I have a ZD at SW corner my house,on a trellis. Putting out leaves right now & taking over the clothesline (also attached at corner of house)! It's about 6-8 yrs old, probably abt. 12-15 feet. I seem to remember it got off to a good start in the first place. Got it at nearby nursery, in a 2 gal.pot--oh yes, at end of bloom season & the plant wasn't looking as sellable so was steeply discounted--but I could see it was healthy. The spot gets shady in late afternoon because sun goes around corner of house, but it is sunny the rest of the day. We have trouble every year from black spot & black vine weevils. But ZD always comes back from these assaults. My next door neighbor plants all kinds of stuff (trees, trumpet vines, wisteria) & then is unhappy when it isn't as large as ten year old plants the first season. I ask her, when her daughter was born, was she complaining because the baby wasn't as big as a twelve year old at 18 months? I had a friend who said of transplants: "The first year it sleeps, the second year it creeps, the third year it leaps." Young plants need time to grow just as children do---take proper care, feed them and they will get plenty big. One day you will be complaining because the roses have taken over! Plant some annuals around the area till they get bigger. Have fun!

Your photos are just gorgeous! I can hardly believe I am only 2 hours from Houston, but nothing blooming......except one on Robusta and one on Golden Wings. Nothing else even close. Amazing what a difference 2 hours makes. It was actually chilly here today! My Princess Anne isn't nearly as big as yours, but it is an excellent bloomer. Lady of Shallot and Wollerton Hall have buds all over - hopefully it wont be long now. Hope you post more photos, they are really lovely. Judith

Beautiful, Ann! This rose is on my wishlist - since DA has discontinued it, I hope someone else carries it in the future! (I just checked Help Me Find - they don't have the US patent listed, but it was introduced in the UK in 1998, so it should be off patent soon - HMF has the Australia patent as the year 2000, so if the US patent was also 2000, I think it should be off patent this year? Yay!!!!!)

Austin's fertilizer has got NPK just like the so called "chemical" fertilizers. Plants take up the "chemicals" they need and anything extra just sits there. Furthermore, "organic" fertilizers must be broken down into NPK, too. It just takes more time for them to be broken down and absorbed as NPK by the plant. Diane