I thought that it might be worth posing the same question that George asked about DKO to get people’s responses to their experiences with ‘White Out’. Where does it fall in the continuum of resistance among the family of roses bred by Bill Radler?
Has it been seed, or just pollen fertile? Also, how do the seedlings fare?
Thank you for whatever input you may have.
Jim Sproul
For what it is worth, at the end of the season I’ve gone through several nurseries and have seen some White Out plants and they all were pretty much disease free while most others around them were suffering badly. I didn’t see one hip on any of the plants and read somewhere that they are pretty much sterile but my memory may be incorrect about that. I can’t remember why but there was something that seemed a bit ‘off’ about the way the leaves looked…not sure if it was the color or shape or what. I just remember thinking they looked abit odd.
Rob
They didn’t introduce it as “White Knock Out” because it does get some blackspot. However, the problems are minor and the foliage is usually pretty much covered by blossoms anyways.
I consider White Out one of the most disease resistant plants in my garden. In a warm Zone 3 it dies back–pretty much to the crown–but rebounds well and it is nearly always in bloom. There have been no major disease issues that resulted in any type of defoliation. It can get just a bit of Downy mildew–that was about it. Any other diseases such as BS or leafspot are basically a rare lesion. I don’t recall ever seeing a hip and no crosses ever took trying it as a female but I mentioned in another post that the pollen is viable. I have had more crosses take using its pollen than any of the other Knockouts–not a ton but better than the others. My first seedlings were from 2010 crosses. I know I ended up discarding quite a few for disease issues. I won’t know if any survived the final culling for a few more weeks.
‘White Out’ is triploid like the roses in the Knock Out series. It sure is beautiful. I love the low compact habit, dark foliage against the light colored blooms, and massive bloom production.
Joe Bergeson is right. A lot of customers and consumers in the Midwest especially have asked us why we did not introduce it as White Knock Out, The answer is because it does get black spot in the South and is more susceptible anthracnose and cercospora than Knock Out, resulting in more leaf loss in the landscape.On the other hand. it blooms like very few other roses do and it is still one of the best white shrub rose out there and is more winter hardy. Not that you need more white in northern climates…