In the OP, it was mentioned that the plant was above a "rock filled water tray ... for humidity. I hope it's not sitting in its own effluent that collects in a drain saucer. Using a wick, like mike suggested, would be less effort and will accomplish the same thing as employing the pot-in-pot technique. The problem with pot-in-pot is, the water in the soil of the larger pot is going to stay there until it evaporates, and I can see some potential problems associated with anaerobic decomposition in the larger pot's soil. Skip the water meter. Buy a 1/4 or 5/16" wood dowel & sharpen it in a pencil sharpener. Use THAT to test the soil for moisture. Push it deep into the soil - if it comes out damp and dark or wet - no water required. The fertilizer is appropriate insofar as the NPK ratio, but what else does it contain? Reading the ingredient list of the potting soil and assuming the ingredients with the highest volumes are listed first, it HAS to be extremely water retentive - which means you can't water appropriately w/o risking root rot or at least impaired root function. You can't move it outdoors, but that's where it WANTS to be. Here's the thing - bottom line: The plant is obviously suffering because it's being forced to deal with cultural conditions it's not genetically capable of dealing with. If you can't isolate and fix the issues that are causing the decline, it will continue, so you'll need to go back to the drawing board and look at the big picture. The first considerations are checking for insects & root problems/disease, and making sure the plant is in an appropriate soil (if it's not, your watering habits need to be adjusted so they allow for a poor soil) and in the right light/temp range. If these issues don't come up in the favorable column, there isn't a lot of sense in chasing it much further until you're willing to take charge and make some changes. That might sound harsh, but it's just how things are. Al

Ginny, great that you managed to post photos. It took me a while to figure that out. I am by no means an expert, but looking at your photos here is what I would do. I believe there is nothing that you can do about the long climbing canes that are cut off by your landscaper. I would probably keep the growth that has sprouted from last years climbing canes and only shorten the length of the canes if necessary, so that it fits the size of your trellis. I would remove all spindly, dead, damaged and diseased growth and only keep the canes that are at least pencil thick. Then I would tie them back to the trellis. Hopefully some of these canes will produce laterals. If they have already I would shorten the laterals up to two to three bud eyes. I would not touch the base of the rose at all at this point, because it doesn't have many climbing canes sprouting from there. My hope would be that over the next couple of years you will get new basal break from the base of the rose, which will grow into tall climbing canes. If this happens you can take out one or two old unproductive climbing canes from the base and the rose would renew itself this way and you would get rid of the hacked back climbing canes by your landscaper. It will take time, I know, but if everything goes according to plan over time you would get back a lovely specimen of Zephirine Drouhin. It's hard to put these things in words, but I hope, I expressed myself clearly and that it helps. Good luck with your rose! Zephirine Drouhin is such an amazing climbing rose and even though some people have a different experience mine does very well in (Southern) California. Christina Here is a link that might be useful: Organic Garden Dreams

Is it throwing long canes with very slender leaves? And looks like a climber (which is why you said it is not one)? The reason I ask is that I have a Signature bush that I thought was dead, but it came back. As it gets bigger, I'm pretty sure it is the rootstock (Dr. Huey) which is growing, though, and not the original bush. I think the original one winter-killed this past winter. I'm waiting to see if it blooms before I dig it, but it looks suspicious. You could also dig down to the graft and see if what is growing is coming from the graft or from below it. It is is below it, it is for sure Dr. Huey.

Thanks vaporvac! JL like most climbers has a heavy flush of blooms in June, and sporadic thereafter. It can get pretty tall with beautiful pink flowers. I've had mine for at least 15 years. There's another climber that blooms for a long time in my garden and it's Super Excelsa. It starts blooming later in the season, but it continues blooming right up until frost. One thing to warn you though is that it's a thorny monster! LOL. Pic #1, Jeanne Lajoie; Pic #2, Super Excelsa.