We went to our Deep South District fall Covention in Jacksonville last fall and I took this shot of Altissimo growing on a wall on one of the gardens on tour and I must say that this is the largest one I have ever seen.--Ron
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Ron,

Was that attached in any way? I have one on the side of my house but I cannot imagine it staying so close without being fastened. Great photo!

Ronda

Ronda--Yes, this rose was fastened in some way but I admit I didn't look close up on the way it was done.--Ron

Wow, what an impressive vine. At first I too did not see how it was attached. Looking more closely though, it seems that there might be some visible, small dark attachment pieces used throughout, but the photo does not reveal what those pieces are made of; or how they attach.

I would like to find an attachment system which will not have to penetrate the stone work on my pillar.

Another observation, is how well the way the 'Altissimo' has been trained; By fanning it out so thinly, it most likely gives the vine very good circulation of air to help prevent molds and fungi from attacking the vine's leaves.

I wonder if Jacksonville has shorter winters and by such the vine grew that large more quickly than it would in the Northeast OK USDA zone 6b/7a.

Ron and Susan, when you took the photo, what light exposure direction did that vine receive?

On another note, After posting my request, I did finally find the post I requested info for finding. It turned out to be a photo submitted by hoovb, on April 5, 07 at 16:31 in a post called "Self Portrait with CI Shot Silk (5 pics)." That photo shows the vine blooming heavily, with shrubs in front of its knees, its canes arching over a driveway entrance, and its cains trained closely together.

In Ron and Susan's posted photo, it is nice to see how the owners let the entire rose grow, without hiding the knees with a shrub; that way, it is easy to see how they let the vine develop for them to achieve the overall affect.

Are there any others who will post photos of their mature 'Altissimo' vines? If so, and if the photo is such that the viewer finds him or herself clueless as to how the vine is attached, hopefully that detailed description will, also, be described for us.

Mine is much much smaller. It is grafted. I planted it around 2003, I think.

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I have that kind of ladder-like trellis on the wall, which comes out about 6" from the wall. The main canes are tied in 1 or 2 places to the ladder and the side shoots go their own way. We added the loopy trellis on the sides of the window last year; when I get a cane growing in the right direction I think I will encourage it to arch so that I can attach it at the top of that loopy one. I have a clematis that will grow up to decorate the rest of the loopy trellis (they do not get enormous here, too dry).

My Altissimo has very thick stiff canes, over 2" in diameter, and they don't arch well. The one kind of hanging over the driveway is a side cane, those are easier to work with.

Eventually I hope to replace the ladder-like trellis with a more looping sinuous one that will be able to better handle a rose.

But all mistakes are easily covered with a Clematis. :^)

The mistakes are all mine; the virtues belong solely to the rose.

Beautiful, don't you wish you could see all that beauty when resting in your house and looking out the windows? Is this photo a different one from the one you posted on April 5? All the roses in the area seem to be blooming even better in this photo you posted here. Thanks for posting your response.

To tell you the truth, yesterday when I was researching potential climbing roses for my wide and tall stone columns; it was only once finding your beautiful photo; submitted in the April 5 post, that motivated me to consider the Altissimo rose over the other climbers.

Does your house face west, east, or south?

Also, I wonder if the vine gets larger if its canes are spread out more, like in the photo posted above yours.

When looking at that photo can you tell if they have let fewer canes grow up from the rootball compared to the number you have allowed to grow up out of yours? If so, that might also be another reason why their rose grew taller than yours. Of course, such a conclusion is not too reliable since there seems to be no way to determine how old that larger Altissimo is.

It would be great to see as productive of bloom display on that larger one as what is seen in the photos of your Altissimo. I wonder if the bloom display in your photos are a first flush, and if the photo of the larger Altissimo was taken between rebloom, or if the rose simply blooms lighter through out the summer after the initial spring bloom flush.

Awesome photos. I love this rose. My photos of it are awful.
It goes so well against that white house.
Kathy

I hope this photo posting works. I just took this this morning. Not a great pic mind you, it seriously needs to be tied back to its trellis. but it does show the size... for some reason I can't post the pic on a reply (sigh)so I'll create a new post. I'm sure I'll get this photo thing completely figured out one of these days!!

careytearose

Katrina1, that is a picture a week or so after the 1st one when more flowers were blooming. The house faces south, so it really bakes that rose in the summer, which the rose doesn't seem to mind. It appears to hold up very well to heat.

If your house is painted white, this rose looks especially beautiful. There's a white 'teahouse' in Huntington Library Garden with Altissimo planted on either side of the doorway, and it looks terrific. The foliage is a extra deep dark green that shows up so well against the white walls with the brilliant red flowers--IMO it is at its best against a white wall.

The subsequent flushes are very good, of course spring is always best. I also find it is important to deadhead--it forms hips very easily and the more hips, the less flowers. I have a pole-pruner to get at it so I don't have to get on a ladder. I climb up on that little wall for extra reach.

Mine is grafted--it does not have a lot of basals, maybe 6, all bigger than broomsticks. Then I have clematis growing up it. I would love to see the one in the ron_and_susan picture this year. I bet it is spectacular.

Careytearose, thanks for posting that photo. It gives me an idea of how the rose will grow above any space where it is tied for support. You must really enjoy looking out the window at its blooms.

Hoovb, your full sun blooming flowers looked so good, that I was wondering if your house faced South.

In your Zone 9 you must have much more direct sun then we would have in zone 6b/7a. Since you say it does so well in that kind of light, it gives me hope that mine facing
West with only mid-day and afternoon sun will do well.

Hopefully if I only let 4 main canes grow up the 2 foot wide dimension of the pillar's front side, the rose will be easier to keep from crowding toward the walk entrance at too low of a point.

Sadly, the stones on my house are not white, They match the stones on my pillars, which have various shade of sand with a few areas that are darker. The front of the house behind those pillars is a light to medium honey colored cedar.

Since the overhanging roof's pillars are at least 6 feet infront the house, I am hoping that the red and dark green leaves still look good.

Thanks for all your help.

Every different view of the rose, which was posted has given me a much better understanding on what to expect from this climbing rose.