I have them together and they seem to do fine. In fact this year they bloom together and it was spectacular. I do have to dig up and divide the irises now. I don't relish doing that in this heat.

We do.
We grow Irises in the spaces between roses. The water isn't an issue, since our water distribution is very localized.
IOW, the Iris don't get much of the roses water.

Jeri

I have a mix of interplanted irises and hybrid teas growing together with no problem. The lush green leaves of the irises fills in the gaps down low where the leaves are sparse on the roses, and the strong stems of the roses help hold the irises up. The colors can be made to coordinate very nicely indeed. The bed is only a year old and has not fully filled in yet, so I am able to individually mulch the roses. I would expect that as the Irises grow larger their foliage will shelter the roots of the roses from the sun, providing some of the moisture-retaining function of a mulch. So far, it seems like a win-win combination, a delight to both the eyes and nose.

Rick

Thanks so much, everyone, that was fast. I'm going to try it. Most of my roses are planted where I water locally; i.e., by me with the hose or sprinkling can, so I can control it to some extent. Some are too close to put iris in there, but the new bed has lots more room between the roses.

Does anyone fudge on the sun requirements for iris which I was told is 6 hours? Some of my roses don't quite get that but do well enough anyway but don't know about the iris. Some of it I will have to find out by just trying it.

It's probably easier to move irises than roses :-).

It sounds like a win/win and pretty besides.

My irises grow in morning sun and do just fine. You might want to consider a good repeating iris like Immortality. They require more water and fertilizer to repeat anyway and they will get that next to a rose. No, I have not seen my Immortality repeat yet.

Eric, that is gorgeous, almost makes me wish I had a chain link fence because so much can climb on them.

predfern, I've got about 2 or 4 Immortality and a few more blue and white combo ones on order for fall shipment. I'll just mulch the roses and hope I can keep up with the weeding/watering.

4 hours, that gives me more latitude. If they don't repeat, at this point that is the least of my worries.

Thanks a bunch, all.

I do grow a few bearded iris in my rose garden, but my real favorites are Siberian or Japanese iris. The siberians come in many shades of real blue. They both require mulching and more water than beardeds.

Aliska,

I'm pretty sure you already know this, but in addition to no mulch, bearded irises like to be planted very shallowly. Our rhizomes are actually visible, with the top half above ground, you may be better off covering them a little to avoid heaving in the winter. Of the rose-specific amendments, the one that could cause rotting would be too-fresh manure (if you top-dress your roses with manure?). Poor drainage is also a problem and not enough sun. We planted 3 cultivars in front of a short stone wall and one year the slugs chewed them so badly that one did not flower at all. Replanted in a south-facing open bed with roses, they have been doing much better with no particular care. Our varieties (including Princess Caroline) do not repeat but there are varieties that do.

Princess Caroline di Monaco with Kazanlik:

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Andalou with columbines (this one smells of lemon cake!!!)

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MayBee

I use mostly SDB, BB, IB, MTB, and MDBs to border my garden beds. I have some TB, siberian, japanese,louisiana, and spuria planted in spaces between the roses. Can I provide perfect growing conditions with this mixture? Probably not. Do I have visual displays which please me? Definitely.

Even though it can be hard to see where one ends and the other begins. I like the impact of "Butter on Ice" iris planted in either side of "Carefree Sunshine" Rose.

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MayBee - I love Andalou!

Kathy

I added three Siberian Iris to the blue and yellow bed this spring. I know nothing about their care, but love the rich blue blooms. One of the reasons I chose them was the foliage, which is said to remain attractive throughout the season.

Veilchen, how do I grow these things? They show no signs of bloom so far. Foliage is growing and looks spiffy!

What I found was that the roses shaded out the iris too much. Here, at least, the iris require a lot more sun than roses if they aren't going to flop all over the place, and ended up being moved to a bed in the sunniest place I could find. It's bearded iris, and one rose, R. spinossisima.

