Best Knock Out Roses to Plant This Spring: Price Comparison

Last updated: April 2026 | Prices compared across 5+ online nurseries

Knock Out Roses are the bestselling rose brand in America, and it's not close. They dominate the rose market for one straightforward reason: they actually work. Traditional hybrid tea roses — the ones with the long-stemmed, florist-shop flowers — are beautiful when everything goes right, but "everything going right" means a spray program for black spot, another spray for powdery mildew, precise pruning, winter protection, and consistent fertilization. Most home gardeners try it for two years, watch their roses turn into disease-covered sticks, and give up.

Knock Out Roses changed the equation. They bloom continuously from spring through first frost — not just once, not twice, but nonstop for 6-7 months in most climates. They resist the fungal diseases that kill traditional roses. They don't need deadheading (they're self-cleaning — spent flowers drop on their own). They grow into a compact, rounded shrub that looks presentable with minimal pruning. They are, by a wide margin, the lowest-maintenance way to have roses blooming in your yard from May through November.

April is the ideal planting month across zones 5-9. Prices vary 20-30% between online nurseries on the same variety and pot size — always worth a quick comparison.

Quick Comparison

Variety	Flower Color	Flower Type	Price Range
Double Knock Out (Red)	Cherry-red	Double	$20-$45
Pink Double Knock Out	Bubblegum-pink	Double	$20-$45
Sunny Knock Out	Soft yellow to cream	Single	$22-$45
White Knock Out	White	Single	$22-$45
Coral Knock Out	Coral-orange	Single	$25-$45

All varieties share the same core traits: zones 5-9, 3-4 feet tall and wide with annual pruning, self-cleaning, disease-resistant, and blooming continuously from spring through frost. The performance difference between colors is minimal — choose the color you want.

---

Double Knock Out Rose (Red)

The original and still the most popular. Double Knock Out produces fully double, cherry-red flowers continuously from May through November in most climates. The "double" refers to the petal count — these are full, layered flowers that look closer to what people picture when they think of a rose, compared to the simpler single-petal Knock Out varieties. It grows 3-4 feet tall and wide in a rounded, compact shape that works as a foundation shrub, a low hedge, or a border plant.

Pricing ranges from $20-$45 for a 1-gallon plant. This is the most widely stocked Knock Out variety — availability is essentially never an issue, even in late spring.

What the care routine actually looks like: Full sun (6+ hours), average water (supplemental irrigation during drought), and one hard pruning in late winter. The pruning is the most important maintenance task: in February or early March (before new growth starts), cut the entire plant back to 12-18 inches. This feels aggressive. It looks brutal. The plant will be ugly stubs for 3-4 weeks. Then it pushes vigorous new growth and starts blooming within 6-8 weeks. Skip the annual pruning and the plant gets leggy, open, and less floriferous within 2-3 years. Do it and the plant stays compact, dense, and covered in flowers every season.

That's genuinely it for routine care. No fungicide spraying. No deadheading. No hybrid tea drama. Feed once in spring with a granular rose fertilizer if you want to, but Knock Outs perform reasonably well even without supplemental feeding. They're not fussy.

→ Compare Double Knock Out Rose prices

Pink Double Knock Out Rose

Identical performance to the red Double Knock Out — same bloom count, same disease resistance, same growth habit — with bubblegum-pink flowers instead of red. The pink is saturated and holds its color well even in heat, which isn't always true of pink flowering plants.

A lot of landscapers alternate red and pink Knock Outs in a row to create a two-tone hedge effect. The plants grow at the same rate and same size, so the alternating pattern stays consistent. It's a simple design trick that delivers more visual interest than a single-color row.

Pricing runs $20-$45, matching the red version.

→ Compare Pink Knock Out Rose prices

Sunny Knock Out Rose (Yellow)

Sunny Knock Out is the only yellow option in the lineup, and the color is warmer and softer than the bold reds and pinks. Flowers open a soft, buttery yellow and gradually fade to cream as they age, so you often see both fresh yellow and older cream flowers on the same plant simultaneously. The effect is gentler than the high-contrast red.

Sunny Knock Out pairs particularly well with blue and purple companion plants — salvia, catmint, lavender, Russian sage. Yellow and blue is one of the most reliable color combinations in garden design, and Sunny Knock Out provides the yellow anchor that blooms all season while the perennials cycle through their own bloom windows.

Pricing ranges from $22-$45. Yellow Knock Outs sometimes run $2-$3 higher than red or pink at the same retailer — a small premium for being the only yellow in the series.

→ Compare Sunny Knock Out Rose prices

White Knock Out Rose

Clean white single flowers on a compact 3-4 foot plant. White Knock Out reads as classic and elegant in the landscape — it's the variety that works best in formal settings, alongside a white house, or in a garden where the other plants provide the color and the roses provide a clean backdrop.

White flowers also show up better in evening light and dusk than colored varieties, which is a practical consideration if your garden is most enjoyed in the late afternoon or evening.

Pricing runs $22-$45. White is less commonly stocked than red or pink — compare availability across nurseries before settling on your source.

→ Compare White Knock Out Rose prices

Coral Knock Out Rose

Coral Knock Out produces single flowers in a unique coral-orange tone that no other Knock Out matches. It's the most distinctive color in the series — warmer than the reds, more saturated than the yellows, and unusual enough that it draws comments from visitors who are used to seeing red or pink roses in every yard.

The coral color pairs beautifully with purples (salvia, catmint, allium) and deep greens. It's the Knock Out variety for gardeners who want their roses to stand out rather than blend in.

Pricing ranges from $25-$45.

