Patience is a virtue! Your banksia lutea is not just sitting there - she is either dormant because of the heat, or she is growing roots, which is not an activity that is visible to you. A few months is nothing. I would not worry unless you do not see any new growth by next Spring. Old roses (and this one is over 2,000 years old) do not act like new modern roses. Once she gets going you will have a rose explosion - she is just getting ready.

Lady of the Mist - same problem, not enough patience. Lots of roses get much larger than advertised in very warm climates. Sounds as if that is what she is doing. Many roses will not bloom until they get to be the size they think they need to be. What I would do is train those wonderful long canes as horizontally as you can, feed her in late winter, and see what happens in the Spring.

Jackie

Lady of the Mist didn't bloom much here, either -- FWIW.

But your banksia -- As Jackie said ... She's probably growing roots.

Our lutea arrived as an ugly old stump, cut from a much, much older plant. We put it in the ground, and it sat there for three years without growing an actual cane -- much less blooming.

THEN it exploded into a frenzy of growth, bloomed like mad, climbed a fence, leaped into a tree, shot to the top, and bloomed above the canopy of the tree.

What an astonishing thing it is.

Jeri

If you're expecting ten feet of cane, you're likely to get nearly that much root before the canes begin showing that kind of growth. Remember the old adage, first year they sleep, second year they creep, third year they leap? Just wait, she will "reward you" with attempting to eat your entire yard. I hope you have sharp clippers and LOTS of trash barrels to clip up her "over exuberance". No kidding! Kim

I think you may try the following method to promote the flower initiation.
1. Bend down all the straight growing stem to a arch shape. The new growing auxiliary side branches will reward you with flower.
2. Tie the "main stem" of your rose with 1/16" ~1/8" wire at little above the ground level, twist it till the bark is broken. Remove the wire two months after.
3. Apply flower promote fertilizer.
4.Have all of these operation done before spring growth start. More than 50% chance your rose will bloom this coming spring.
5. If not blooming, go get a flowering branch or bud from a friend and graft (budding or cleft grafting) it on to a "main stem", keep doing step 2,3,and 4 and Good luck!

Just wait. You really do not have to fuss with it, or do anything radical or exert any effort or energy at all on this rose to get it to grow and bloom in your warm climate - it just needs TIME. I did nothing to mine except provide some support when it got large - here is a picture. The first year it just sat there, then it grew a bit in the second year, then - it ate the house (the window in the pic is a second story window)!

Jackie

Jackie

Dr. Pekemom,
Jacqueline's LB is absolutely beautiful, but such a rose requires more work and training than I was going to do. I removed mine two days ago. It was purchased as a five gallon plant from a local nursery approximately 18 months ago and was just out of control with its canes. It already had canes that reached my second story roof, and was growing across it. It was an impulse purchase, I did not know what I would do with all of those canes, and it was quickly discovered that dealing with it would definitely require a ladder. It only blooms one time per year but puts on a spectacular show. As a point of reference, my plant was not fully mature but a bit more mature than yours so I agree with Jackie in giving it time.

Lynn

Jackie, is that just one LB on your home? WOW. I am so sad I lost patience and tore mine out...I will buy again, you've given me hope. Is yours receiving full sun?

rose_toes - yes, that is all one bush - we couldn't fit two on the house! The wall it is growing on is 3 stories tall. It has a full Southern exposure. It gets full sun after about the first 10 feet from the ground, which only get about 2 hours of sun. In this picture you can see the base of it (behind the green short bush, which is another rose not blooming when this pic was taken).

You should be able to grow it well in your zone - just plant it where it is as sheltered as you can, with as much sun as you can. It will grow up a tree or a building. As I said, you need to be willing to wait 1-2 years for it to start to take off.

Jackie

Rosetoes, Lady Banks grows well in Tehachapi, Ca, up in the mountains between Mojave and Bakersfield where there is plenty of winter chill for stone fruit. The area ranges from zones 8a to 8b, with probably many other modified versions of each due to the mountainous terrain. She may not attain the massive proportions of Jackie's nor the monstrous ones here, but she's definitely "hardy" enough for those types of climates. Give her time and room and she'll probably displace the rest of the garden! Kim