Sounds great, Sherry. Make sure you post us some pics once they all start growing. I'm planning to add some companion plants as well this year, I've got a few geraniums scattered around, but lots of gaps between most of my roses. I've been a bit nervous to try just about anything, as I didn't know about the fertiliser, water, sun etc requirements of the plants. I'd like to add some delphiniums as well, think they look beautiful. I'm really excited for you!
Sanju

All I can foresee with all these additions is a more beautiful garden, Sherry. In time you'll find out what works in your garden and what won't survive, or find new plants you hadn't seen before. I still have a lot to learn and try, although at the moment I'm concentrating more on the roses and haven't been very adventurous with companion plants. It sounds as though you're having a field day. But, we do need pictures for documentation. I actually can't wait to see how your garden has changed overall from last year.

Ingrid

Sounds like a binge without the hangover. I'm a believer in companion plants. Enjoy them!

Sherry, Your garden looked good before; it's going to look terriffic now! Please do post some pictures.

I, too, have gone a little companion plant crazy this spring. I've ordered perennials from 2 on-line vendors (1 of them I placed 2 orders!), I've already ordered some reblooming iris that will come in August. And of course some things from the local nursery. I can't wait to see how it all turns out for both of us.

Did I mention you should post pictures when they really get going?

Jeff

Companion plants are great, I try to have something blooming all year round (apart the winter of course, but then I got berries). :) This year I am in love with peonies, penstemons, phloxes and asters. Also I find foxglove to be very lovely companion for the roses and since they self seed it gives some pretty randomness to the garden, each year different.

Sherry, sounds like things are really coming together in your yard and that's a nice feeling! It's such hard work that it's always better to make it work the first time (but does anyone ever actually do that?!)

I hope all your companions turn out to be good ones; I am trying harder to actually plan, in advance, what I put in my beds INSTEAD of just going crazy at the nursery and buying stuff and then trying to find a place for it when I get home. I'm trying to correct "mistakes" made previously but it's hard to dig up perfectly good plants, especially if you don't have anywhere else to put them.

Do you scour the bargain carts at Lowe's? You mention getting flats of flowers for pennies......that's what I do and I can't believe some of the bargains that I have gotten for stuff that just needs a little water!!! (just got two flats of alyssum for about $2.00 each but now I have to put them somewhere).

Lynn

Good for you Sherry! You should be excited. It's an adventure trying things, seeing what works. The garden look so much more interesting and beautiful with companions. I've been working at it a long time because my garden is so big and the plants are exspensive. The farther they are from the house the tougher they need to be for me but it's coming along. Do you know about Stephen Scaniello's book about companion planting? I think it's called Roses and their Companions(someone correct me please!) I think you'd like it.

My most satisfactory companions are David phlox, pinks (some form of dianthus), Stokesia (Stoke's aster),a deep indigo sage or salvia that spreads like wildfire but is so beautiful it is worth the trouble, coneflowers, Joan Senior daylilies, Veronica, and for early spring jonquils and narcissus. In late spring I will plant angelonia and if I can find it, Kim's knee high coneflowers. For early spring, I've tried larkspur and bachelor buttons and sweet peas but they all get too big in spring and block the sun from my roses. For summer I've tried all the usual suspects but other than the ones named here, they get too big or are too invasive. I do have 2 early peonies, Shirley Temple and another whose name I have lost. Shirley does well the other just hangs on every year. Joan Senior daylily is a great one! The color is cream with a lime throat, she reblooms and grows well. I have divided her many times over to share with friends and to fill in my garden. Her color doesn't fight with any other plants. I find that a pink description for a daylily usually is on the peachy or orange side which I don't care for.

The book (an excellent one, by the way) is Rose Companions, or Jackson & Perkins Rose Companions--public libraries should have a copy. I also love roses' companion plants. Current faves are catmint (nepeta) and purple-leaf sage. So far here in NE Ohio, they've just barely peeked their heads above ground--can't wait till they're up and growing.