→ Compare Coral Knock Out Rose prices

---

The Problem Nobody Talks About: Rose Rosette Disease

This is the part of the article that most garden sites skip because it's bad for business. But if you're investing in Knock Out Roses — especially multiple plants for a hedge or mass planting — you need to know about rose rosette disease (RRD).

RRD is a viral disease spread by a tiny eriophyid mite that's nearly invisible to the naked eye. The virus causes distinctive symptoms: abnormal red or deformed growth, an explosion of excessive thorns on new shoots, and witches'-broom branching patterns (dense clusters of thin shoots growing from a single point). Infected plants decline and eventually die. There is no treatment. No fungicide, no insecticide, no pruning regime fixes it. Infected plants must be removed entirely — dug up, roots and all — and destroyed. Not composted. Destroyed.

RRD has been spreading rapidly across the eastern United States for the past decade, and Knock Out Roses are disproportionately affected. Not because Knock Out is more susceptible than other roses — it isn't — but because Knock Out Roses are planted everywhere, in dense mass plantings, often right next to each other in commercial landscapes, home foundations, and neighborhood entry features. That density creates a superhighway for the mite that carries the virus. One infected plant in a 10-plant hedge can spread the virus to the entire row within a season or two.

Does this mean you shouldn't plant Knock Out Roses? No. Millions of Knock Out Roses continue to grow and bloom beautifully without ever encountering RRD. But you should be aware of the risk, especially in areas where the disease has been reported. A few practical considerations:

• Space your Knock Outs. Dense plantings (plants touching) facilitate mite spread. Wider spacing (4+ feet apart) reduces the risk.
• Monitor annually. Learn to recognize the symptoms — abnormal red growth, excessive thorns, distorted shoots. Catching it early and removing the infected plant quickly can slow spread to the rest of the row.
• Diversify your plantings. Instead of a monoculture row of 12 Knock Outs, consider alternating with non-rose shrubs (spirea, butterfly bush, abelia) that break up the corridor the mite uses to travel.
• If RRD is already in your neighborhood, consider whether a rose-based planting is the right choice. It might be — the beauty and performance of Knock Outs are hard to replace. But it's a decision you should make with your eyes open.

---

How to Use Knock Out Roses

Knock Outs are versatile enough for almost any landscape application. Some proven uses:

Foundation planting. Space 3-4 feet apart along the front of a house. Mass planting creates a continuous band of color from spring to fall — the kind of low-maintenance curb appeal that makes a house look cared-for without requiring much ongoing effort.

Low flowering hedge. Plant 3 feet apart for a hedge that stays 3-4 feet tall with annual hard pruning. This works along driveways, property borders, and garden room dividers. The continuous bloom season means the hedge looks good for 6-7 months rather than the 2-3 weeks you'd get from a once-blooming shrub.

Mixed border. Combine Knock Outs with ornamental grasses (Karl Foerster, Shenandoah), perennial salvia, catmint, and black-eyed Susans for a low-maintenance border that blooms continuously. The Knock Outs carry the show from May through November while the perennials cycle through their own bloom windows and add texture and variety.

Containers. Knock Outs grow well in large pots (18-inch minimum diameter) on patios, decks, and balconies. Container plants dry out faster than ground plantings and need more frequent watering — check soil moisture every 2-3 days during summer heat.

Alternatives Worth Considering

Knock Out is the dominant brand, but it's not the only disease-resistant, continuously blooming rose available. If you want similar performance with a different aesthetic — or want to diversify away from the RRD risk profile of an all-Knock-Out planting — these alternatives deliver:

Oso Easy roses (Proven Winners). Similar disease resistance and continuous bloom in a slightly different color palette. Oso Easy roses tend to stay slightly smaller than Knock Outs and come in colors (peach, cherry pie, paprika) that Knock Out doesn't offer. Check Proven Winners Direct for manufacturer-direct pricing — they're often cheaper than buying the same plant at a general nursery.

At Last rose (Proven Winners). This is the fragrant option. Knock Out Roses have minimal to no fragrance — they traded scent for disease resistance in the breeding process. At Last is a fully double, apricot-to-orange shrub rose with strong disease resistance AND genuine fragrance. If you've missed the scent of real roses since giving up on hybrid teas, At Last fills that gap. It's not quite as bullet-proof as Knock Out (it benefits from some deadheading), but it's dramatically easier than traditional roses.

Drift roses. Groundcover roses that stay 1.5-2 feet tall and spread to 2-3 feet wide. They fill a different role than Knock Outs — use them at the front of borders, on slopes, in rock gardens, and anywhere you want color at ground level. Continuous bloom, disease-resistant, very low maintenance. They're essentially Knock Outs that never grow above knee height.

How to Save Money on Knock Out Roses

• Buy bare-root in early spring. Bare-root Knock Outs cost 30-40% less than containerized plants. They arrive as dormant sticks with roots — they look dead, they feel dead, but they're alive and they grow just as vigorously as potted plants once established. The bare-root window is short, typically February through mid-April, and stock runs out at good nurseries. If you can find what you want in bare-root, it's the best deal in roses.

• Buy in quantity for hedges and mass plantings. If you're planting 6+ roses, check each nursery's pricing at the specific quantity you need. Some offer bulk discounts. A $5 savings per plant across a 6-plant hedge is $30 — enough to buy a seventh plant.

• Compare across retailers. Knock Out Rose prices vary 20-30% between nurseries on the same variety and pot size. The rose that costs $38 at one nursery is $26 at another — we track the prices so you can see the spread instantly.

• Try the alternatives. Oso Easy and At Last roses offer comparable performance at competitive pricing. During peak spring season, Knock Outs sometimes carry a slight brand premium. If an Oso Easy in your preferred color is $5 less than the equivalent Knock Out and delivers similar performance, the savings are free money.

→ Browse all rose price comparisons