One possibility to check out---do you have any trees with wide spreading agressive roots?---maples, especially silver maples, cottonwoods, popples, etc. This happened to me in my garden, I had several large silver maples 25-35' to the north of my roses beds & they engulfed the roots of my roses with their roots, stunting their growth. I stripped a 5 gal pail full of fine maple roots off of one rose bush that I dug up. Finally cut the maples down.

perhaps you need to keep it from blooming for awhile to get it to push out some larger canes?
roseberri

Wirosarian - good thought, but there aren't any nearby trees that could interfere. I do have some small sugar maples here and there, but the nearest ones are at least thirty feet away and are still small. Maybe in fifty years they might make a problem, but I'm sure I will be beyond caring long before that. :)

Roseberri - I didn't know about doing that. It would be worth missing the flowers for a year if it got the canes up higher. I can't see the flowers very well anyway, being so low and at the back of the garden.

Thanks to both of you for the ideas.

TM

You may have sun or soil issues in that area or that certain rose is just weak and not growing like it should?
Does it get 6+ hours of good direct sunlight?

Are you sure that you have 'John Davis'? Misnamed roses are not that uncommon.

Climbers take time to climb. They have to develop a sufficient root system to send food up to those tall canes. There is a general rule that goes: first year, sleep; second year, creep; third year, leap! But I never expect any growth on a climber for the first 3 years. It's establishing a large root ball in preparation for growing those long canes. If the rose is otherwise healthy and blooming leave it alone. When it's ready it will jump quickly!

Jim- My estimate would be that in summer it does get about 6 hours of direct sun each day, from sun-up until the sun reaches its zenith. The soil is quite sandy and I put an inch or so of compost on it each spring.

Wirosarian- I can't be sure, but the flowers look like the pictures of John Davis that I have seen.

Seil - So don't reach for the shovel just yet? I've heard the sleep, creep, and leap adage applied to other perennials before, but I really didn't know what to expect from Mr. Davis.

Thanks, all, for sharing your knowledge.

TM

John Davis is a Hybrid Kordesii.
While John Davis is grown as a climber due to it's habit of often throwing long canes, it's classified as a shrub Rose. I had two, one threw long canes and the other grows as a 4-5 foot shrub. The shrub was a rooted cutting of the longer version. The long caned version got RRD and had to be destroyed. I still have the other. John repeats well.
I grew both as shrub roses as I do William Baffin. Willie's a really large shrub and throws long canes but I'd not grow it as a climber. Willie has a great spring bloom but is slow to repeat. Some years it acts like a once bloomer.
I think a better climber, although not pink, is Quadra, another Explorer, like Willie and John. While also a Hybrid Kordesii, Quadra has a more dependable climbing habit. Mine grows quite large with really long canes and repeats much better. It took three years to really begin to throw long climbing canes. At 7 years now, I have to keep them cut back to avoid being eaten when I mow.
I have 30 hardy climbers in my NW Indiana zone 5 garden. A pink that has hardy canes for me is Clair Matin. It's a rich pink that blooms in large clusters all summer. It grows as a climber from the start.

Thanks a lot, Karl, for all the information. I checked out Quadra and it sounds like it would be a good one for me to try. I'm not sure Clair Matin would survive every winter up here, although lately the coldest winter days don't get as low as they used to. I'm in zone 5, but not far from zone 4.

TM