We have more winds around here than most places, so for that reason, in addition to the octopus arms of some, I tie up a lot a lot of roses--virtually all my new ones. Then, as the rose matures, I decide which roses can do without further tying up. I lose so many canes to the winds, tying is a necessity. The worst offenders in the octopus arms category are Princess Alexandra of Kent. She is huge and wider than she is tall, but in her third season is improving. I love this continuous bloomer, so I don't care about the extra work or tying. Young Lycidas seems hopeless. What a floppy mess. It's not as large as PAOK, but has the most weak canes. Golden Celebration is huge, and depending on conditions will send out those super long canes. Some years, he is more upright than others. Munstead Wood has grown out of the octopus stage. All of my Evelyns and Eglantyne are tied up because of cane damage in wind. Evelyn has stiff canes that break off from the base, but they aren't really what I'd call octopus type. All my other Austins are quite upright and most are large without producing monster canes. I have non Austins who also grow long floppy canes, so this problem is not confined to just Austins. Diane

It depends of the rose variety and climate. L.D. Braithwaite and Mary Rose, whom Austin classify as old rose hybrids, have stiff and sturdy canes like hybrid tea roses. It does not produce octopus arms for me. Golden Celebration, Evelyn, Teasing Georgia, Crown Princess Margarieta and Heritage does for me. The latter group have floppy, gracile canes that usually bow down with their blooms while the former group holds their bloom very well. However, Heritage so far produce one long cane for me last year; the plant is on its third year while Crown Princess margarieta produces long canes on her first year. That is why I decided to take advantage of their long canes by pegging this year. It would be my first attempt. It is ironic because this year I can't wait for them to produce their octopus canes while I dreaded it in the past.

Many many rose bushes in my garden get way bigger than they are "supposed to". My only Austin, 'Graham Thomas", was no exception. By the time I got it, however, I was not distressed that it grew to be 8 feet tall on the support we had to build for it, and then in the Fall from the top of the bush it threw out what I think you mean by "octopus arms" - new canes which were another 6-8 feet long! I usually cut them off (because they started 5-7 feet up, and so fell down horizontally and were a danger to pedestrians. Later I decided to treat it as a climber, and my DH built it ANOTHER support structure on one side (over the garden bed, not the path), and we tied the new canes to that - they bloomed magnificently in their horizontal position. My theory of roses tends to be "the bigger, the better", so I am happily waiting to see what it does next.

Jackie

I second the vote of Princess Alexandra of Kent. Huge long canes. No good pictures of them, however. I tend to prune her heavily as she is in my front walkway and would totally take it over if I let her. I adore this rose. Even in 114 degree heat, in direct sun, she blooms, no disease, lovely scent, has to be one of Austin's best roses.

The hard thing about photographing 'octopus arms' is that by nature they don't fit well into the frame of the picture. Also, they're hardly the most attractive thing about most bushes, so I don't tend to keep those photos around. The closest I can come at the moment is a bush shot of Teasing Georgia, who is notorious for octopus arms for me, as I grow her freestanding. She's at least 6' tall with maybe 10' canes, and she loves to put out random long canes all summer that I tend to ruthlessly cut back. In this photo, there's one shooting up from the center to the left top of the photo, and it goes on for at least as long out of the picture as you see here. It tends to make Teasing Georgia look lopsided even at the best of times, so I prune them back when I catch her at it.

A better shot of some octopus arms is from a modern rose shot. Sunrise Sunset is an Easy Elegance rose that is listed as 2-3' high. It might be that high, but it wants to be 10' wide at least. This year, it has totally covered the trellis behind it after I started tucking all these octopus arms into the structure to keep them out of the way. I think it wants to be a groundcover rose, but in this intermediate stage you can see two octopus arms shooting off to the right and left of the main bush, one of which is threatening the sidewalk.

Not ideal pictures, but I hope this helps you picture the phenomenon.

Cynthia