Pretty plant. I don't know that I have anything unusual...I do have lots of Hostas in with the roses and a few Azaleas. People tell me they should not be there because after all they should have their own shade garden or something. They look happy enough to me.

Synchronicity. This Potentilla recently appeared as a volunteer in my garden and I was wondering what it was. Thanks for identifying.

Diane

pokeweed!

Comfrey!

Phlomis fruticosa which I think is called Jerusalem sage(?), which is near the roses but not actually among them. Its flowers are very fragrant and it's very drought-tolerant. Anything delicate and unusual quickly commits suicide in my hot, dry garden.

Ingrid

A fern that grows wild in the orange groves. It's a climber, and I have it on a fence behind some roses. It's gorgeous in rose bouquets. I have no idea what the name of it is. It reminds me of asparagus. I've seen it sold dried in craft shops.

I did have an elderberry in one of my beds. It was quite pretty, but then it started to take over the world and had to be removed.

Just one? OK: Poliomintha longiflora (second picture down at the link). The lavender pink of the flowers varies from tinged deeper to tinged silvery depending on the age of the blossom, and sorts wonderfully well with the color range of old roses. Add to this the plant's nice scent and non-invasive, amiable habit of growth, and you've got a winner!

Here is a link that might be useful: Poliomintha longiflora etc.

That's very pretty, Odinthor. I wonder if it would grow down here. One thing I do have is well-draining soil.

I love pretty much any Yucca and grow a lot of different species and varieties, but most are not practical as companions for roses. Yucca filamentosa, in its many forms, seems to work, accepting the conditions the roses grow in and not being overly invasive or large.

Yucca "Bright Edge" is in front here. This is a bed of younger roses, mostly not in bloom at the moment, who can hardly be seen because of the crowd of "companions". Gruss an Coburg is visible on the right, Mrs. Oakley Fisher on the left. In there somewhere are Lady Hillingdon, Lemon Spice, and Lundy's Lane Yellow.
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Plain old Yucca filamentosa in front of Mme. Antoine Mari.
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Another clone of Yucca filamentosa (U.C. Berkeley Botanical Garden) with last remains of Ulrich Brunner's flush in the back and Rose du Roi of commerce, non-blooming, to the right. Blue bells are Adenophora potaninii.

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I also like shrubby thyme species and relatives: Thymus capitatus, T. mastichinum, and this one, Satureja thymbra (I think). Very tidy edger and extremely memorable scent.
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Debbie

Yucca does look great around roses. Around here, gardeners tend to turn their noses up at it because it's one of those plants you see in places where nobody gardens--like a clump of cannas near the garbage, or self-sown albizia (mimosa) tree, My one rose gardening acquaintance looked shocked when I told her about Jekyll's love for the lowly Yucca in her great mixed borders. It's funny how much our unexamined prejudices about the "right" plants informs our garden choices.

Borage! It's an herb that blooms a beautiful sky blue color and looks fabulous with pink roses. Don't plant it though if you mind volunteers. I planted a packet of seed 10 years ago and it has reseeded itself reliably every year. I just pull out the extras when I'm weeding in spring.

Ha, I have borage as well Anne! Its a beautiful little flower.

Hey, catspa! Thymus capitatus would have been the second plant I'd have mentioned! (What's more, I also like T. mastichinum; and I ordered seed of Thymbra just a few days ago. Satureja montana is very good, too.)

Ironweed (Vernonia in various species). It's a weed here and I had to buy it. It just would not transplant.

Cath

Catspa beautiful garden!

I didn't get around to it, but this year I wanted to plant Lobelia and Alyssum under the roses. Is that unusual?

