Gerry, if you read the thread on the Roses forum titled, Which Nursery is Best for Virus Free Roses?, you will find Dr. Malcolm Manners discussing how Peace grows significantly more vigorously and flowers much better after being heat treated to clean up viral infection, I think it will drive home the point that what you really need to do is obtain cutting from UC Davis Foundation Plant Services of VI treated Peace. They offer cuttings of it and many other varieties of roses which have all been heat treated and tested to make sure they are cleaned of Mosaic Virus.

Peace was created around 1935, making it nearly 80 years old. Even if you found cuttings from a twenty year old plant, you're still dealing with material that it not all that old and wouldn't be that different from what you've encountered in nurseries.

Dr. Manners also discusses the "over propagation" issue and debunks it. The large problem with Peace is its need to hold on to as much wood and foliage as possible to perform at its best. Too often, bud wood or the bare roots themselves are held in too dry storage, something roses of strong R. Foetida heritage do not like. Mauve roses, such as Angel Face and Sterling Silver suffer the same issues as you describe from your Peace plants, and often for the same reasons.

My suggestion for success is to obtain the treated material from Davis, root your plants then begin preventing them from flowering until they have developed into the plants you desire. Peace, like many others, can be extremely variable due to many factors, weather and nutrients to name just two. Too cold and they tend to be nearly white. Too hot and they develop too much pink on the petal edges with the yellow fading out to beige. Insufficient wood and foliage and they are malnourished, not performing well at all. By preventing them from flowering, you will push more growth, faster, enabling the plant to build into the husky, heavy plant you expect it to be. The more retained wood, the greater the foliage mass, the more, larger, fuller and more intensely colored the flowers will be. It isn't difficult at all, just keep removing the flower buds as they develop, leaving all the leaves on the plants.

If you obtain the cleaned cuttings and root several plants, you will have enough to let them bloom for you while those you are grooming to become the garden plants you seek mature. I'm sure finding homes for VI own root Peace plants won't be hard at all.

The link below is to the variety list on the Foundation Plant Services site. You will probably find many more varieties you'd love adding to your garden. Consider it, this can well be the success you're seeking. Good luck! Kim

Here is a link that might be useful: Foundation Plant Services plant list