Carol

IT sounds like it will be a beautiful garden addition to your roses! I share your excitement! I too started a bunch of seeds this year and have added all the seedlings to my new rose bed. I check everyday on their development to see how they are growing and I think they are going to just make my roses look even better! I planted Hollyhocks, foxgloves, borage, wave putunias, sweet william, dianthus, and something wort (forgot the name). That's only a start! lol I can't wait to see how it will look this year.

Please post pic's of it all when they are blooming. I love garden shots! Happy planting! :O)~Meghan

Sherry - you are fantastic ! please post some pics..... Snapdragons are great and come in all sizes and colors, and if you keep them dead-headed they bloom forever, and the heat doesn't seem to bother them, I have some are several years old.... also a dark-blue Salvia keeps going for years and not too tall and easy to manage.... sally

Well, it's clear you are still in the garden honeymoon time - pah! to self-control. You are creating beauty in the world and I am betting there will be plenty of beneficiaries of your generous garden and not just yourself.
I can only agree that nemesias are wonderful, reliable, dainty yet prolific plants which will bloom for months as long as they are deadheaded - even doing that is not a chore. They come through an outside English winter, strike so readily from cuttings and are pretty infallible from seed. Hardy geraniums are addictive and versatile - from tiny alpines to the amazing G.maderense (which would be stupendous in Florida). Buffington mentions Joan Senior, a lovely daylily. The species daylily, H.Lilioasphodelus, is a lovely pale yellow and is fragrant. You might want to have a look at some ornamental grasses - they look good most of the year and are a terrific foil to most flowers - I confess to not seeing the point of grasses for a long time but after growing the giant stipa - golden oats, and its smaller cousin, Stipa tenuissima, I am hooked. A gorgeous early grass is Bowles Golden Grass - milium effusum. Oh, but you need NO encouragement from anyone else - I shall be waiting eagerly for the photos. What a fantastic time you will be having.

Stop it!!! Your making me drool guys! I am still working on my foundation rose garden..I will have more time and funds next year for this..But bulb planting in the fall is a possibility

I can't quite figure out if roses are the companion plants or the other way 'round ..... I was a perennial gardener 20 years before I got hooked on roses, so I did it backwards. My beds are full of daylilies, candytuft, iris, veronica, sage, lavender, clematis, candy lilies, tulips, delphinium, dianthus, coneflowers, double yellow sunflowers, peonies, asters, perennial grasses, tree peonies, liriope, lilacs, and different kinds of shrubs. I don't have a master plan, I just kind of plonk and it's just a glorious profusion of color which somehow blends well with all 275 roses...most of which are a new passion during the last 5 years.

I can't wait to see the pictures, Sherry! All those colors surrounding your beautiful roses - it sounds perfectly heavenly!

Right now, I'm letting my roses grow, then I'll start on the companion planting, so I'm very interested to see your combinations.

Ha! You guys are an easy crowd! What a great bunch of friends!

Sanju, I did put a couple of geraniums (not the hardy type) in a planter on the porch. Hopefully, keeping it somewhat dry will prolong its life here. They don't care for our summers.

Ingrid, I can only hope and dream it will be a more beautiful garden. I'm probably expecting too much because when the heat hits some will have to be replaced, but we'll see.

Melissa, the hangover is the Mastercard statement, but not to worry, DH is used to supporting Lowe's every month.

Jeff, I would love to have gone crazy with reblooming iris but I'm not smart enough yet about them. I'll have to go on the GW iris forum. :))

elemire, can't do peonies and penstemons. They don't live here. I'm told phlox does, but I was chicken to try. There's Profusion asters that hold up better here, but the colors weren't quite what I wanted.

Lynn, yes, I frequent the sale racks at Lowe's. I think my flats were $1.50 and the dianthus weren't even damaged. The flat of Angelica was really cool - divided longways into 2 cells with 5 large plants on each side, really well rooted.

Pam, I wish there were something in Scaniello's book for me (do I sound like Dorothy?) I just can't imagine much of it working in Florida, but I'm sure the pictures are lovely. I think your key words are "working at it a long time". And your garden shows it!

