The lavender you had sounds like Lavandula latifolia, which prefers a very dry environment. It has more of a camphor scent than a true sweet lavender aroma.

You could look for dwarf lavenders--a lot of the new named cultivars are dwarfed and stay about 1'x1'. Keep them on the dry side once established so they don't mold and rot.

The standard species Lavandula augustifolia, L. stoechas, and L. dentata, can get 3-5' tall and wide. Rosemarys can get huge as well so look for a dwarf variety. My single prostrate rosemary from a 4" pot is now well over 8' wide.

I like to interplant daylilies with my roses, along with true lilies, daisies and salvias. Coneflowers too. Denise

What hemlady said, but you might also want to look for plants that draw beneficial insects, like Yarrow-the hybrids not the invasives-or Joe Pye Weed, or Salvia or Hardy Geranium. Also between the tall roses, I like the look of digitales and lilies. I plant a lot of irises, bearded, siberian and japanese. The contrast is lovely. Bearded iris will require dividing every other year and do get a spotted leaf disease and iris boarers, so I would not call them low maintence. The veronicas are nice up front and don't forget all the herbs, tarragon, rosemary, basil, ect. (oregano can be very invasive). Coneflowers these days come in many colors and unusual flower shapes. Oh, and coreopsis (tickweed).

Hope this helps.
Barbara

PS: I see you are in Florida. I would look into the tropical plants. We can't plant those up north with much success.

I love Salvias with roses but keep watching or stay away from Salvias that spread by underground stolons or runners. Salvia uliginosa (bog sage) is the worst but my favorite, "Black and Blue" also becomes an invasive plant and can be the host plant for mealybugs. (I plant it in a pot and sink the pot into the ground.)

Obedient plant, evening primrose,Chameleon plant (Houttuynia Cordata) are also plants to stay away from. Don't ask how I know that.

If oriental lilies do well in Florida (they might need more chilling hours than that climate has), they are very good companions with roses. Campanulas have so many subspecies that some should work in Florida. Agastache, various other hyssops, Penstemons are also good just search for varietis fitting your soil and zone..

Wow, thanks to everyone who replied! I had fun looking up photos of all the suggested plants on Google (searched images). In doing so, I came across a nice webpage of an Asheville garden with lots of nice photos of many of the plants mentioned in your replies: www.terracecottage.com/photo.html

I love the Joe Pye Weed and the fact that it would attract beneficial insects and swallowtail butterflies, which we do have here. Another great plant that I wouldn't have thought twice about is the Coreopsis, which turns out is a Florida native - bonus. And I never would have thought to combine roses with irises and lilies...I'll bet the contrast is lovely. I'll definitely be on the lookout for a dwarf lavender tomorrow, as well as the Hardy Geranium and Penstemons, irises and salvia. I couldn't find any images or info under "digitales" though. :o(

Barbara, I'm originally from the North (PA) so I revel in all the tropicals down here! The palms, gingers, bird of paradise, Hawaiian Ti and bromeliads are beautiful. With any luck, I'd eventually like to have the English cottage look in the back yard and Florida out front! I do miss the Northern change of seasons though...our late hard freezes here in Ocala play havoc with the tender tropicals that are really meant for Miami but that I still can't resist. I only have so many sheets with which to cover!

Thanks everyone -- I'm going to go nuts at the master gardener festival this weekend, and I'll definitely now know which plants to get, and just as importantly, which ones to pass on if they're there.

Some of my favorites:
Salvias
Verbena, (tall and trailing)
Purple trailing lantana
White lantana

And my absolute favorite is plumbago. Beautiful sky blue flowers but usually they don't last the winter here. I KNOW that they come back in Florida because I saw so many of them! They aren't really tropical because they are reliably hardy just a couple of hours south of here in 8b.

As you can see from this list, I like to plant purple and blue flowers in the rose garden. I think that those colors really complement the colors of the roses. Plus these plants bloom all season long - from spring to frost - just like the roses do. So your garden looks good all season.