Okay, Satureja montana is now on the list, Odinthor -- haven't tried that one yet! These tough little mint-family shrubs are just the thing for droughty edges. The harsher the conditions, the healthier and more aromatic they become. Thymus mastichina (corrected name -- my error earlier) is one of my favorite scented plants of all time, but responds the worst to coddling. My best, longest-lived plant (about 7 years) is in a terrible site on the outskirts of Mrs. B.R. Cant on a hillside. In better beds, it's been very fickle and often dies out, though it reseeds enough to keep a few plants around. I think you will love the Savory of Crete (Satureja thymbra) -- bees adore it. The honey, I am thinking, must be divine. These little shrubs don't put on a "big show"; they are just constant quiet pleasures.

The species of Opuntia, or prickly pear cactus, another great love of mine, are in the same boat of scorn as the Yuccas, even though the flowers of some (O. humifusa, for one) are astoundingly beautiful. It is odd what makes one plant considered high-class and another a weed or not flower-garden worthy. Pokeweeds are actually quite handsome and Potentilla erecta is, after all, just a little rose (in the Rosaceae). Rinaldo's point that a plant comes to a new area without the baggage of prejudice and familiarity and is appraised for itself with new eyes is probably right on. I am always amazed at the number of common California wildflowers and weeds the English converted into garden treasures long before any Californian thought of doing so.

Thanks, Altorama!

I don't think oxalis get much respect either, but I love them. I have some purple in another bed that have pale pink flowers; below there are some reddish brown ones that play off the colors of the euphorbia with the lime green bracts and a Davidii viburnum which you can't see.

Another combination I really am starting to like is lady's mantle with a purple hardy geranium climbing through. I have a yellow potentilla that seeds itself everywhere; it is very pretty, I agree. catspa, I love your garden pics! Gean

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A fairly new one for me is Blue porterweed. It loves the heat and it's been reported that butterflies love it. The little spikes of intense blue/purple color look great with roses. It's a reseeding annual, but I use so much mulch only a couple came up this spring and I had buy a few plants in 4 in. pots.

I'm loving all these ideas. I don't know why I haven't thought of planting Mexican oregano among the roses.

Here is a link that might be useful: Blue porterweed is the 8th picture down ...

Living in Australia, and working in Australian plant nursery, I've been experimenting with planting natives under my roses. I have Correas, Kangaroo Paws, loads of different grasses(my favourites are the Poas), Scaevolas for their pretty blue/purple flowers, and the one I'm most interested to see what it looks like as it grows is the 'Slender Velvet Bush', Lasiopetalum baurii. I think the fine grey foliage would look beautiful under the roses.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lasiopetalum baurii

Bell peppers. I love Yuccas but they are in the dry areas of the garden, places far to dry for roses.

Catspa and Roselee, I love both your gardens. I'm enjoying this thread; I see a lot of folks are thinking along the same lines as myself.
Aromatic subshrubs in the mint family (Lameaceae, ex Labiatae): I'm trying to fill up my beds in considerable part with these. There are many different thymes, all desirable; ornamental sages, but also common culinary sage is handsome, and for me it seeds; Satureja, Nepeta, Perovskia, Micromeria, Santolina, Artemisia (some of these are invasive), Agastache, and on a larger scale rosemary and that queen of aromatic subshrubs lavender. Ingrid is right about Phlomis. I have a friend who went mad for it and collected every kind he could find; and then he gave me cuttings of them all. Foliage can be gray-green or yellow-gray-green and the flowers are brilliant yellow. The form and texture of the leaves as well as their color contrast well with other aromatic plants and with roses, and they're not bothered by heat or drought. My oldest plants have turned into substantial subshrubs: think of the dimensions of a lavender.

Thanks Melissa. I'm lovin' all the suggestions. Another companion plant that might be classed among the unusual is pigeon berry, a perennial wild flower in the lower US. I have it growing in several places in the garden and love how it is happy to grow in the shade of roses and send up its delicate pink flowers and red berries through the foliage of low growing roses all season long. It has a carrot like root to store moisture so it's very drought tolerant. Like most wildflowers it will seed itself around, but is easy to pull where it's not wanted.

Here it's growing under The Fawn ...
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Here is a link that might be useful: Rivina humilis (pigeonberry)