Buff, I also have Stokesia, indigo salvia "that spreads like wildfire but is so beautiful it is worth the trouble" (I hope), coneflowers, and Joan Senior is one of the daylilies I got. That's a great point about dividing them. My oldest are 3 years and some just one yr old, so I guess it will be a while longer till I can divide them. I wish peonies liked it here.

Carol, I bought a pot of catnip at the grocery store and planted it in the front garden. I figured the local cats would do something to it but didn't know what. They demolished it - by rolling on it, I think. :))

Meghan, I did manage to get some seeds to sprout this winter, and I have 2 hollyhocks and a burgundy rudbeckia to show for it. My problem was the freezing January we had kept the seedlings in the garage way too long. I bought lots of 'damaged' white petunias. Not my first choice but we'll see how they look.

Sally, I'm relieved and happy to hear about the snapdragons. I don't know which I have - the short or tall version. I will definitely try to keep them deadheaded.

campanula, I would love to put a few grasses around to wave in the breeze, but they get very large here. Of course, I can always yank 'em out, but somehow that doesn't seem like the thing to do. I may move one of my giant evergreen liriope and put a purple fountain grass there - someday.

zyperiris, wanna come plant my gladiolus bulbs???

Terryjean, your garden sounds like what I want mine to look like. Post pictures of yours sometime, OK?

Holley, it will be a little while for pictures. A lot of my rose bushes are barely starting to leaf out, and a few others just went poof while I wasn't looking and now they have leaves.

I think I get the picture that each and every one of us love to see pictures. Here's one.

{{gwi:243596}}

Sherry

I forget about how different conditions are in Florida. I suppose that means though that you could do some amazing things that I couldn't in my garden. What fun!

Pam, not being a real plant person, I'm just at a loss for what does and doesn't work here. I have planted foxgloves years ago in partial summer shade - and they just disappear. Others have turned to mush. High heat, high wet and almost no chill, I guess, are not favorable conditions for most plants. I go through the seed catalogs and if a plant is good for zone 9, it's usually 'drought tolerant'. No Japanese maples here, and only dogwoods raised in Florida. The good thing is that 'they' have been working to develop more "Florida friendly" plants. But when I get my act together, I will be able to grow some of your 'summer plants' in the fall & winter. But I'm not there yet.

Sherry

Absolutely beautiful flowers, Sherry. There's so much here I have to learn and try out in my own garden!
Sanju

I don't have a clue what I like and have good luck with and that would do well in humid Florida. Most of these I have at the mtn place and they are winter hardy. Here's a go...

Gaillardia, Black-eyed Susan's, ditto salvia, hardy geraniums (careful for invasive types), Heuchera and want to try Heucherella (sp?). I echo snaps, the only time they're not blooming is under the snow! I have dwarf types in season 2, now I want some taller ones instead of the delphiniums, I think the snaps will bloom more consistently. Columbine grows there but gets mildew in the late summer/fall.

This year I was amazingly on top of things and threw out poppy seed (California & Shirley), forget-me-nots, blue bonnets as an experiment. The poppies are coming up so they should be pretty on they're own.

Bulbs. Well Shelly, I won't make you feel bad with what I can grow now after being Calif. coastal all my life. However, I will say that hyacinths do come back in Calif. coastal year after year as well as freesias. Just a thought. And you know what? If they only bloom one season, they were cheaper than a store bought bouquet, right???

Sherry, I don't know a whole lot about reblooming irises either but I did glean some knowledge from the iris forum and some web searches. I also heard that these irises rebloom better in warmer zones. I'll let you know how they turn out. I've heard a white iris called Immortality is supposed to have great rebloom. (I got this last year and will hopefully see bloom this year).

If you are interested in checking some out, I placed an order with Blue J Iris. They have been very helpful, quick to answer emails and have a great selection. I ordered enough to get a bonus and it sounds like a HUGE bonus. Jeff

Here is a link that might be useful: Blue J Iris

I ordered lots of reblooming iris from Schreiners in Oregon but so far no reblooms...but they did caution that in colder zones (I'm in Zone 5) they might not rebloom. They do offer great deals with free bonus iris and a gorgeous catalog. Very healthy rhizomes BTW that are already rapidly multiplying.

