I think Don Juan loves you sultry_jasmine because you are a funny girl. What guy doesn't like funny charming ladies..lol. I bought this rose last year. It isn't cane hardy up here but it is a good plant so far. I have had a few blooms last year. Unfortunately I didn't find the flowers all that special. It makes me wonder if I got the right rose since it is such a famous rose.

I haven't heard of rose midge being reported in SC or in the Southeast. Some rose varieties will periodically abort some of the flower buds, but I don't think DJ is one of them. This is an unusual symptom with no obvious explanation. I would just wait and see if it continues after the rose is well established. Soils of mostly clay are fine for roses unless there is a drainage problem. Raising the planting area several inches above the surround can help a lot. Clay should be amended with a few inches of manure or other organic matter. Piedmont clays are poor in nutrients and often can use additions of dolomite lime and phosphate. However, it's a good idea to get a soil test from the county extension service before adding stuff. I'm not saying the above considerations have anything to do with the aborted flower buds, though.

What you are talking about is called the "Minnesota Tip" here. How it works is that you dig a trench as long as the rose is tall on one side of the rose starting a little ways out form the base of the rose. Then you dig up the opposite side of the root ball so that you can lay the rose down into the trench and then bury it all with soil. You are not bending the canes down but actually lifting the roots on one side to lay the rose down. The roots on the side with the trench will bend much easier than the canes. Like you said the canes will snap if you attempt to bend them down that far. It works but it's a lot of work to do and undo in the spring. Burying the canes can also lead to other problems like cankers so I wouldn't suggest it. I would suggest that you stake and cover it instead. Put in three or four good sturdy stakes around the rose and then wrap around the stakes a couple of times with burlap and tie it up with twine or staple it to the stakes if they are wooden. Mulch the bottom with what ever mulch you prefer about a good foot deep too. That should be enough protection for the roots and the canes to get them through winter. You will probably still have some winter cane die back but it shouldn't be excessive.

claferg, you can prune any rosebush anytime. and you don't have to be careful -- heck at nelson's, they use chainsaws to handle some of their OGRs. and the roses will respond to this pruning by putting off new growth and new blooms. the question, tho, is how to prune so you get MORE blooms and the structure of the rose is improved. i have a huge (18' tall) don juan growing up a 4x4 pole with a bell in the center of my garden. when i get a really unruly cane, i (very carefully, since it's a thorny bush) "lasso" the cane with a piece of twine, and patiently bend the cane down until it bows, so that it runs mostly parallel to the ground. i tie the cane (forcing most of its length parallel) to one of the slats i have on the post, and snip the end off the cane. now what? the phytohormones that regulate new growth in roses are gravity-sensitive. by bending the cane to parallel the ground, you cause those hormones to be redistributed, and instead of producing new growth near or at the tips (typical for roses, except with basal growth), you get new growth all along this bent cane, wherever there's potential (at the buds). new shoots will appear the length of the cane, each short cane terminating with a bloom or cluseter of blooms (you've probably noticed the DJ does both). you now have a more manageable cane and LOTS of roses for cutting (from a bush that doesn't usually provide cutting roses). you also solve the too-tall problem. over time, you'll probably need to do a more radical pruning, since you'll fill up the available area for doing this trick. i recommend cutting the older canes. i've seen pictures of a trick that used to be performed more often: in early spring, when there's new flexible growth, people used to bend the canes of a small, upright bush (probably a tea would work best) down, pinning the ends to the ground (like a pinwheel). all along the canes, you'd get breaks and flowers. quite impressive, but takes up a lot of room. when the show was done, i guess you just trimmed it way back and let it recover for the rest of the season.