Wow, nine kittens! How did you catch them? Our ferals keep having kittens, and I'd love to tame them and find them good homes, but it's absolutely impossible to catch either adults or kittens. They know me and some will come very close, but if I try to touch them they're all teeth and claws... There's no equivalent of a cats' protection league in France (I think there is one for dogs and one for donkeys). It's really sad to see how hard their lives are.

A few of the kittens were so young that they hadn't been taught to fear humans yet, so I was able to just scoop them up and carry them to my house. Others had to be trapped.

Over the last few years, the owner of the property where the colony's located actually has been able to trap every single cat (close to 100) and take them in the traps to the vet for spaying and neutering. After that, he brings them home and releases them back into the colony. It became difficult as the process continued because he kept trapping the same cats over and over. Some cats are more intelligent than others.

The vet notches the altered cat's ear so that the spayed or neutered ones are recognizable and don't have to undergo the procedure more than once.

Here's a view of some of the colony cats coming out to eat. Four of the five in the second photo were trapped for me. The pictures were taken 6 years ago. They have to be enlarged to see all of the cats. I just noticed that four of my other kittens are in the first photo, so only one stayed out of the public eye that day.

They're beautiful and look well fed. You did a great thing in adopting and caring for so many of them. Lucky cats, especially to live in your glorious garden!

Sadly a lot of the cats we get in France are desperately thin and clearly in poor health when they first arrive. A couple of years ago there was a youngish female cat who reached the point where she liked me to stroke her, and when she fell ill I put her in a cat carrier and took her to a local vet. I warned the vet that the cat was feral and the vet assured me that she was well used to treating ferals. Unfortunately as soon as the cat was scruffed she freaked out and shredded the vet's arms... Perhaps some vets are also more intelligent than others?
There's a chemist who lets me have antibiotics (made for children) very cheaply and without a prescription, so now I try that when they get ill - if it's cat flu or an abscess and I catch it early, they usually recover, but there's a lot of feline AIDs in the area and some don't make it. But at least we try to make sure they have food

We used to have quite a number of feral cats on our farm. We were able to trap and spay/neuter all of them eventually by feeding them in the traps for weeks before we actually sprung them. One of the ferals is our barn cat; I don't know what happened to the others; we continued to feed them, and they looked to be in good health, but they gradually vanished over time - coyotes, owls, other predators?

I always keep a few bottles of liquid Ampicillin in store for those non-fatal ailments, but Feline Leukemia and FIP epidemics produced some heart-breaking years in my home. Those two diseases run rampant through multi-cat households.

The vets here have learned to sedate the cats before opening the trapping cages.

Beautiful cats Zuzu.. I'm partial to pastel calicos (or any calicos for that matter)..

Neal, Most of my Austins came from Vintage roses and are on theri own roots. The exceptions are Christopher Marlowe, Graham Thomas, and Tea Clipper... and maybe Gertrude Jekyll.. Black Spot is worse some years than other. If I use Mr. Lincoln as a gauge for the worst black spot (defoliates every year), none of them come close to being that bad. Nefertiti is a pretty happy camper overall. Tea Clipper seems disease free, although I've only had it a few years and the last 2 winters were warm and dry. Christopher Marlowe gets black spot, but seems to recover quickly, and never really looks bad, even when it's dropping leaves.

I wish I had more pictures of that colony. There are so many calicos and torties in it. On that day, though, only the kittens and their mothers were brave enough (or desperate enough?) to eat while I was standing nearby with a camera. As I was leaving, I saw at least 50 more cats approaching the food.

A few years ago a pregnant female was dropped off here and there was a cat population explosion. I was unemployed at the time and it was difficult enough feeding all of them, let alone seeking vet treatment for all of them. The first batch of kittens wasn't so bad, but the 3 females from that litter that I was unable to find homes for all got pregnant and had litters the same week, 6 each. Suddenly there were 24 cats here! A friend of mine said she felt like she was visiting Big Edie! LOL (Gray Gardens). We finally found homes for most and a no kill shelter that accepted the rest of the kittens. It was tough, I really wanted to keep them all. They did wreak havoc on my potted plants though- potting soil was apparently a great place to poop!

Thankfully rust and mildew aren't problems I see here, and being on top of this hill the exposure and air circulation are good and keep blackspot from being much of a problem. I have a few that drop most of their leaves in mid-late summer, but they just become almost invisible and just blend in with the garden around them.

Big Edie.

Sounds like the perfect climate for Austins. It really is too bad that Palatine doesn't carry them anymore. Pickering and Hortico were also good sources at one time, and theirs were also grafted onto multiflora and grew into monsters, but Hortico's too unreliable now and Pickering stopped shipping to the United States. You probably could take a chance on own-root ones because the Austins are shrubs. It won't be like throwing your money away on own-root hybrid teas.

I had the same thought, and recall that Tess of the d'Urbervilles was own root and got pretty big. I noticed that Reagan's and David Austin Roses offer bare root- own root plants that I believe would have to be significantly larger than bands or the typical potted own root plants.

I've never ordered from David Austin, but I have lots of Austins from Regan's Nursery. They have always grown very well, but all of mine from Regan's are grafted. That's why I was disappointed to see so many own-root Austins on the Regan website this year. You're right, though, that Regan's own-root roses are going to be larger than bands or 1-gallon plants from the own-root nurseries.

