We are in very, very different zones, ilovemyroses - but I've never had any luck with JC. I don't get it either - the reviews on this forum are so positive for that rose, but mine has been an under-performer for years. Back on May 6, I had a 28 degree morning, and most of mine somewhat shrugged it off. But Julia is back down to nubs (again) and she's on the list for SP'ing next Spring. For whatever reason, she just doesn't perform for me.

ptboise, glad to hear it! she is one step ahead of the shovel here....actually, I think she will have disappeared by the time I would get around to planting anything else there!! And to think I gave her a PRIME position in that bed, and stuffed others in less central areas...

I haven't had any trouble with her, but then again I grow all my roses in pots. You might try growing her in a pot--you could more carefully control soil type and watering, and she doesn't get so big this would not be practical.

Julia Child is everyone's favorite in my no spray garden. I have two planted next to each other and they form a huge mound of yellow flowers. She blooms in flushes but is never without blooms, absolutely gorgeous.

That is weird. My JC has been nothing but great, i got another one in fact from Marshalls Feed store.

Julia is a favorite of mine too

I have two Julias that are right at the top of of my favorites list. They are enormous bloom machines, each about six feet tall (no, I am not exaggerating). I don't have a more dependable rose in my garden. On the other hand, I sp'd a Sweetness rose this spring, a miserable one cane wonder, that at least two people on this forum called their favorite. Roses are a mystery! Diane

I have 4 Julia Child roses, this is their third spring. Other than the occasional black spot problem they have been great! I'm excited to hear yours are getting so large Diane, as it would be great if they got that big in my garden as well. They are likely about half that size now, producing many many beautiful flowers.
I had a bit of a scare with them earlier this spring when we had a late frost after they had been fertiziled. All the new growh fried up, but the plant just shrugged that off and came back even better!

Did you fertilize the rose when you planted it? Sometimes you burn the roots, setting the plant way back. I skip fertilizing newly planted roses.

hmmmm. I always plant with osmocote, zack, so maybe that is a part of it. I don't know!! I can get her for $10, so I might try again. All those descriptions..."bloom machines" make me SO curious. Good to hear glowing reports, too. And yes, some can be finicky for one but fine for another.

Like zack, I think most experienced rose gardeners do NOT feed a new rose until after it has put out some new good, strong growth--maybe a month after first planting it. Even then, I only give the rose a very light feed until it finishes its first complete blooming cycle. You might try doing it that way and see if your Julia Childs have better luck.

Kate

I got her the first year that Edmunds' offered it and shovel pruned her that fall. Same here, I kept and still do, hearing great things about JC, but not in my garden. The blooms faded and didn't hold and I had some BS issues. I didn't plant her in the hottest spot in my garden and I spray. My JC just didn't "WOW" me. I think some roses are better appreciated and admired in someone else's garden.

For what it's worth, I'm both enthusiastic about Julia Child and understand the problems with its death. She has been fantastic and trouble free for me the last 3-4 years with continual blooms. The yellow does fade to a cream fairly fast, but she's a nice trouble free creamy yellow most of the time, and usually a notable fast prolific and frequent rebloomer (which is one of my top expectations of my roses).

Then all of a sudden this week, I look over in the middle of the HT/floribunda back bed (i.e. the fussy-pants region that's the only one to merit a fence around it), and there's some knee-high monstrosity of a dried out hulk mixed in the middle of the other well-behaved roses. I was truly shocked to find it was Julia Child, and in fact I had to check the tag several times to make sure that was right. It's like finding your teacher's pet really was the one who put the tack in your seat, and she's not at all sorry about it.

I haven't gone back to do diagnostics to find out what's wrong, but it's certainly not a general overwintering problem since there are plenty of dead leaves on a waist-high bush and this was hardly a real winter. I doubt voles or anything systemic, since it's in the middle of much pickier roses that are unaffected. My two theories are that I inadvertently stepped on it (who, me?) even though I usually manage to avoid roses as large as that, or it's my mystery fading of nearly every grafted plant I've had (which will be another posting).

You might check the watering situation in this bed as another explanation. This particular summer, I've had more than the usual problem with rapid death of any roses I've planted because of the unusually dry and hot April and May. I can only imagine how bad it has been in Texas, but even there this is likely to have been a dryer than usual summer. I have been amazed at how much I've had to water the new plantings, when usually I don't have to water till August, and then only once a week if I feel like it.

Bottom line though in your case is that like me your situation may be specific to your conditions rather than general to Julia Child as a rose. If everyone in every part of the country can keep her thriving successfully and most of the shovel pruning results from a "meh" factor rather than death, we're the anomalies here. If you planted her grafted, you may have been hit by the "canker finger of death" that I've experienced just forever (topic of another post soon). When I try things for a third time, I make sure the source and type of rose is also different. If you try again, you might try own root gallons like Roses Unlimited or Chamblees and see if it makes a difference.

