I assume this grows where you are...I'm putting in purple sweet alyssum at the base of my roses this year...I like that it re-seeds, and I don't recall it being particularly aggressive. I think companion plants have been discussed on here before, but I don't remember what people said!

Best,
Lara

In a few places, I want to put in some of that modern purple-toned blue salvias. And maybe some purple sweet alyssum.
I love that it has that wonderful fragrance.

Jeri

In order to layer without raised beds, I have used liriope at the front with multicolored alyssum behind and along the edge of a long bed of moderately spaced (55") HT's, floribundas, and clematis. There are dwarf and medium sized columbines between the roses, with red verbena, marigolds, and strawberries to fill in. Other plants I continue to use in other rose beds are snapdragons, dianthas, violets, pansies, and creeping phlox. Alyssum are the least agressive of the spreading plants, though I really like the verbena. Last summer, the verbena did not fill in the gaps as they usually do. It may have been the variety that was available. The phlox are not supposed to be as moisture-loving as roses, but it works here.
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This is a list that came from one of the previous postings asking for companion plants for roses:
salvia
alyssum
veronica
viola
campanula
plumbago
catmint (nepeta)
nemesia
delphinium
lamb's ear
fanflower (scaevola)
alstromeria (peruvian lily)
dwarf fescue

Here are a few other options:

campanula
orlaya
cranesbill
euphorbia
scabiosa
Santa Barbara daisy
nigella (reseeds freely)
lavender
carex

BettyN

Oooohhh . . . Plumbago gets to be enormous, here in Ventura County.
(Maybe it's a matter of the variety?)
It's everywhere tho.
I love it.
DH detests it. Go figure.

Jeri

To the list elgrillo posted, I would add iris. They are at their peak when the roses are just starting to leaf out, and then they sort of decline when the roses are at their best. At least that's my experience the last couple of years. The iris really have to "sit high", though, and they like the rapid drainage in my raised beds that makes me have to water the roses e-v-e-r-y day in the summertime. We have a waterwell; I know that other people couldn't water that much.

Parsley
Sage
Rosemary
Thyme
'Provence' lavender (good drainage beds only)
Dianthus
White alyssum
Cool weather - pansy

Randy

Companion plants I have made good experiences with here in SoCa are:

Bearded Irises, they are relatively drought tolerant and I like the contrast between the bluish-silvery, spiky shape of the leaves and the rose foliage. Flowers are simply awesome and the fragrance can be very nice. I would recommend to look for some repeated blooming varieties, so that you can enjoy the iris flowers twice a year.

Lamb's ear, love the silvery, hairy foliage together with the roses.

Alstromeria, flowers very prolific for me here, also nice as a cut flower.

Dianthus, again nice blueish-silvery foliage, a lot of choice in terms of the flower color, also good to use as cut flowers and they last long in the vase.

Agapanthus, especially smaller varieties like for e. g. 'Midnight Blue', nice lush light green foliage year round and I love the blue, ball like flowers together with the roses.

There are many good choices out there, I am sure you can find something that pleases you!

maybe a crawling rosemary? It's an evergreen cushion, nice small light-blue flowers. (rosmarinus prostratus)

The main consideration is to avoid plants that go crazy in the rich, well-irrigated rose soil. For example oxeye and shasta daisies grow too tall and flop, monarda spreads wildly and scarfs up the fertilizer, mexican primrose is invasive and hard to eradicate.

And of course the clematis growing through a climbing rose.

Echinicea. I love it with my roses!!

I have the small Dragon,s Blood Sedum growing under some of my roses........they dont get too tall....but they do travel quickly to fill in spaces nicely......but are not at all difficult to thin out..keep a nice neat growing habit.

carol

I used the purple Homestead verbena in a bed of red roses, and it was a wonderful combination. I have tried rosemary and lavendar, but they didn't like the winter mulch that I had to put in for the roses. Maybe in your winters, that wouldn't be an issue. The tiny 'Sparkling Rubies' dianthus works well too. One year I put wave petunias in, but you have to be careful about colors. The pink color I used really clashed with some of the orange roses.
A dark purple petunia would be much better.
I like the alyssum suggestion. I'll do that this year.
cindi

I am personally growing clematis with the roses, also, going to go with campanulas, dianthus, and myosotis (forget-me-nots) as ground cover companions this year.

