Can overgrown Knock-Out roses be cut down to ground

[Laura JD]

The company I bought my Knock Out roses from instructed not to prune dead flowers, so over a course of 2 years, the bushes bloomed nicely but are large and straggly. Would I be able to cut them down (about 2-3 inches from the ground) just before snowfall, or would that just cause them to die. I would love to keep them a bit smaller for next year. I didn't know you could prune the dead growth until I read this column. I was just following directions from the company I bought them from.

[mhannum]

I think the difference with Knock Out roses is that you don't have to "dead head" them, which is removing the spent flowers. That being said, you still want to remove dead branches and such, and, to be honest, they probably still benefit some from dead-heading, though not as much as more classical roses such as hybrid teas.

As Marlingardener said, you don't want to weed-whack them down to a small height since that'll put the plant's health at risk and produce lots of spindly growth. Just prone out anything spindly, dead, or that is rubbing against other branches, or in the way.