Your rose may not like being planted that close to tree roots.
Also maybe not getting enough direct sunlight?

Did you plant it while the new shoots or laterals were already broken? It might just be getting adjusted to the ground. I know it's been in the ground for 6 weeks, but transplanting it right in the middle growth might mess with the blooms a bit. To post a photo, just open a photobucket account and after you upload the pic to photobucket, you can select from their "share" list. Copy and paste the long "HTML" code in the message box and the photo should appear. When you preview your message, the photo should show in the preview.

I hope the photo post is successful. The area gets sun all day long. the tree is very airy. I planted it there because the trunk is a built in climbing post and past experience tells me in the 100degree Dallas summers my roses do best with a little shade in the afternoon. This is the best area on my property to do this.

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A climbing rose is a multi-year project, not unlike a tree.

It may do almost nothing the first couple of years except grow a root system. If you keep it well-watered and wait 2 to 4 years, you will have a giant mound of ND where your river birch used to be.

Your ND's performance may be a bit delayed by having been in a pot for a while, but it will catch up.

Actually, your ND looks very healthy. The brown, crispy petals look like "balling". This happens when the petals get wet before they can open and then they stick together and begin to die.

You can try helping the buds to open by gently using a twisting motion on the sides of the buds... like a man might do to an old fashioned handlebar mustache. If the buds are rotten inside, all the petals may just come off.

BC:)

Balling of petals (actally caused by Botrytis fungus) happens in cool, wet weather and shouldn't be a common problem in Texas. There's not much to be done about it.

The plant looks to be wilted from lack of water.

Thanks for the clarification Michael. :)

Thanks for all the good info. I'm starting to think there's more of a problem. today I found clusters of yellowed leaves and on closer look the buds are not maturing. they are very tiny and pop off very easy. I guess the good news is there were no visible bugs in the buds I pulled off. As to the water, we've been getting plenty of spring rain and it gets supplemental water from sprinkler system when there's no rain. I'm starting to think I should move it.

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Can you describe how that sprinkler system works (how it delivers water, and how often it does it, and when during the day it does it, and for how long)? There are sprinkler systems and there are sprinkler systems.

Not sure how many gallons per min it puts out but it runs 3 days a week for 10 min between 6-7am. There is a sprinkler head near the base of the tree. It does not run if it is raining and I monitor it, so if we get a good drenching rain hours before I will shut it off manually.

The yellow leaves could be from last year, just pull them off. I wouldn't worry about fungus diseases on ND--she will get a few spots but shouldn't be harmed.

I would place some containers around the sprinkler, like cat food cans, and measure how much water comes out per application. You need at least 1/2 inch to penetrate to any depth. People usually give 3/4 or 1 inch at a time. You might need to change the system to put out more water, less often. Most plants can use 3/4 inch per week in cool weather or 1 inch in warm weather, including rain.

If you've had lots of rain, I was probably wrong about thinking it was wilted. Are the flower necks stiff in the heat of the day?

Possibly the frequent sprinkling contributed to the balling of flowers--if they are shaded in the morning and stayed wet a few hours.

The leaves look very healthy but it could be from lack of water. I live 3 hours south of you, and if you have had the lack of rain that we are already experiencing, your rose may just not be getting enough water. I'd try using a soaker hose around it and let it run for a long time until the ground is thoroughly saturated.

I shouldn't even post this, because I know very little about roses. Here's what I would do: plant a ripe banana, peel and all at the foot of it. It is truly amazing what that has done for our roses.

Nancy

try hand watering - it will need 10 litres per square metre so a whole large can. If the ground is at all compacted or very rooty, a sprinkler system will not get down to the roots of what looks like a big sturdy (and thirsty) rose at the base of an equally thirsty tree. Also, hold off the food as yellowing leaves can be chemical scorch and it will do the rose no harm to go without supplemental food until you can eliminate that as a possible cause. Hope your rose recovers as New Dawn is a lovely one.

Thanks for all the feedback. The flower necks are limp at 4pm. I will start to water manually and hold off on feeding. I'm also going to try the ripe banana trick. I'll keep you posted.