My current favorite companion plant for my roses is geranium "Johnson's Blue" (pictured). I am not currently growing clematis with my roses, but a clematis growing up through a large shrub or climbing rose can be very beautiful. Selection of companion plants depends on climate. The following are just a few that I have used effectively with my roses in Southern California: snapdragons (the tall kinds), pelargonium "angel geranium", catmint, agapanthus (the short kinds), anchusa "Alkanet", lobelia erinus, marguerites and alstroemeria. There are countless additional possibilities. I would recommend experimenting with plants that look like they might provide good color, texture and height contrast.

I like to use drift or carpet type roses with larger type roses. Especially with hybrid teas, grandifloras & climbers. I say that because they both need the same sun requirements. And the drift roses help cover up the boring lower canes of the hybrids or climbers. Obviously they have to be planted as to not crowd each other. And I like to do contrasting colours of roses. Here is a pic of a few roses with a oso easy mango salsa. There is also a few weeds in there too! Here's another one with popcorn drift, rosanna to the right & clematis behind it. The drift was a day or two past it's prime when I took the picture. @lily - I love your limelights & companion bed. It's a great combination you have. Instead of the hostas you could try lady's mantle. Similar in growth, handles more sun here. Not sure for you though as you are in a hotter zone. I have a row of limelights as well. They are fantastic & easy here. I also have a couple more in my front yard. I have had to restrain from planting too many because they get so big. I know they have little lime too. But in that size range I would rather plant a shrub rose. My plan for the limelights was to let them grow for a few years and then add on to the front of the bed with smaller, drift or veranda type roses. I know I've posted these on the other thread, but here they are again. Not quite in full bloom This was the row last year. They have gotten a lot bigger! So have the columnar hornbeams. @skippy - hydrangeas would do well for you. Just make sure you get ones that bloom on new wood. They are very cold hardy plants. Other go to companion plants I have are coneflowers, daylillies, iris, heliopsis, crocosmia & hardy hibiscus. They are all easy, low maintenance & cold hardy. I love the coneflowers because they have so many varieties, colours and sizes from 1 to 3 feet high.

Perhaps your shelf idea could work along the porch in the back. Okay, I just reviewed your pictures and that probably won't go . You could use 2 New Dawn back there but I would not put them at the ends, but rather near the middle because they will grow in both directions. Unless one at the end could grow towards the side of your house then you could have one on the end and 1 in the middle. That would be it for New Dawn. I have six of them and they get large. You could use them possibly in the front of the house also at either end. In fact that might be very nice with two at the very end of your house side and using the other New Dawn in the middle of your back porch. Then you could use the Austin's next to your door or at the ends of your enclosed porch. I would just stick with annuals until you see how large these are. Unless your bed is very deep you won't be able to accommodate much else with new dawn. I'm sure people will come up with some excellent solutions for attaching these to your house. Usually you drill into the mortar not the actual brick. The new dawn will look gorgeous next to your brick. Look up pictures of Monttisfont Abbey to see a beautiful brick wall with roses growing up it.

I have not purposefully planted tomatoes in my rose garden. However, some seeds must have sprouted from the compost that I placed in the garden. The tomatoes took off and looked great probably because of the fertilizer. Though I ended up having to yank them out because they were chili thrip magnets and caused the chili thrips to get on the roses. I do not need any encouragement for CT's it is bad enough without encouragement. Now it might be better in the fall when the CT's are not quite so awful. I wanted not to have to spray this year. I am trying to use the the banker plants and the good mites to come. While the good mites can handle the pepper which are banker plants, tomatoes were NOT recommended to be used as banker plants. I am wondering if it has to do with the back of the leaves being to hairy and the mites get caught in them. Also, here in Florida we have a new kind of imported white fly that is HORRIBLE and tomatoes are one of the plants that acts as a host to the imported fly. So my tomatoes are moved way off to the edge of the property where I can spray and not hurt my beneficials. Has anybody ever planted strawberries in the rose garden.... I was wondering if they would work.... not so much for beneficials, but as a ground cover because my ground dries out. I can dump tons of leaves (not composted) every fall and spring to help hold the water. I dump about 12 inches thick but they are grounded up, but after a couple of months in the summer they are pretty well gone. Where I have planted annuals the ground seems to hold more moisture, but I can't find anything that lasts through my summers. The annuals die out.