Hi Aimee, I am growing 'William Shakespeare 2000' in my garden (it lives still in a pot though) and it is a wonderful rose, which blooms her head off. It had a little bit of mildew in the beginning but now is healthy. Since William Shakespeare 2000 is such a beautiful rose I would wait and see if yours comes around, it should potentially be a good rose in the climate where you live.

What I would try is to fertilize the rose with organic rose fertilizer, scratch the fertilizer into the soil and mulch with compost three inches high in a wide circle around the rose and water the rose well for a while (maybe hand watering?). When my roses "are stuck" I really had good success with this pampering treatment :-)!

One possibility also of course might be that your plants are 'duds' and you just have bad luck with them for that reason. Are they grafted (there could be also a problem with the graft) or own root? My rose is growing own root and came from Chamblee's Nursery. They sent a very good plant.

Good luck!

Christina

Here is a link that might be useful: Organic Garden Dreams

Please give Willie another year or two. Once settled in he is a magnificent rose!

hoovb - do you think a spot farther away from the wall would be far enough? Or should I try a spot that gets more shade/indirect sun?

The Squire is still my all time favorite Austin red. I had it the first year as an own root in Newhall and it was spectacular. Greater disease resistance there than any other of his reds I've seen anywhere. My kid sister has L.D. Braithwaite also in Newhall and it is nothing to brag about, even after being in place for over fifteen years.

The reflected, radiated heat from those walls is definitely something you have to deal with Aimee. It can be brutal and actually kill plants out right. Kim

Here is a link that might be useful: The Squire in Torrance, CA in a no spray garden

Dont know if it matters but I grow WS own-root. It is growing so slowly that I'm not sure it will make it through another winter. Last winter was a challenge.
The few blooms were pretty but a 9" plant is not quite what I expected after 2 years.
Oh well...hopefully in another 3 years I'll be singing its praise...
We see.
Jeannie

Hey, don't feel bad Aimee! Yours looks better than mine (did).

Suffered in a pot in the South Bay - stunted and worse yet, mildew endlessly. Took it to the San Gabriel Mtns where single digit humidity is common and mildew not so much. Didn't take off all year in a choice spot and the winter killed so I didn't have to. Knock wood, although I've lost a couple of bands in the ground up there, it's the only 'adult' plant I've lost (not counting the gopher ;-)

You may be able to turn it around, I think I'm the only one on the forum that hasn't, but... if you don't, don't feel bad.

if it helps at all, it's from DA, so it's grafted!

I won't feel bad, I promise. :) After I started having trouble with my two... I then noticed little posts around the forum of others having trouble with theirs... so I think perhaps this rose can be a bit picky.

Though the three around a bench at Huntington Gardens are so very beautiful. :)

But you can't judge yours by The Huntington's, Aimee. The soil, water and climate are SO different! For one thing, there is no compaction at The Huntington. Water percolates into the soil very well. You can't say that about your garden...yet. No matter what Sunset says the zones are, they are totally different. The one at the bottom of White's Canyon is significantly different from where you are on the hill! Kim

Mine is very slow growing too. No reason for it, roses right next to it are going like gangbusters. Maybe it doesn't like hot climates?

So is heat the big variable? My WS2000 has been quite vigorous for several years, but it sulked through our unusually hot July and August. Possibly I didn't water enough to sustain growth, though it's neighbors Quietness and Mystic Beauty grew and bloomed through this period.

Ya, he's fussy here too and I'm ready to kick him.

Mine is no where as dark green as aimee's. It's light green in Miracle-Gro potting soil. He whimpers in the 90's hot sun. I moved him to partial shade, he's bushier now, but produces tiny flowers, and the fragrance is zero when it's cooler. I like Wise Portia (older Austin) a zillion times better than WS, it's bushier, more blooms, and nice baby powder fragrance.

I'll get the Squire next year as Kim recommends. Its flower is supposed to be bigger. How's the Squire's fragrance? Thanks.

I'll bet it's the reflected heat. Mine was grafted and it was enormous. It was one of the sprawling, octopus-tentacle Austens. I find that form awkward to work with and eventually I took it out, but it was big and it did bloom heavily.

Try a new spot or just remove it. It is your rose. You get to pick.

Rosefolly

The Squire is fragrant. I never cut it indoors that I can remember, but if I could smell it outdoors in that garden, it had scent! Instead of being rangy, flopping and resembling Dr. Huey like so many other Austins of that vintage, own root, The Squire reminded me more of a Hybrid Tea type bush, or even an Yves Piaget, with those scrumptious deep, velvety red, very double flowers. It even flowered regularly, too! I honestly haven't encountered another of his reds since that impressed me. Kim

Thank you Kim about the info on the Squire. I'll check that one out next spring.

You're welcome! I think you'll like him. Sometimes it's hard to remember that not all the newer ones are really improvements over some of the older ones. They have to bring out new ones to keep up the momentum and cash flow. Kim

I really like Munstead Wood as a red Austen. It is a compact plant, very fragrant, and the color is gorgeous. The roses don't last long, but as I rarely cut for the house and the repeat is fast, I don't much mind.

Rosefolly

Not sure, aimee. I moved mine from blazing heat/reflected heat to morning sun/afternoon shade, and they took off. Soil was exactly the same, only the heat level changed.

I'm glad you mentioned that, Hoovb. I moved WS from full sun to the east, partial shade and he got bushier and finally gave blossoms. He was too busy fighting our extreme 90's scorching summer to produce blossoms. Now he looks round and bushy, like the potted one in Austin's catalog.