As MustBeNuts and Calsurf noted -- Increasingly hot/dry Southern California poses some real difficulties for the Austin roses, which were bred in a cooler, damper climate.
My solution to the problem is to grow Old Roses, of types that have survived for decades with no assistance in old cemeteries and deserted gardens. I can give you a list of those, if you would like to try.
We grow a small handful of older Austin roses, and supplement them with dishwater -- but all of the Austins I've interacted with have seemed to us to be thirsty devils.
