Climbing on the Roof

Here's something new: a fancy new canopy over the kitchen door.

When we bought this house the kitchen door was shaded by a canvas awning on a metal frame. It was unadorned and plain. Nothing to look at.

It shaded the top of the door from the strong morning sun a bit, but did little when it rained. The front facing slope just directed rain straight down onto the stones in front of the door, where in winter it iced up directly in front of the doorstep.

Last spring the wind tore the fabric in half and we duct taped the rip. Ugh.

This summer our handyman Tim replaced it with a built structure of wood. The roof is peaked, to direct rainwater to either side of the door, not straight down in front of it. The roof is clad with standing seam metal panels. It's way more substantial than the thin canvas awning was.

It's not strictly pueblo style like the rest of the house, but it fits the look nicely enough.

It doesn't actually drop down low enough over the door frame to shield it from early sun as the lower awning did. So we get more eastern sun pouring into the kitchen now, which is fine. A sunny kitchen in morning is cheerful. 

Hiding in the morning shadows in the corner next to the kitchen door is a 'Red Cascade' rose, only about 3 feet high now, but promising to sprawl and spread to 12 or 15 feet. It's starting to send some canes upward now.

How cool would it be to get this rose to climb up to the eaves of the new canopy and scramble over the peak? Could I get it to do that?

'Red Cascade' is a delightful rose with miniature deep red blooms that absolutely cover it in early summer, then it reblooms again in September, not as prolifically, but still nice, as it is doing here. It's a scrambler, not really a climber, but it gets big and could be trained to go in one direction. How to do that in empty air space between the rose and the roof?

Twine maybe, tied to the edge of the roof somehow and knotted around the canes below for them to hold onto. 

Years ago at my former house I got a climbing hydrangea vine to make the leap from a pyramid tower to a pergola by tying it to wood slats and strings. It looked awkward for years, but by the time we left that house the vine was all over the pergola and headed for the front door. My manipulations worked.

That climbing hydrangea was a much bigger, woodier plant than the rose is. But I could get the Red Cascade rose to climb to the roof I think. 

It's going to look awkward at first but I'll see what I can do. Check back in few years.