I would think some of the Atlanta crowd has Don Juan and will chime in here. I agree with DancingNancy55, its a rather robust climber with large stiff canes, requires protection against Blackspot and like all climbers eats like a football player. I have 8 red climbers, it is easily the most prolific bloomer and repeats the fastest as long as it has the nutrition. I'm more of an organic feeder. I used Mills Magic Mix for years, but now use alfalfa meal/pellets, cottonseed meal, fishmeal, Ironite or chelated iron and lots of compost. If you are a wildflower sort of girl, you may be more comfortable with organics. Roses, bloom longer than any other shrub in North America. The typical shrub has a short blooming period and then its foliage for the remainder of the season. Roses are capable of blooming from early spring until way late in the fall in your zone. To do that, they need the nutrition. I think people are often disappoint in their roses because they don't offer sufficient nutrition. Train the canes while they are young and pliable, they can become rather stiff as the age some.

I hated my Don Juan//I just did not have it in enough sunlight. the mildew and other disease was driving me nuts. Last year as I was relandscaping I cut it down to about 6 in. Didn't care if it died. I was mad! This year it is growing great guns. lots of buds on about 18 in. plant. Gonna give it another year. By all means cut it back. Pull off the suckers! If the bindweed *MG* is still a problem ...I would sprinkle the ground liberally with Preen. I had some thrip damage in a couple of buds, but disposed of them in garbage. My DJ is about the same age as yours.

I don't think Don Juan is a climber that particularly likes the cold. Obviously Hrose and Seil are successful with theirs in zone 6, but in my zone 5 Don Juan is one that has failed to overwinter for me at least twice. It wasn't in a prime spot, but I'd be leery about it in the Chicago area unless you can give it a nice protected location. If climbers survive but need to be pruned to the ground each winter, you never really get a chance for the kind of blooming you want for a climber. In contrast, Dublin Bay has done consistently well for me and even survived with some cane over the winter. It's not the ridiculously hardy rose like Quadra or Ramblin Red or Illusion, but it has the more classic red rose shape and seems to survive well. Fields of the Wood is also a good survivor, and there's some speculation that this found rose is the same as another named survivor (either Rhode Island Red or Ramblin Red). Either way, I think there are probably some more reliable red climbers for zone 5 than Don Juan. Just my experience with this rose in Nebraska. Cynthia

Congrats, Joe! Good find indeed. Most of my minis are in about 12 inch pots to begin with. If I see that the plant is getting too large for that size, particularly if it's getting top heavy, then I'll move them up to something larger. I would not use a clay pot though. Unless the inside is glazed so it doesn't absorb water it will actually steal moisture from the rose. Besides, the plastic ones are soooo much lighter, lol!