I have Paul's Himalayan Musk Climber on his way up a mulberry tree at the end of the driveway by the garage. He shows the ability to have this tree completely swallowed in a few years ... it's the look I'm after, fortunately. American Pillar is planted on the fence by the Rose Field, and I intend to encourage it to take over a cedar tree. I haven't been too successful, yet, because the canes keep getting blown out of the tree. This rose is WAY to vigorous for a crabapple tree, IMO. How about Gardenia? It blooms once, but it lives to climb trees. It will scale your tree and spill out the other side, with pale yellow-fading-to-white flowers in clusters. Beautiful. Some opinions of the others that have already been mentioned, since I'm in your area: Madame Alfred Carriere tends to grow straight up around here, then form an 'afro' on top. May be a possibility, but it doesn't 'hang' very well. Susan Louise probably won't survive here. I want this rose very, very badly ... but it's probably too tender. Mermaid? Way, way too vigorous once it gets going. Alberic Barbier, though once blooming, is a wonderful rose. The canes are very flexible, so it would hang nicely off a tree. It will go 15' in a season, easy. A possible deterrant ... the wichuriana ramblers make lots of basal canes, which would need to be trained up the tree every year. My AB made at least 12 new canes this year ... no lie. The multiflora ramblers may be a better choice, if you are considering once-blooming roses. Veilchenblau is my favorite of these. I don't grow it, yet, but it will stop traffic at Robert's house when it's in bloom in his holly tree. or Tausenschoen? For re-bloomers, maybe one of the hardier tea-noisettes ... Reve d'Or or Lamarque, perhaps? Photos? You asked. Alberic Barbier Leontine Gervais (another beautiful, stringy Wichuriana rambler) Paul Transon (wichuriana) Gardenia Veilchenblau That should be enough for this morning. As you can see, depending on the effect you're after, the choices are practically endless. Just avoid the really tender ones. HTH, Connie

If you are talking about street-light posts (as opposed to a lamp post on your property) you should first determine who owns the thing. City? Electric Company??? Water & Power Dept??? Other ??? Because if you are planting your rose on -- say -- a city-owned strip of land, and growing it up a lamp post owned by DWP or Edison, I recommend you plant something that is wholly replaceable. Because, eventually, the owners of that pole will wish to service it, or replace it, or or or -- and when that happens, the rose is toast. We lost a mature Reve d'Or that way. It was growing up an Edison-owned pole which also carries equipment owned by a couple of cable companies. Edison didn't mind, but the cable guys (who can be downright nasty) deliberately whacked it to the ground. The pole was on an Edison Co. right-of-way. We had no recourse. Likewise, a second Edison-owned pole, at the other side of our property, was replaced a couple of years back because it was rotted out under ground. The contract workers who did THAT job got the old pole out and a new one installed in one day, with almost no damage to the two flanking roses -- but had they not been as cool as they were, we'd have lost 'Lady Reading,' and one International Herald Tribune. Jeri

I drove down to the Farm Center today to buy this rose, but they had already closed (darned Daylight Savings time messes with my sense of time). Anyway, I got out and looked through all the roses. They got more in stock. There are three Night Owls left. And then I spotted another rose two pallets over. WOw! It was the most beautiful red I had ever seen! The rose is a large shrub rose called "Hot Cocoa". Oh boy! I am going back tomorrow. If the roses aren't too much, I hope to get two of them and one of the purple Night Owl. If they are too much, I will have to decide. Can a person be FICKLE with a rose??? :) ~Annie

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.