If you have the longest canes go up vertically they'll probably sprout horizontal branches going at roughly right angles out to whereever the most sun is. The horizontal branches coming out from main canes can get quite long, 5' or more on mine. They come out at rather abrupt angles and are not particularly flexible, but produce the flowers. So it sort of depends how much profile you want. Hopefully the sunny side is the side away from the house so the laterals grow that way. 50 lb fishing line--is that going to hold up in a strong wind (or a modest wind)? Is there any way you can add a panel of wrought iron extending the height of the handrailing up to the bottom of the balcony? That would give you a lot of support to work with.

I think you would ok with the climber Fourth of July here in the Halifax area. It is supposed to be hardy in zone 6 and if it does take a beating through a hard winter...it would spring back. The worst thing that would happen is you would have a beautiful shrub rose instead of a climber. I saw some at home depot and they looked really nice. It's a plus for us that the potted roses in HD are grown here in Nova Scotia and the other potted roses are grown n Ontario. I think I will go and get one for me today :)

The lavender roses on the LHS in the 1st picture are (from nearest to farthest) Barbara Streisand, Purple Passion, Rose de Rescht, Intrigue, and the one right next to the pillar is pink Reine Victoria, with a couple of Black Bacarra nodding in from the extreme left. On the other side of the path the roses (Veteran's Honor is one) were devastated by rabbits, they are just now recovering. I had to put up hardware cloth on the gates to protect them. The Endless Summer Hydrangea is wonderful and I can't recommend it enough, and it is perfect for those spots that are a little too shady for roses. YIKES! Water moccasins. I guess I can forgo the acidic soil for a snake free area. We have rattlesnakes in California but not in this particular area, not rocky enough. Lots and lots of lizards instead, and all they do is eat bugs. Here's poor Evelyn, she got blasted by our recent 92F/50MPH wind/7% humidity weather just as she was about to start her flush, she looks bad, oh well...you can see some of the hardware cloth I put up to protect some nearly eaten-to-the-ground roses there on the RHS.

Thanks for thinking of us, Devon gardener, MissFlippins (is it Corinne?) and Judith! Your photos and graphics are all wonderful. I have wondered about what Fourth of July rose would be like here in zone 5a...probably gorgeous, just not that tall! Hope you had a Happy Canada Day yesterday! How do you celebrate it? :0) Phyl