Some while ago I came across a horticultural journal article about the original Earthkind study (they did not use the term Earthkind in the article, but it was pretty clear that that's what it was). I just looked at it again, and see that they used drip irrigation in the first two years and no supplemental water after that. They used both own root and grafted cultivars in the study, but not a direct comparison of own root and grafted for the same cultivars. Overall, the own root roses did better. I remembered that in addition to no pesticides that they did not fertilize; I had not recalled that they did not amend the soil, although they did mulch with organic material ( interesting, since the Earthkind people recommend amending the soil, perhaps that was another study). One reason (previously auto-corrected to Ionesco, I hope not relevant to the topic at hand) I liked reading the study was learning which roses had been studied and had not made the grade. Back to the trial apparently currently running, many of the plants had tags on them from the David Austin people, so I suspect they are grafted. I didn't see any Chamblee's tags, but I know that they have provided roses for past studies. These were big plants for plants that had to have been planted this spring. As with the previous study, they have 4 ( sometimes I only saw 3) plants for a cultivar. Somewhere I had read that they are testing in people's gardens these days, so maybe there are more plants elsewhere. I'm not familiar with all the David Austin roses but I saw many familiar names. Here is a link that might be useful: Performance of Garden Roses in North-central Texas under Minimal Input Conditions

I live in zone 10 and have had luck with my Austins grafted on Dr Huey. You can order them directly from David Ausitns roses online. They have excellent customer service there. I originally had two own roots from Heriloom roses and they never bloomed. Once in a blue moon. My Glamis Castle died and my St. Cecilia is just sitting there two years later with a few stems and no flowers. Still small as can be. I then ordered 4 bare root grafted roses from DA and they have all done well. But by far the best performer was my Huntington Rose (pictured). She was listed in the special zone 9-10 list on DA's website and she has out performed my other 3. The other three are doing well but not nearly as many blooms as Huntington. Because of this i went back and ordered 3 more roses specifically from their list of warm climate roses. They are Mary Rose, Abraham Darby (supposedly one of the best DAs out there) and Darcy Bussell. Their list can be found here http://www.davidaustinroses.com/american/Advanced.asp?PageId=2063 on the bottom half. I'd really like to try a david austin on Fort. roots. Just to see if it makes a big difference. I've heard dr huey does well in Florida too (second best) so I wonder if it makes a huge difference (i have a few teas that are on fort and they do pretty much the same as all my huey roses, no real difference that i can tell). I wish I had more space! I'd have a hundred roses and half of them would be Austins. Here is a link that might be useful: DA's for our climate

"Propagation: Rosa Damascena is propagated through one year old stem cuttings. It can also be propagated through the divisions of old plant, lateral sprouts with roots and seeds. Stem cuttings are collected at the time of pruning in mid October to end of December; 20 cm long, 0.75-1.50 cm thick cuttings are planted in nursery; 2/3 of the stem length is inserted into soil. IB A @ 200-250 ppm is given to induce rooting. These cuttings are ready after one year for transplanting into main field." http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.2478/V10133-010-0032-4 ---------------------------------------------- " The cultivars and ecotype of Rosa damascena Mill. have been grown by using cutting or two old-suckers for many years" "Stem cuttings are collected at the time of pruning in mid October to end of December; 20 cm long, 0.75-1.50 cm thick cuttings are planted in nursery; 2/3 of the stem length is inserted into soil. IB A @ 200-250 ppm is given to induce rooting. These cuttings are ready after one year for transplanting into main field." "Rooted stem cuttings are taken out from nursery and put in the pits." "The best time of transplanting of rooted cuttings in the field is mid of November to mid January. " http://www.plantsrescue.com/tag/damask-rose/

Rebecca- your roses are gorgeous but so much work. I live in Massachusetts. It is so difficult to even dig a hole 10 inches deep with all the rock, boulders and ledge so I try to buy only own root roses. I have gotten some wonderful own root roses from DA and have some more scheduled for delivery next week. I hope they add more own root to their collections. I recently ordered 'Queen of Sweden' and 'Windermere' which is by far my healthiest DA rose and covers herself with delicate soft blush pink blooms from early summer till fall. She is cane hardy in my Z5b-6a garden. The only negative is lack of the "to die for" strong perfume scent that Austins are so known for. sharon