P. Allen Smith: You know Steve one of the things that I love to do is mix roses with all the sorts of things. And here in this circular part of the garden, you’ll see that I’ve taken Rainbow Knockout and integrated it with all these grasses and annuals and perennials.
Steve Hutton: Right, you know Allen we call rainbow, rainbow for a good reason. It is an interesting mix with the coleus which is a rainbow onto itself.
P. Allen Smith: Yeah, it really is. I mean that the warm tones of that rainbow flower which by the way I love. I love the color and I love the simplicity of it.
Steve Hutton: Right, yeah I agree and you know even though there are a lot different hues going on with Rainbow Knockout it almost calms down the coleus a little bit.
P. Allen Smith: Yeah, it does you know cool it off.
Steve Hutton: Yeah, it helps cool it off, right which is a—there’s no such thing as a cycle but that’s a particularly—you have there.
P. Allen Smith: It is. That one is called—
Steve Hutton: —I wonder why.
P. Allen Smith: And I think—looks very good with rainbow.
Steve Hutton: Yeah.
P. Allen Smith: Yeah, you know, what I’m curious about among the Knockout family, where would Rainbow fit in terms of bloom power and size and so forth.
Steve Hutton: Well, you know one of the criteria for Knockout, there are just three or four simple criteria, absolute iron clad disease resistance, plant it and walk away.
P. Allen Smith: Right.
Steve Hutton: So that you really don’t have to fuss with this. Another is flower power and another is just something you don’t have to worry about down here in your ones and sevens but with their hardiness.
P. Allen Smith: Yeah.
Steve Hutton: Rainbow has all those characteristics which is why it’s a Knockout. It is the shortest of the whole bunch and our Pennsylvania world we’re a cold zone seven warm zone six.
P. Allen Smith: Right and we are a warm zone seven.
Steve Hutton: So, you are at least, yeah you’re a full zone.
P. Allen Smith: Away from you.
Steve Hutton: Away from us.
P. Allen Smith: Yeah, warmer.
Steve Hutton: Warmer than we are in our southeastern Pennsylvania location. It will struggle to get waist thigh.
P. Allen Smith: Okay. Well, that’s perfect for the small garden as you can see here, I don’t have a lot of room now—is going to go away with the first frost but you know, I wanted something that would get about you know 30 inches tall.
Steve Hutton: Yeah, you know I think that’s a great choice for there and of course, with any of the Knockout as with just about any kind of—you can decide how tall it gets because you’re going to wean or prune it.
P. Allen Smith: Yeah.
Steve Hutton: And you can really knock this down to three or four inches if that’s your intention. We generally recommend for Knockout you know a pruning in this climate maybe of once every two to three years. We don’t think, again, if you need to knock it down because you want to keep it at a certain height.
P. Allen Smith: Sure.
Steve Hutton: No problem.
P. Allen Smith: Yeah.
Steve Hutton: It will take a—wait until it gets fully dormant.
P. Allen Smith: Well, here I probably will because I don’t want to interfere with the base of these arbavada which is sure the architect show this and behind it I have Sarah Van Fleet, a great old rugosa.
Steve Hutton: Charming.
P. Allen Smith: And what I like about this simplicity of Rainbow Knockout is it’s got a knock with the pink tones in it and it that it blends well with Sarah Van Fleet.
Steve Hutton: Right, sure it does. You know Allen, Rainbows are probably the most dominative of the whole and probably it’s certainly the most dominative of the whole Knockout series. It will in our Southeast Pennsylvania climate struggle to get waist thigh in the season.
P. Allen Smith: So, we’re talking 30 to 36 inches.
Steve Hutton: Right, 30 to 36 inches.
P. Allen Smith: That’s perfect for here. If you’d like more information on this topic or any other gardening topic, just check out my website, pallensmith.com.
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