Sherry, I don't think anyone has mentioned Lobelia. It is a low plant that reseeds itself, about the height of Alyssum. The particular variety we had when I lived in the California Central Valley is a very dark, intense, blue with bronze/green leaves. It's great in a pot with something else, as it will trail over the side, and its color just sets off colors next to it, especially apricots, creamy yellows, etc., but actually lots of other colors as well. It's best (IMHO) as a companion, because just on its own it's low, and the flowers are small, although there are a lot of them. You might like to look at it in a nursery - it also comes in a lighter blue and a pink, but neither of those two did for me what the dark blue did. I don't know how it would do in Florida, but it did fine for me in Merced. Now that I'm in Sacramento, I'm going to plant some in a few pots that I can place among my roses in their bigger pots. I think anything bigger would overpower my potted roses, which are still pretty small.

By the way, Mlle. Jeanne Philippe is finally hitting her stride (I remember that we both bought that at the same time, although I think something happened to yours). She has all these little, pale apricot buds all over her.

Happy planting... There is just no stopping you!!!

Laura

Laura--I love lobelias, although I used them as a ground cover, not in my pots. Very rich-colored leaves, very vivid blue flowers, and best of all, they are happily spreading to cover a spot that needs to have low vegetation since it surrounds the path back to the bushes and beyond where the pool machuinery is hidden.

I am glad to hear that I am not the only one trying many different things. Between being new to the Central Valley climate and wanting to try plants that will attract hummingbirds, I am a bit afraid that my garden will be a gaudy patchwork.

Interesting, here in Atlanta, Lobelia seems to fizzle in the heat. I'm surprised to hear that it does so well in CA. Are there certain cultivars that are especially good?

My experience here is that Lobelia doesn't reseed. It is happier in the spring when the temps are more moderate. There is a groundcover Veronica that is very tough and beautiful with flowers similar to Lobelia. Unfortunately it only blooms in the spring. I find it still worthwhile and Lobelia as well.

which veronica? - V.gentianoides with china blue flowers and glossy leaves or is it one of the creeping ones (which do reseed everywhere). There is a good omphalodes (verna and the wonderful annual, linifolia) and, for later in the year, my namesake - campanulas. So many, and all are worth having.

New2roses and Mendocino rose and Gardennatlanta -

You may be right, Atlanta - I know that a lot of things I planted frizzled in the heat. But I distinctly remembered the intense blue of that lobelia glowing from its pot against the ivy at the west end of the yard in the shade...AHA!! Maybe that's it - the SHADE. That particular end of the yard was sunny in the morning and early afternoon, but by the time the real killer sunlight hit, it was shaded (at least partially). There were 3 big fat pots there with daylilies in them and the lobelia trailing down the sides. So maybe it won't go so well with roses that need all day sun. It did reseed, though - not spectacularly, but a few new plants came up through the alyssum planted near the pots.

So, new2roses, since you love lobelia, but are new to the central valley, maybe you could try it in some semi-shady spots. I have to admit that I am somewhat new to the gardening lark, so my suggestions should be taken with a grain of salt...

Laura

Sherry, I have good luck with Lantana and Verbena. They won't wilt in the heat, you'll have flowers all summer. Here in north FL they both die back over the winter and come up again in the spring. Lots of different colors that go well with roses. I just picked up some white lantana, it's so pretty and dainty looking against the dark green leaves. (smells good too) Looks great in the garden.

Last year I tried some Zinnias from seed. They didn't mind the heat, bloomed all summer and fall, great colors.

Marigolds are good too, and no problem. Lavender and rosemary love the heat. Some of the Agaves and Yuccas would do well in your climate. Ornamental Kale has a beautiful color as a background for roses.
Donna

Yes, I should have said that I put it in a spot that is in shade most of the day.

sherry, I did not realize that conditions in Florida are so different. But then again I suppose you can grow a lot of plants which thrive in greenhouse conditions or the ones originating from tropical regions. Mirabilis jalapa I guess might do well in your place, also Callas, Arums (with very nice autumn/winter berry displays), Zantedeschias (colored callas) also probably different kinds of balsamines.