I can't tell what you have to do to get this shape but I can tell you that you will have to wait 30 odd years to get a plant like the ones in the pics.

Nik took the words right out of my mouth. That is a very very very mature plant. I would not live long enough to accomplish that.

Wow. I'd wait at least five years and then select three canes as trunks and prune away the rest. Then in a few more years narrow it down to one or two. Chinas are twiggy growers and it will take awhile for you to see which canes are straightest and strongest. I dont think the one in the picture is weeping so much as weighed down and also Chinas grow in every direction!

Lol, yes, I should have realized it was very mature. Ah well, it's gorgeous! Thank you for your thoughts. I don't know anyone in real life who knows the names of any roses, other than Iceberg maybe, much less can advise on them.

rosydreams, I won't ask how old you are, but if you're under 40, and don't intend to ever move from where you live now, go for it! I love tree-form teas, but where I garden I'm lucky to get teas and chinas to survive at all, and I'm envious of all the old specimens I see in CA. A tree-form mutabilis would be a worthwhile lifetime accomplishment as far as I'm concerned!

ABSOLUTELY RIGHT.
There's a huge difference. EYE wouldn't do it -- because I am 73 years old. Lacking a medical miracle, I could not bring it to fruition.

But if my next door neighbor probably could. I should suggest it to her. :-)

A tree Mutabilis - that is awesome!

You can grow a Polar Joy rose tree to that size in 5 years. :-)

In Florida,Mutabilis is a very fast grower. I'd say 5 years max.

Personally I AM planning to live that long. But not planning to take on that particular project!

I don't know how long it would take to obtain a tree-form self-sustaining shrub. A large Tea or China trained up a support I'm guessing would be much less than thirty years. I've seen 'Mutabilis' grown up trees as a climber on Lago di Garda, and a plant in a local garden, seen years ago, that I remember as being roughly the size of our living room. Probably memory exaggerates, but it was impressively large. My 15'x10'x10' 'Archduke Joseph' (I know I can't stop talking about it) comes from a minute cutting started in 2002 or 2003, so as a rooted plant is twelve or thirteen years old. It has favorable growing conditions but has never been pampered.

I mention support because my experience confirms what I read somewhere: many large shrubby roses will climb if they have something to hang on to; may will also climb if they need to do so to reach the light. Of course none of this is to the point if you want a self-supporting treelike rose. About that I have nothing to contribute.

Rosydreams, do you think you'd be so gracious to attach a photo of what your Mutabilis looks like now? I planted one here in an effort do the same thing. But, being 2 yrs old, it's a long way off. But, time passes.