Cutting back your Knockout roses in late winter is crucial to promote healthy growth…with LOTS of blooms.
You may trim your knockouts a few times throughout the summer, but those are typically light trimmings. With the first trimming of the year, you need to be aggressive and do a heavy trimming. We recommend you remove anywhere from 1/2 to 2/3rds of the plant with this trimming (don’t hold back, it will grow back quickly!). This trimming helps promote new growth, and that new growth will be full of those big, beautiful Knockout blooms the rest of the year.
The goal is to do this trimming BEFORE any buds start appearing in early spring. That only leaves you with a few weeks to get this done, so don’t put it off.
The sooner the better!