MichaelG makes a really good point about "racehorse" plants that flop over...and elgrillo, your flowerbed picture is gorgeous. When is the tour??

No one has suggested Geranium? I might try Geranium 'Rozanne' this year. I planted some experimentally in a non-rose bed last year and they were wonderful.

Kate

Randy: Why Provence Lavender instead of any other? I think that is a tall one. What makes it special for roses? What kind of roses do you use it with?
Thanks

Holy Cow, you guys have given me a zillion options.

I did try alyssum, but I found it difficult when weeding. Perhaps I didn't plant enough?

I'm looking more for perennials, and mostly to cut down the weeds in the beds. Love lavendar, never thought of that. It grows well here in SoCal. Would it get too big do you think?

What about Society garlic (I think that's what it's called - bushy broad leaf plant with a purple flower and a distinct garlic scent)? With dusty miller and lavendar? Would they be OK between my Hybrid teas, or would they crowd them out?

You guys are the best! Thanks for all the suggestions, I'm going to check them out.

Society garlic is a great plant, easy to grow, blooms a lot, and looks great with the roses. I didn't like the smell very much though, so I no longer grow them.

I grow 'Provence' lavender, and it doesn't seem to want to get as big as the regular Enlish lavender. I'm very pleased with it, and our winter didn't effect it at all. You should try it.

Randy

This is a great thread with so many helpful ideas and suggestions.

Hello again Tally,

So many choices. Just a few things to consider:

Michael said that shasta daisies grow too tall and flop over. Yes, I tried it, and 2nd year daisies did grow to 6' and flopped over; I moved them out of my large rosebed. Also, they will reseed unless dead flowers are removed in time. A dwarf variety might work, though.

Garlic chives at the back of my large rose bed show up really well in the Spring and early Summer, flowering at 2 1/2 feet before the roses grow too tall. They must be topped as soon as seeds form, and I still have sprouts to hoe all year. Alliums have to be dug out if allowed to grow too large.

Since most flowers reseed, especially annuals, choose the ones you want by variety, size, and color, then be prepared to prune seed heads as quickly as the blooms die, or leave the seeds for the birds, and thin seedlings as a part or regular weeding.

Snails eat marigolds more than any other plants in my garden but I still try to grow them. I have to bed them in the sunniest places and treat them with sulfur or diatomaceous earth when it rains, even in a semi-arid climate.

Clematis work very well with roses, but nasturtiums taught me to keep other vining plants away from roses. I just didn't think naturtiums would grow as big as they did.

The perennials you choose will need to be placed so that they can be controlled and/or divided without overly disturbing the roses. I really enjoy Columbines. They like the same conditions as roses and live 4-7 yrs. They reseed just enough that new ones can replace old ones. However, since so many nursery columbines are hybridized, I never know what flower colors the seeds will produce. Babies like to come up right next to roses, but I move them into the gaps.

Prairie Laura,
You are welcome any time you come to Amarillo to see my garden. Best time for roses is late May into June, but annuals don't get big until the end of June!

Gary

This is my favourite thread because there are so great ideas and things I do not know about the plants that can grow together with roses!!! I do not know so much about plants because I do not have long gardening experience and unfortunately I do many mistakes even in a quite small garden, but thanks to you I can learn new things. I am confused by the so many latin names of the plants, that is the only problem but I will check on the net for more information about the plants you have suggested. Thanks from the bottom of my heart to the contributors to this thread,

elgrillo, I would like to ask about catmint (nepeta). I read that it attract cats. I do not want stray cats in my yrad, so should I be worried if I pant nepeta? Thanks.

bgrose: I'm not elgrillo but I can tell you this about catmint. I grow catnip in our veggie garden and the cats will literally roll on and chew the plant like the little addicts they are. I also grow Walkers Low catmint and they aren't the slightest bit interested in it. They walk by it in fact to access the catnip (which I grew from rooted cuttings that was wild in a neighbors yard).

