My guess would be that your neighbor is watering more, or possibly is watering the same amount divided into smaller but more frequent waterings. Apparently the upper few inches of soil need to stay quite moist if roses are to grow rapidly. So why don't you ask the neighbor how he waters? Paul Zimmerman made this suggestion for watering in the LA area: make a 3' diameter dike around the rose and give two gallons twice a week, or when the temperature is over 90, two gallons three times a week. Considering the size of California roses, that's not a lot of water, less than an inch a week at the under-90 rate.

Also, if you are fertilizing heavily and not watering enough, the fertilizer makes it harder for the roots to extract whatever water is in the soil. It may be good policy to reduce fertilizing somewhat when plants are under heat and moisture stress. You can't force plants to grow with fertilizer.

What michaelg said, and also: how old are the plants? Younger plants take a rest, better established ones keep going. Also what about mulch? A good layer will hold more moisture in the soil and keep the soil cooler and the roots happier. And as the mulch breaks down it adds tilth and nutrients to the soil.

Sufficient watering is important, esp. during summer. I also water and feed regularly and all of my roses are growing and blooming at the moment, from tiny new bands or 1 gal roses from RU to older bushes. Many are gearing up for their next flush next week, which is great as most JBs have been eliminated. WeÂre having a drought here, so IÂve stopped using granules but feed liquid fertilizer through drip irrigation. The roses love it. Climbers also grow and bloom through the 90F heat. The ramblers, however, are taking a rest.

It does sound like a mulch problem. Hot soil, hot roots, even with adequate water--just doesn't work very well.

Mulch, mulch, mulch.

MichaelAT

Thanks very much for all your answers. I will mulch. I'll take a look at my neighbor's bushes too - he must be mulching.
I appreciate your help!

Not to disagree or be disagreeable but I have no mulch on my rose beds which are beach type of sand.Burns the sole of my feet in the middle of the day.One or two inches down-normal.My roses just keep booming along[blooms slightly smaller-to be expected as they develop so much quicker with the length of sun day].
My guess is that its the roots-My favorite topic lately.Water and supply nutrients in a manner to encourage a mass of feeder roots which maximize the utilization of water and water borne nutrients available to them.
Easiest way to do that-keep the beds mulch free-use miracle gro or similar product in a hose end sprayer and soak the entire drip zone and slightly beyond.With the big Florida or California roses that can be 15 feet in diameter.When you water-water the same area lightly but more often.The roots can only take in so much.Keep it slightly moist all the time in the top six inches.Past that and you are keeping the water company executive families well fed.

I went over and looked at my neighbor's roses this morning, and he does have a thin layer of mulch over the entire bed. It must be some kind of compost he bought, it's finely, evenly-textured and not homemade-looking. Bare soil is seen in some areas so it' not a very thick layer. The main thing though is the 3 or 4 foot high wall around his yard. This puts most of the rose bed in the shade for much of the day. All his roses are tree roses so all the leaves are above the level of the wall. So I guess the shade in addition to the mulch helps him keep the soil cool and moist.

Do you know how much you have been watering (inches or gallons)? Roses don't mind San Diego summers. It's water.

The heat just slows everything down, but dormant - NO. That's why in summer, I increase the water to 4" per week per bush, and cut the fertilizer amounts in half. The heat leads to stress, and the only way to deal with that is water, water, water.

I don't know the quantities of water. I just water every other day, or if we are having a "Santa Ana Condition" (with hot dry air) I water every day. I just fill up the basins, I don't know how much it takes. I'm going to mulch tomorrow morning. Hopefully I will get one big crop this summer. Thanks everyone.

I'm in SD (Rancho Bernardo) and mine don't go dormant. If fact right now
all are having a good flush of blooms. These are all established bushes
with no mulch. By mid August if it is really hot they look a little tired, but
they are never dormant, summer or winter. They are usually still blooming
quite a bit in January when they are hard pruned.

If you are in an especially windy location, that could cause leaf drying. But
I too think you need more and deeper watering.

Jean L.

Maybe "semi-dormant" isn't the correct word, but to me, it describes what happens to my roses by the end of the hot, hot, hot July-August period in Kansas. I increase the watering times during those months and the mulched roses chug along valiantly til about mid-August, but finally there is no way to keep up with their watering needs--I'd have to water twice a day! So the last few weeks, my roses just sit there doing absolutely nothing. Only with the return of somewhat cooler weather do they start doing their thing again. To me, that describes a semi-dormant condition. Does someone have a better word for that late August phenomenon when the roses seem to be caught in a freeze-frame?

Kate

I think they have something in common with us-they acclimate to their environment.
When I was a Mustang in Montana winters were bracing and the week or so of ninety plus weather was unbearable.Now we just laugh and say its gonna be another hot one and try not to emulate Mad Dogs or Englishmen.
Down here roses shut down a little in the heat of the day but revel in the humid hours.Winter they reverse.

Fill a two-gallon container with the hose and count how many seconds it takes.

If you fill the basins every other day, that sounds generous, but not if you are only applying a half-gallon. However, I shouldn't have been so cocksure in saying you need to water more-- maybe that's not the probllem.

My roses seem to do better now that I'm watering them just once a week--often not at all if we have heavy rain. We have cedar mulch on heavy clay soil. According to what I've heard, too much water starves them of oxygen. Infrequent watering encourages the formation of deeper roots. Perhaps the deep roots gather up the water while the shallow roots get the oxygen?

Zack-- if you have fairly uniform, deep soil that is not sandy, water moves up from the deeper zones by capillary attraction to replace water being taken from the upper zone by the roots. In clay soil, this process could likely produce a better balance of air and water in the topsoil than too-frequent lighter watering. Roses use the same amount of water regardless of soil type. But in lighter soils or shallow soils it may be better to give this amount in more frequent, lighter doses. In clay or muck soils that drain slowly, heavier weekly watering might work better.

But roses do take most of their water from the topsoil, moreso than typical plants, according to the limited research that has been done.