Black spot is always an issue here in GA. I've never seen rust on any of the roses.

Bishop's Castle, Glamis Castle, and The Prince, that are planted in the front garden have all done well. Christopher Marlowe and Crown Princess Margaret struggled, because they were planted in a different bed that became too shady, and they've done much better since they've been moved to a bed where they get more sun. All of theses roses came from Reagan's, grafted.

The roses from USA Austin's are William Shakespeare and Falstaff, that are grafted, and have done very well, and Young Lycidas that is own root. YL has struggled to gain size, but has bloomed several times. However, Falstaff had to be removed, I saw suspicious growth for RRD, and I didn't want to take any chances.

Neal, I have to agree with the list Cliftoncat gave. I grow those same roses and they really do stay pretty healthy here. I've had no problems with my Jubilee Celebration either. It is one of the few that I purchased locally full price because I wanted it so badly. It did get a good mulch covering last winter. Austin roses used to be my go-to place for Austin roses...but no more. Regan had everything I wanted for less money.
I have 3 plants of Christopher Marlow because I love it so much. The color is changeable, and those full full blooms are just so intricate. Lady of Shalott has vivid color and the blooms last weeks! Claire Austin has rich perfume. and I'm buying more of that one just for the perfume. Tamora and Pat Austin have been with me for at least 12 years, and both were uprooted in mid summer to move to this house 9 years ago. They still are vigorous bushes! I thought I had lost Pat this spring because of our early freeze last winter, so I bought another, but the original came back in full force once she saw she had competition!
Somewhere, I have a long list of the Austins I grow but right now I am just not organized enough to find it. We had a technology disaster and had to replace computers, tablets and phones and I can't find nuttin.

Cindi, you really should keep a plant list on ATP. The site will stay alive even if your phones and computers don't.

Neal, sorry I've only just seen your question about how our DAs perform in the heat in France. It does get very hot there (to around 95 degrees) and we normally have no frost even in winter, but the roses seem to love it. We have an automatic irrigation system and they do need a lot of water and food (we have poor, sandy soil there) and regular dead-heading, to keep the blooms coming.

The blooms on Lady of Shalott and Crown Princess Margareta (both in full sun) are in high summer a little bit paler than those of the same plants in England, but Munstead Wood and Claire Austin, which have direct sun only in the mornings, are unaffected. I've noticed that if Lady of S doesn't get lots of water the blooms face downwards, but they perk up if she's given a good drink. If anything, the problem is trying to get them to stop flowering year round so they don't exhaust all their energies. Some of the bugs in France are different to those in England - there are some funny spotted insects (sorry, don't know what they are) that seem to like the roses, but they are easily hosed off.

Thank you all for such informative responses! And a great range of climates that indicates adaptable plants!

Since Reagan's has most of the Austins and a better price, that's probably where I'll look first. They also have others I'd like. Daydreaming about new roses is such a great winter activity

All the enthusiasm makes me want to add more Austins to my jungle of old garden roses, but I have heard they require a lot of water. Have you all found that to be true? I have hot summers and sandy soil. The few that I have seem to tolerate my minimal care. They get black spot but are engulfed in a sea of Cannas so I don't really notice whether they have any leaves or not - and the blooms are luscious.

As much as I hope to see luscious re-blooming, I have to accept some years either heat will diminish that or Japanese beetles will devour every bud as it opens. So as long as I get to enjoy a glorious first flush, I'll be happy. Any blooming beyond that is a cherry on top!

I think lots of water is a key to promoting re-bloom and sustaining first flush, but I believe most would survive and provide a yearly display if somewhat moisture deprived. I'm thinking back to drought years and how they dealt. They just didn't grow, and were more susceptible to blackspot, but were fine the following spring.

Porkpal, how's that for some enabling, LOL. Are there any in particular you have had your eye on?

Porkpal, see my last post - in France (Menton) we have hot summers and sandy soil, so pretty similar, I think. DA roses like lots of water and food because they rebloom so frequently.
In addition to rose food, we use a combination of Viresco products (Humate (on planting and once or twice a year thereafter), Viresco Soluble (once a year) and Viresco Foliar (supposed to apply it once a month but we don't use it that frequently). All are biological products which in combination help the plants grow much bigger roots, take up more nutrients and resist disease. They certainly make a difference and in spite of the poor soil the roses are really healthy - no black spot, no rust, very few aphids. And they're not expensive. Here's a link to the UK Viresco website, although I believe the company originated in the USA so you might find a better source.

https://www.viresco-uk.com/inf...

Even without the Viresco products, as Neal says I'm sure you would get a wonderful first flush. In France we sometimes have to prune twice rather than just once a year because the plants grow so vigorously.

My favorites in my garden this past year were Rose (Rosa 'Grace')


Rose (Rosa 'Lady Emma Hamilton') beautiful full shrub with lovely deep bronze new foliage growth.


Rose (Rosa 'Teasing Georgia') grown as a climber on an arbor


I would love to get Christopher Marlowe again, I left mine behind when I moved, also Tamora and Lady of Shalott are still on my wish list.