Perhaps you could gift this beautiful old rose to a friend who has better conditions for growing it. That would be a lovely solution and you could visit it once established in its new home.
Just a thought.
Jeannie

Jeannie is right. It's a wonderful rose. It's just unhappy in the place that it's growing. You shouldn't have to put up with looking at the powdery mildew.

Your situaition and suggestion apply to me in someways. I'm in a similar situation with a vigorous climber - Lady Banks. It was an implusive buy and I do not have that kind of yard space to handle it. I'm looking for someone who can grow that rose.

I've long ago gotten over the guilt part when it comes to parting with roses, whether I shovel prune them or give them away. It seems to me that I've read in several places that Cl. SdlM is inferior to the bush form in terms of bloom, and having to look at yards of mildew sounds like not much fun. If you can't give it away, chop it up and return it to the earth as compost. Not a total loss and I can tell you once it's gone you're going to feel such relief.

Ingrid

I don't have the growing condition for this rose.

That is the essential point. Cut it back, pot it up, give it away, and don't look back.

If you don't have the right growing conditions, chunk it. Life is too short to have to look at an ugly rose. There are way too many others that would be great in its place.

FWIW, Cl. SdlM was horrible in my garden, too hot, too cold, too dry and too humid, too windy, etc, etc. Double diva-delux.

Yes. What joy can be found in growing a rose so terribly unhappy where it is? WHY grow it if it can't bring YOU joy? It, and the bush, were both dawgs for me, too. Kim

I got rid of it. My courtyard looks a lot spacious now. I'm pleased with it.

I don't have any friends to give this rose to. My siblings don't even like roses. They prefer to grow less maintenance plants such as yucca, agrave and flowering trees instead.

Sometimes I wonder why I keep buying roses. They're just too much work. They have so many diseases and other problems.

Jimmy, everything has problems. If it isn't a disease, it's some other sensitivity or snails, or white flies, or scale, or miners or, or...

If you have any interest, collect a few roses which are known to be fairly trouble free in your area and breed your own. It's amazing how clean seedlings I've raised and selected IN MY YARD are IN MY YARD.

If you don't have enough room or light for roses, determine what you DO have suitable requirements for and enjoy that. You obviously like to garden and grow things. You just need to figure out what you like that will like where you have to put it. Kim

I think I've got the misconception that roses are easy to grow. When I first joined this forum back in 2006(?), I was inspired by Trivoli's rose garden and Pam's Red Rose Ridge photos.

They crammed all their roses together and their roses look meticulously clean and healthy.

You're right about choosing healthier roses to grow. I've got a 2.6m tall Laguna rose growing in a pot. Absolutely clean and healthy - perhaps a touch of mildew by late summer but not as bad as the Cl. SDLM. The only thing I don't like about Kordes roses is those glossy leaves. They look too modern.

I love David Austin roses but some of them give me misery. I've tried growing Eveyln three times - one was destroyed by the hail storm in 2010. The other two ended up with downy mildew in 2011. I might try growing this rose again if I ever move to a sunny location.

Ironic, isn' it, that the thing that makes your Laguna as healthy as it is, is what you don't like?

Jumbojimmy, where in Aus are you? If you ever have any roses to give away I know several people who would adore them! I grew up on the Gold Coast in Qld. Regards, Bel

I think I've got the misconception that roses are easy to grow.

*** Roses ARE easy to grow -- IF you are growing roses that are well-adapted to your conditions.
The right roses for my garden are Teas, Chinas, and Noisettes -- roses that don't need winter chill, and which can tolerate some drought, and bounce back.
Those would be the WRONG roses for someone in, oh, Michigan.

We went through a LOT of roses, over the years, finding out what things did NOT work here, and learning to know when to call it quits.
We tried 3-4 times to grow 'Souv. de la Malmaison,' and had to admit that it is the WRONG rose for our garden. It may bear one of the world's loveliest blooms, but HERE, it was always covered with mildew, and we never ONCE saw a bloom open.
Wrong rose.

Jeri

roseseek - exactly. Most of the kordes roses look so healthy, they reminded me of those knock-out roses. I like my Austins to bloom well, but at the same time, I don't like the rose bush to be covered in too many blooms that I can't see the foliage. How weird.

blocke19 - I live in Victoria. Thanks for the suggestion. However, I'm a really shy person who prefers my own companion, if you know what I mean. Thanks anyway.

Jerijen - I think your location is quite similar to mine. Your SDLM suffered from mildew, and so did mine. I remember you saying that Austins are thirsty shrubs and need plenty of water. I had to water mine regularly.

I'm not too fond about growing teas, chinas and noisettes. I just don't like the foliage. The only tea rose that I would like to grow one day is Mme Berard. You're spot on about Teas being the right choice for my location. Every time I drive pass a few suburbs, I would see a tea rose flowering non-stop.

Jimmy, look carefully, then, at the Noisettes. You may find that some of those work for you.
Fortunately for me, I really love the roses that love it here.

Jeri