It's a mystery, but that's the fun of roses!

Cynthia

Hi Nippstress,
I assume you've removed Julia by now, so you would know if she still had any roots left. I recently had Young Lycidas destroyed by a gopher. The nasty vermin ate every shred of YL's roots. The gohper's exit hole was probably two feet below the ground near the roots. I was able to remove poor Lycidas using two fingers since the sorry thing had absolutely nothing left with which to anchor it in the soil. YL was growing in the midst of other roses and perennials, too. Who knows why the fickle gopher picked YL to be his dinner (sigh)? Diane

Interesting, this thread. I liked Julia Child when I first bought it 3 years ago. Last year (I grow it in a pot) it was sparse, loaded with BS, and this spring I decided I would cut it way back and give it one last chance. All of a sudden this rose is amazing! Leaping out of the pot, healthy, zillions of blooms. Roses many times need a lot of time to decide to "get with the program."

Julia Child did not do well through our mild winter. I don't know if she will come back or just look weak. I am surprised because I was really thrilled with her last year.

Sammy

Where are you buying it? Were they fresh and healthy specimens, or refrigerated-too-long end-of-season leftovers?

Well, let us hope that the THIRD time is the charm, as, I bought a third and FINAL JULIA CHILD (who was blooming her silly head off!!!) at ARE yesterday. I take her eager blooms as a 'sign' that I needed to try her again.

Honestly, of the 8 roses I bought, SHE was the prettiest speciman.

SO, I planted her in a decent spot, but in a new area from where she had been.

I am going to keep an eye on her, and move if this proves problematic (west exposure)...but, gosh, the color just looked so good here.

I'll report back what happens...

Ilovemyroses - Good job on sticking to your guns and giving JC one more try from a terrific rose vendor. Water her faithfully in this unseasonable heat and do keep an eye on her. I'm all for the "third time's the charm" school of rose growing. I finally got Elle to survive for me the 3rd time around.

Diane - I have heartiest sympathies for those of you further west that struggle with gophers and voles. In my area, they aren't a particular problem, and usually if my roses die without roots it's because they were too weak to make any in the first place. I did check on Julia this weekend, and it looks like she's half alive after all with new basals coming up from the charred wreckage about 6" away (yes, it is Julia not the good doctor - this was own root from Roses Unlimited). I can only figure the death of the more substantial part of the bush as undetected canker at the base of more mature branches that sometimes hits about this time of year. Anyway, I'm glad she's alive and hope the OP's stays that way too!

Cynthia

I'm so surprised because mine has wintered like a champ, both in a pot and in the ground, and is growing like gang busters and covered with blooms right now.

I don't get it either. I planted 2 side-by-side 4 years ago, same source, same sun, same soil. One is a big ol' healthy constant bloomer and the other remained a little runt of a thing that did nothing. So I dug up that little booger this spring and put it in a pot so I could nurture and bring it up the the standard set by it's sibling. It kept me encouraged for awhile, but it's looking stick-like at the moment with wilted leaves. I have no idea what's wrong with Julia but she's about to meet her maker.

Mine did great all last year - its first year here. I purchased it at ARE. I purchase most of mine there, and all the others are fine. We had the hottest summer with the longest stretches of over 100 degree temps. Possibly the summer weakened her rather than the mild winter.
Sammy

I also have a Julia Child, having bought it after reading so many rave reviews here. I had it in a pot the first year and it performed well. Second year in the ground, it did fair, having transplanted it to the ground the previous fall. Year three, this year, it is doing amazingly well. In an organic, no spray garden. The foliage is pretty clean and blooms all over it.

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We have had unusual weather this year too. Way too early warmth that started everything growing too soon, followed by weeks of frost every other night and covering the leafed out bushes. My garden is about 2 weeks early this year. But haven't you had very hot weather a lot already? I have done very little to this rose this year. Pruned it, added some Planttone lightly about 5 weeks ago and some bark mulch. That's it.

I sympathize with those of you who are struggling with it, but I guess it's just a question of a rose performing differently in one garden to the next. I also would add that I never add fertilizer when I transplant anything, rose or not. I always allow the plant to establish well and get used to it's new environment, and I will sometimes wait for the next growing year, to fertilize. IF I did fertilize at planting time, it would only be seaweed/fish emulsion at half strength. But to the OP, if you routinely use fertilizer when you plant and all your other roses do fine, then maybe Julia is not a good rose for you?

Oh, I bought it bare root at Pickering.