I'm not sure where sunset zone 9 is. Must be in the foothills? or far northern CA. SF area is zones 14-17 so colder than there, which is where I used to live. White alyssum self seeds normally. People use that a lot around roses in NorCal, along with CA poppies. Lobelia is good too in places where summer is not too hot for them to take full sun. Ajuga may not take the summer sun, plus the roots are pretty invasive for around roses. Ditto for any of the vincas, not good companions. Dianthus and hardy geraniums will certainly take the summer sun. Dianthus works well here, but down there I remember it being prone to root rot and being short lived. Some geraniums can be too invasive for roses, with thick dense shallow root mats similar to vinca and ajuga. Stachys can be nice where it's off to the side, not getting constant water. Bowles Mauve wallflower will get too tall where you are, and it's very short lived. The african daisies will be good though, also the nemophila, erigeron, helianthemum and lithodora. Phlox won't do well in your area probably. I remember it being prone to root rot. Does well up here in cooler summers with extremely well drained soil. I remember using a lot of erigeron karvinskianus with roses - it was called Santa Barbara daisy in the SF area. For some reason no one grows it around here. I've tried thymes around roses, but they root too tightly and shallowly to work well. You can't cultivate through them to work in fertilizer. I have used sedums in some spots with mini roses, but the sedums turned out to be too invasive! not bothered by the water, but then I was using sedums native to the Olympic Mtns. Aphid attractors - not all aphids are created the same. Those that attack roses tend to be pretty specific to roses and the stone fruit trees they overwinter on, like plums. I don't believe that the aphids attracted to that list of herbaceous plants in the list above will also attack roses. I never liked the catmint everyone planted with their roses in the SF area. Got too big and rangy and woody. But, if there's a reliably low cultivar like people are posting, that would be worth trying.

Ditto on recommending the Kordes Fairy Tale series. These are actually shrub roses rather than classic floribundas, and some of them will make a bushy 5 x 4' plant. 'Caramela Fairy Tale' is one such, and it is very disease resistant. The flowers are sumptuous. If you want easy-care roses in Toronto, the main concern is resistance to blackspot disease. Despite claims you may find in garden books, most floribundas are no more resistant than typical hybrid tea roses. Their genetic background is mostly hybrid tea, and they differ mainly in having smaller flowers in clusters. A few of the very early Poulsen floribundas from the 1930s are more resistant, but most floribundas from the 1950s-90s are not resistant. I can recommend the old red Kordes rose 'Eutin', but otherwise you need to look for quite recent roses bred by breeders that are prioritizing disease resistance, such as Kordes, Radler, and Lim. 'Home Run' is a true red one by Radler. In other words, the classification "floribunda" is not at all a reliable guide to choosing easy-care roses. This post was edited by michaelg on Thu, Sep 5, 13 at 16:29

I go through this dilema every fall. In the "old" days you weren't supposed to deadhead prior to a month (at least) of the average hard freeze. In theory that translates into no deadheading after october 1st. But that means that the best weather for growing roses here (fall) is almost totally eliminated as September can still be hot and the roses not at their best yet. Of course all these musings don't seem to matter to the roses as they continue to sprout new growth regardless of the "rules". I'd say to go ahead and deadhead, just don't prune down as low as you would in spring. You don't want any major new canes to emerge this late in the year.

townhouserOnt - I have had the same query and have found a great plant...Garden Chives or Allium schoenoprasum. Not only does it come quickly in the spring, bloom in just a week from now, or so, and not get ratty or invasive, has lovely pink-rose-colored2" balls of flowers (of course in the Allium Family), and it repels insects that may want a bite of your roses. They are a pretty perennial plant, and you can eat them to your heart's content (no spraying needed), and you're doing your part in the IPM management of your garden! Roses can also get bare around ground level during the season, and I have found they mask this area and look great all year. Hope this helps you in making your choice. Best, PP