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

Sophia, Treloars ( in Victoria ) sell Soul Sister, bare root, winter mail order. They are on line, so, if you haven't checked them out yet, give them a look. They also have a very comprehensive list of DA roses. If you are looking for Julia Child at any time ( some VERY beautiful pics on various threads) Treloars have that listed as Soul Mate.

"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/

Sebwin, Part of the difference between how well a grafted rose does as compared to an own root rose of the same variety, depends on your growing zone. In colder zones the extra boost of vigor and winter survivability a good rootstock gives the top graft bestows many grafted roses an edge. This is seen very dramatically with miniature roses, which are not usually available commercially as grafted bushes. Almost all miniature roses are sold own root, but when grafted they grow unbelievably vigorously, considerably larger, and with far more abundant flowers than own root minis produce. There are plenty of roses that grow very well own root in northern climes, but my experience has taught me, when grafted, a rose will do better up north than an own root. I have no experience growing roses in warm zones, but I believe the own roots do very well there, and when grafted may turn into monster roses. Moses