Lemon Meringue

This rose's location in the garden is NE 10, SE 10, NW 8.
  • Classification:  Shrub, (grown as climber)
  • Flower Color:  light yellow
  • Flower Size:  4-5 inches
  • Flower Form:  double, borne in large clusters
  • Petal Count:  17-25
  • Fragrance: intense spicy
  • Repeat Bloomer:  yes
  • Foliage:  large, dark green, glossy
  • Plant Height:  6-7 feet
  • Plant Width:   2-3 feet
  • Growth Habit:  spreading, near climbing
  • Disease Resistant:  yes
  • Hybridizer:  William Radler for Weeks Wholesale Rose Grower
  • Registered:  2003
  • Parentage:  (sport of ‘Autumn Sunset’)
  • ARS* Rating 7.2 (average rose)
    *American Rose Society Rating

Awards:
  • None
 
Notes:
  • “Will Radler was still just an amateur rose breeder — a basement hobbyist, really — when he walked out of his home in Milwaukee carrying that fateful baby rose in a soil-stuffed cup. He didn’t realize it then, back in 1989, but he held in his hands a flower with such remarkable qualities that it would grow to be the best-selling garden rose in the country. His creation is credited with reversing the sagging fortunes of the difficult garden queen. Radler’s rose is so hardy and requires so little care that it can be planted in places once unimaginable — road medians, mall parking lots, ignored gardens. Radler’s rose is called the Knock Out. It changed the entire rose industry by emphasizing low-maintenance. It still dominates the market. Radler believed the problem was the rose had been overbred for beauty. The modern rose had transformed from just five petals and once-a-year blooms to dozens of petals — hundreds even — and multiple blooms. But this tinkering also made the flower fragile, like a sickly award-winning dog. Radler wanted to make roses easier.” --- The Washington Post, “By any other name, the Knock Out rose would be just as sturdy”, July 15, 2015.

  • “Radler’s first-year royalty check of $60,000 was more than he had ever made while working, and his payments have increased exponentially along with the sales of the 28 patented rose varieties he has on the market, with more in the pipeline.“ --- Urban Milwaukee website, www.urbanmilwaukee.com

  • Other roses bred by Radler include, ‘Lemon Meringue’, ‘Double Knock Out®’, and Knock Out®’.