I can tell you what is common here, roses with lavender, clematis, salvia, and catmint. Lavender is probably the most favorite outdoor plant here, it is ubiquitous and in nearly every yard. Also you see many rose plantings with boxwood in the parterre style. In gardens, roses are trained as standards or bushes in neat groupings, it is very orderly. Everything is neatly labeled, and you get the impression that each variety is a specimen.

Some of the rose catalogs suggest fountain grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Hameln') and delphiniums with rose plantings. But I haven't seen this in real life anywhere.

The very first thing that went through my mind when I clicked on this thread, was that I have plenty of bermuda grass and nutsedge around my roses, but I sure don't like it. lol

The grasses etc. give a certain look which I don't really care for so I've never used them. What I do love to use is marjoram syriaca, which not only gives a lovely soft effect with clouds of white flowers for much of the year in my area but the bees also love it. It needs a haircut once or twice a year and that's about it. It looks great with roses or by itself. I have a row of them in a hot, narrow bed under a window where the sun beats down and reflects off the wall and it tolerates all that. It's a treasure that not too many people are aware of or grow.

Ingrid

I grow a lot of the clumping ornamental grasses with my roses. The biggest problem is giving the grasses enough space because some of the clumps don't only get huge faster than the roses, but they are deceptive until August when the suddenly the seed stalks spout even higher and the whole plant becomes top heavy and starts bending outward. Suddenly what was .5 meter wide and 1 m tall is now two meters wide and tall. Even the smaller grasses, like hedges, can triple in size. I planted a row of carex around a bed of polyanthas. By the second year it had buried my polyantha babies and by the 3rd year I had to take every other one out.

The other negative is cutting back the grasses, which should be done every year. And a wise old gardner told me they should really be burned down every five years.

But I love the look of grasses and they add a lot of interest, especially in the fall, and except for cutting them back, they are certainly low-maintenance.

We also grow clumping oramental grasses. They're water-thrifty (increasingly important) and make a nice contrasting texture. The ones we use never get very tall -- but that may have something to do with our dry climate. They're short, and feathery, and move gracefully in the sea breeze.

I have a yen for a classic urn in a light color, even fake limestone would do, filled with Muhlenbergia capitata set in my rose garden. A pair would be even better. This set up would avoid those huge clumps of grasses invading the roses and that in time require a chain saw to divide. It might even make the August sprawling manageable. Mine died in the garage its first and last winter. I may try again.

Cath

Yes, muhly grass was a seed fail for me this year but will have to try again. I do have anemanthele lessoniana, aka pheasant's tail grass, along with a few other stipas (all well-behaved grasses) which grow amongst the ground covering and species roses - 1 especially like to grow mutabilis as a tall perennial rather than a bushy shrub....but I am less keen on attempting grasses with the large gallicas, portlands or HMs since the clumpiness of the roses militates against the airy freeflow of grasses....and I also do not care to see large double rose blooms near the finer, looser grasses. The little millium,effusum, Bowles golden grass, looks well with hardy geraniums and foxgloves in a wilder part of the garden (that would be all of mine), growing well with sanguinea and Sophie's Perpetual (tall and twiggy chinas)......so yes, I do like to grow ornamental grasses with roses but avoid the larger pennisetums, miscanthus or arundos in favour of deschampsia, molinia or even calamagrostis (although not as keen on this upright plumey grass).

I grow lots of ornamental grasses among my roses, but my best advice is to stay away from any grass that may sprawl when large (i.e. large Miscanthus varieties). The uprights like calamagrostis and some of the panicums like 'Northwind' are the best neighbors. Search my blog for ornamental grasses and roses and you'll find some thoughts.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Musings blog.

One thing I try to plan is for my roses to be taller than any of their immediate neighbors. I am not using grasses in this garden, but if I was, that consideration would also apply.

:-)

~Christopher

I haven't met a grass yet that is nearly as vicious a spreader/occupier of space than some of my roses. So the large miscanthus are very useful as foils to the roses.

A lot of great responses so far, thanks everyone!

I like the idea of containing the rhizomatous spreading types by putting them in containers in the border. I've mostly been looking at varieties of Carex, Deschampsia, Festuca, Lagurus, Nasella, Muhlenbergia, and the aforementioned Achnatherum calmagrostis. I don't want any massive clumps, but I wouldn't mind a few ornamental grasses that were say 3-4' wide and the same or taller in height. Pampas grass isn't in my future, but some grasses are I think. Grasses would lend some much needed texture and variety to this area.

Jay

I have been digging out too-vigorous grasses that were planted with roses and spread too much into the roses. This includes miscanthus and carex (as well as nut sedge which is a weed) of several varieties. I don't like the look of it as much as I had expected I would either, and the grasses out-compete the roses and/or grow up through the canes making a tangled mess impossible to weed or mulch as well as an eyesore. I would recommend giving grasses their own space/beds apart from the roses if you want to grow them.

Grasses generally grow best with little water and little to no fertilizer. With generous amounts of these two, a grass will grow vigorously and become floppy or simply expand too fast.

Since roses like ample amounts of both water and fertilizer, you can see why some people struggle to keep the grasses from becoming too large when grown close to roses.

Carex are not true grasses, and do like more water. There are a huge number of varieties and some may be worth considering.

Miscanthus also likes a generous amount of fertilizer and water, but I can't imagine trying to divide it (every 3 yrs or thereabouts) amongst thorny roses. Its hard enough to divide when its on its own!

I am using Calamagrostis Karl Foerster as a backdrop in a circular bed. Looking good so far, as my roses are new and therefore short. Not sure if I will still like it when the straw coloured inflorescence form.

I grow a couple of blue oat grasses with one of my HTs.
I like the contrast as green can be sort of boring.

I think ornamental grasses look well with stone and gravel (not exactly an original idea) and I grow most next to rocky outcrops in my garden. I grow only one grass in a bed, the purple moor-grass Moorhexe that stays short (I hope!) near Madame Caroline Testout. I was given two plants and the other grows in gravel and if the one in the bed doesn't behave Iôll move it to the gravel bed, too.