the dirt and plant from there.

Picture this area this time next year and hopefully the rose bushes will be touching each other and filling in the space nicely. 

Then we had to decide on mulch. I went looking at Lowe's and found a nice rubber recycled mulch that you only have to lay down once and it's resistent to fading. However, it was about 4 times as expensive  as regular mulch. So we picked a color (dark brown) and went with regular mulch for now. Maybe next year we can splurge. 

We're really happy with the little bit of color it brings to the front porch area and we really, really can't wait until they grow some more and fill in. We owe a super big thank you to Nana and Pops for all their hard yard-work labor. Also my favorite phrase these days is, "Honey, will you water the roses?" - it just sounds so fancy. 

FYI: Knock Out Roses are apparently so cool they have a website dedicated to just them: http://www.conard-pyle.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/koplants.splash