Hi Orangeblossom, the digitalis referred to above is the latin name for Foxgloves. There is a lovely type called "Camelot" that are a little shorter than the regular ones, and also very easy to grow from seed. You might want to check them out under that name.
Judith

Orangeblossom, I'm in Ocala, too. Tomorrow we may pass by each other at the Festival. I believe Joe Pye Weed is invasive so maybe somewhere besides the rose bed would be better. There is a cultivar of Lysianthus called Florida Blue that is heat tolerant and withstands our summers. I intend to look for it tomorrow. I have planted African Daisies: lavender or white with blue centers. Don't know how big they get. So far they're 12"x12" round green balls with the flowers floating up above. Gaura is tall (4') & fairly narrow with pink wispy whirlygig kind of flowers. They need to be staked or they flop over. I love the airy, wispy look. Daylilies are great. Mine are blooming already. Various colors. Purple Coneflowers (Echinacea) are gorgeous and butterflies love them. They bloom through the heat and wet. I tried a few types of sage last year, and they all got huge, blocking out the sun and pushing out the roses. Won't do that again. I understand there is a Florida cultivar of Geranium that can take our heat. Haven't seen it yet. Then there's always Vinca Major (Periwinkle). I think Plumbago gets too big and bushy here unless you have a lot of space between your roses. Mine are crammed close so I don't have room for other bushes.

I'm just starting with the companion plants since my rose garden is new, so it will be a learning experience. Some flowers that are mentioned for the north can be grown here in the winter. So remember them next fall but forget about them now. They'll just melt away in May when the heat starts. And most gingers (maybe not all) like shade so watch out for our full sun. The only Iris I know that works here is African Iris, and there's really no comparison - lots of spikey green blade-like leaves and small, sparse white flowers. I pulled mine out when I put in roses. They might be nice accents if you're diligent about dividing them and keeping them small. Mine went from a 1-gallon size to something I could barely lift out of the ground in 2.5 years.

Have fun tomorrow!

Sherry

Sherry, I'm sure I passed you at least once or twice this weekend at the festival! I went both days and fully loaded our pull-behind trailer each day. You know you're buying a lot when folks stop looking at the booths and instead stare at your cart! I started planting Sunday afternoon, and I just finished my rose beds last night. I'm sore but sooo happy.

What did you buy? Gosh I bought so much. I got some new roses: two Scentimentals (candy-cane red and white striped floribunda), a Love & Peace and an Ebb Tide. I did have Gaura last year and loved the wispy look against my Our Lady of Guadalupe. It did well for me but a few didn't survive the winter, so I took them all out. I replaced them with three small French Lavenders. I do have a Blue Plumbago by the Ebb Tide but I'm keeping a close eye on it since I know how large they get. I had two huge Blue Plumbago bushes that flanked my driveway when I lived in Orlando and I loved them. I did buy some Salvia...one called Hummingbird Coral and a standard purple one. I bought a Hyssop and some Buddelia, and the exact African Daisy you mentioned with the white petals and blue centers. For another bed I bought three gorgeous Digitalis. I now know what that is - thank you Judith! I bought a bunch of other tropicals for our front yard including three beautiful Bird of Paradises, and I filled out my herb garden too.

After the festival I hit the Home Depot nursery. I felt like I had no business buying more plants but did that stop me? Psshht! Got flats of white and lavender Alyssum, Angelonia, Golden Mound Lantana and another Angel Face rose (my third). I can't wait until everything takes and starts to fill out. Thanks for the warnings on the gingers. I got two for the front that get afternoon shade. Our landscaping package that came with our house included African Irises, but those got replaced this week with needle palms and two pink New Zealand tea trees.

I also bought (it goes on...) cala lilies, a fuschia, gardenias for a hedge row, three beautiful climbers called Petrea that have purple flowers that look like Wisteria. I got a light yellow double-hibiscus called "Becca" and a bunch of succulents for the first time for a little container garden on my patio. And I also got a blueberry bush. Can't wait to see how that one does. There's said to be a blueberry farm here in Ocala, so that's a good sign that it has a chance to do well!

Sorry about the laundry list of plants but I can't help myself. I thought I'd at least spare you the list of herbs I got. :o) I'll take photos and will post them soon.

some of my favorites are:

Blue Daze (Evolvulus nuttallianus) it blooms all summer/fall here and is probably a perennial in your area. I think this is a perfect height and color contrast for most roses, I plan on using it more this year
Blue and white plumbago (this actually survived our mild winter, probably a perennial in your area)
Coreopsis
Black and blue salvia (I love this plant but it gets huge here)
Russian Sage (also gets big here but love the gray leaves and purple flowers
Agastache
Stokes aster
Sweet william
mexican heather
coneflowers