At least that's how it is in our yard. They don't even notice it is there.

Kate

I have three cats who also totally ignore my Walker's Low nepeta. The only thing it attracts are bees and hummingbirds.

bgrose,

I think that is how we learn to garden - making mistakes, looking at other gardens, making mistakes, talking to our gardener friends, making mistakes, reading gardening books, making mistakes.... and even then, some things are just not happy in our garden, some things do better in pots and others in the ground, and some things not at all.

This forum is great. I've learned so much here.

BettyN

Thanks for your kindness and encouragement and for the answers to my questions. I recently planted hyssop near one of my roses, and from seeds thyme, lavender and camomile next to others. Do you know if these are good companion plant for roses? I planted it because I read it attracts bees. Maybe I shall try catnip and delphiniums. I like them very much.

To KatieFisher:

Katie, thanks for the catnip advice. I would try to look for this special type of catnip that does not attract cats because I am a little anxious of cats coming to my garden.

To elgrillo:

Garry, I planted a marygold, why do you treat it with sulphur??

BrttyN, yes this forum is great and I learnt a lot from you people. Sorry that I cannot contribute so much with advice.

I also like salvia.
Here is a pic of Sunflare (floribunda) with red salvia that I just took. As the summer heats up the salvia will die back just when the roses need better circulation and reseed to return when it gets cool again. This salvia is actually planted behind the rose and peeks through.
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Nancy

Tally,

I hope you don't feel like your post was hijacked. Maybe there are enough responses to help you. There are so many wonderful full-sun companion plants.

bgrose,

Sulfur and diatomaceous earth repel or kill snails. Since the snails here really like the marigolds and some other plants when they are young and tender, I dust sulfur around them until they are large enough to take care of themselves. Sulfur lasts just a little longer than diatomacious earth through rain and dew. I can use it without fear of burning plants - local soil contains lots of limestone and is alkeline, so sulfur is a good thing. Diatomaceous earth is harmless except to breathe. It contains ground-up silicon, or flint, that cuts snails when they crawl across it. It works better on crusted soil.
If you look at the names in the lists that folks have provided, those are the most common names we find on plants at local nurseries, for instance campanula, delphinium, or dianthus may be the latin names, but we use them as common names, too. If you use a search engine such as Yahoo or Google with these names, you will find varieties of plants that you know by other names. Dianthus are sometimes called "pinks", but they come in many colors and are in the same family as carnations. There are so many varieties of plants within a single species or genus, that it is sometimes difficult to find just the right plants. You know more about your local hyssop than most of us in the U.S. That could help you decide what plants might overwhelm your roses. Please start another thread to tell us what roses you have in your garden and what your plans are.

Katefisher,

Thanks for answering questions. I had no idea about catmint, it was just on a post I saved for reference last year.

Gary

Thanks, Gary, for your reply and detailed information about plants and their names. I appreciate it. I find delphinums to be so beautiful together with roses. Red salvia is very good with yellow and white roses I think, looking at the picture you have posted. The combination is really lovely. Maybe with red roses blue salvia would be better, though on your picture the red rose and red slavia look quite pretty together too. Very nice picture!

Gary, good thing that I saw your message about marigold and snails. I have snails all over. I'm building a new rose bed in the front yard along the sidewalk so that means dogs would get in the bed so I googled dog repellent plant and marigold came up so that's what i'm going to plant among roses to keep roses out. lol. I'll find out soon enough if that works or not!

This is a terrific thread, and I thank you all for your great ideas.

About marigolds, I love them too, but if the snails don't chew them down to skeletons, the mites get them. I religiously put down Snail be Gone, but they still strip the suckers. I might try diatomacious earth and see if I get more lasting results.

About catnip. We have cats and I'd love to grow some. However, I once made the mistake of planting mint in my garden and to this day I'm still pulling it out from everywhere. Does catnip spread like mint does?

Teka, the salvia is beautiful with your roses! I might try some blue salvia with my mostly pink and lavendar teas.

Randy, I'm unfamiliar with provance lavender. I have French, Spanish and English lavenders in my garden. Is this similar to the French variety? The English lavender is very lacy and grows huge, so I think that would definitely crowd the roses.

Try some of these:
alyssum (easy and reseeds forever)
nemesia (everblooming and tidy)
Doone Valley thyme (citrus scented ground cover)
cranesbills every rose garden should have a few
pentas (great colored mounds of various flower colors)
chives
parsley
tarragon
salvias (hot lips, indigo spires, ulignosa etc.)
nastursiums (can take over but can easily be ripped out when necessary)
citronella scented geraniums (silver leaves, white flowers, in tidy mounds)
coral salvias (attracts hummingbirds and finches, don't get huge)
alstromeria (great cutting flowers, spring blooming)
iris, foxgloves (same as above)
heliotrope (smells like vanilla)
achillea
russian sage (lovely blue in summer)
snow in summer (silvery ground cover)
lemon balm
lemon verbena
blueberries (good snack item while in the garden)
lambs ears
asparagus fern - foxtail (good in bouquets and are handsome green)

thanks, Peachiekean.

I am a little bit confused with the blueberries? Can they be companions of roses? Won't their roots interfere with those of the roses?

How about forget-me-nots? They seem so beautiful. Does anybody grow them with roses.

Dear Gary,

I grow Old roses like Damasks: Ispahan, Mme Hardy and Kazanlak, Portland Jacque Cartier, Bourbons: Louise Odier and Mme Pierre Oger (sorry for wrong spelling), Austins Pat Austin, Graham Thomas; Lavender Dream, Alba Meilland (?), Jeanne d'Arc (from Netherlands), Magic Miracle and some Japanese HTs (Momoka, Yuka, Yumeka) and floribundas, also Blue Boy (I think), Niagara Falls which is a climber and climbing America. My plans are to see all of them bloomÂ@together with the other plants, especially the tree called Summer Camelia (Natsutsubaki) which is not a rose. I want to see my garden with many flowers. I have planted for the first time chrysanthemums, daisies, lilies, irises, safran, gladiols, so I hope they bloom. Yesterday I planted marigolds. I planted hyssop, geraniums and other herbs like salvia, thyme, camomile, lavender, lemon balm and mint. thanks for the ideas and advice. Hopefully I won't kill my plants. They are my medicine from depression.

Hi bgrose,

Should have known from you locale that you would have Old World roses, and the mix of other plants you mention should be great for you. Your roses should be quite aggressive apart from anything you put with them. The original posting was to rule out aggressive plants in a climate that would encourage invasive plants placed close to roses. Of the plants you listed, some will need to be controlled or kept at a little distance to keep their roots from choking rose roots.

Gary

Thanks, dearest Gary, for your detailed answer. I will try to be careful in controlling the companion plants. Do you know if snapdragons are harmful to the roses if planted in proximity to the rose. I have snapdragons close to one rose and I am afraid they multiply quickly and could endanger the rose.

Thanks.

Snapdragons don't multiply readily in my experience. They get along fine with roses. I don't get much reseeding of any non-weeds in my rose garden because of the mulch.

Yes, I have snapdragons with roses, too. They don't have invasive root systems and can be cut or trimmed out very easily at season's end.

Gary

Michaleg,

I do not know whether I used the correct word when I said "multiplied". I wanted to say that the snapdragons become bigger and more vigorous and I am afraid they could suffocate the rose. I like them because they are vibrant and colorful and fill me with nostalgia for my childhood. I consider them favourite flowers and easy to grow, so I do not want to eradicate them unless they become out of control.

Thanks, dear Gary, for the answer. I am glad that you think that the snapdragons will do no harm to the roses, as they are not invasive, because I love the color the snapdragons bring to my not so rich in flowers garden and I love the diversity of garden with their multicolor presence. They are the most vigorous plants in my garden flowering nonstop even in cold weather, so I do not want to part with them. I would like to post a picture of the snapdragons with a rose. What is your opinion, are they too close to the rose and should I trim? thank you in advance, dear Gary. I trust your opinion and advice because you have more experience and are always ready to help me.

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