Siberians do fine in a perennial bed with roses, which I what I pretty much have. Japanese prefer acidic soil, which I don't have, and are generally much fussier.

I've had considerable success growing Reblooming Bearded Irises with Roses. I got around the moisture requirements by building earthen rings (also known as rose wells) around the base of the roses. That way I can water the roses while leaving the irises dry. Favorite reblooming bearded irises include CLARENCE (blue), IMMORTALITY (white) and JENNIFER REBECCA (lilac pink). The first two repeat bloom well but the third not so much (I grow it for the color). All are wonderfully fragrant. You haven't lived until you've smelled the achingly sweet perfume of bearded irises blended with the piercing freshness of roses.

Image of Iris Jennifer Rebecca by RShadow at Hortiplex.

Immortality is a great rebloomer but its a shorty, plant it in front of the roses so it won't be hidden. Harvest of Memories is a tall yellow that reblooms reliably (it bloomed 3x annually in coastal NC, I'm waiting to see how often it blooms here).

And I love your rose-iris combo, Kathy, really COOL! What's the fragrance like on Butter On Ice? I find half the joy of the bearded irises is those incredible scents!!!

MayBee

So inspiring what some of you have done. You would have to post another pretty yellow rose! I love your Princess Caroline (not addressing people by name here) and hope mine will do something or will try some fresh ones somewhere else, don't know where. That rosy pinkish lavenderish one is gorgeous. Please don't tempt me lol! I've got 2 butter yellow siberians? in the fridge and 30 liatris which I've just lost the energy to deal with. I really wanted eremeus(sp?) and don't know where to put those. Sometimes I order too much little fill in stuff and waste things, but did get 3 roses in the ground yesterday and odd jobs.

I see that it can be done, did well up the roses when I planted but had to retill parts and ruined some of that. Luckily I didn't overdo it with ordering iris and will see what happens before I go further with that, but thanks for showing me that some of you can make it work and answering questions I would have had to ask at some point re the blue siberians, want to try that, too, and want to find just the right blues. And I did know not to cover rhizomes, but it is hard to make myself not do it, they don't look right exposed, but I'd better listen or there will be another failure.

If I pull up soil to make new wells (I ruined some of the old ones by retilling for weeds and stepping on freshly tilled soil which leaves depressions where water will pool so that will mean hauling more topsoil to level it out.

Maybe I am making things too hard for myself. I'm retired and don't have the worries some of you have, but it's just me to do it all right now, and my energy levels sag after a day of hard work (for me) so have to ease up for a couple of days.

Harryshoe, be patient with the siberians, they do not like to be moved. Some of mine have taken three years from the time they were put into the ground until first bloom.

MayBee, Butter on Ice has a faint sweet smell, it is not the typical grape Kool-aid smell.

aliska12000, I'd like to say that Iris are a no-care plant, but they really need to be dug and divided every few years.

Kathy

As others have said, irises and roses go great together. Since bearded iris have to be divided about every 3 years anyway , they can easily be moved as the roses grow.

I'd like to say that Iris are a no-care plant, but they really need to be dug and divided every few years.

I guess I knew that. As a kid nothing got done with ours that were already there where we rented, the common purple ones, and they were nice and thick and bloomed well every year the whole time we lived there, about 8 years. I think maybe some people don't bother but it's probably not good for them to get too crowded. If mine only even get to that point . . .

There were the same kind here where I live now, I moved them, the soil must have one time been where cinders were dumped, they all died, plus I probably planted them too deep not knowing any better and didn't know to look for eyes or what they were.

Since bearded iris have to be divided about every 3 years anyway , they can easily be moved as the roses grow.

And find someplace else to put them again lol. I can always give them away.

If only some of my arrangements looked like what I'm seeing here. Sigh. Will give it some time and try to be patient.

Yes Harry, like Kathy says, sometimes they take a while to bloom after being moved or divided. I'm sure they'll bloom for you next year.

I have some ancient clumps of the common purple and white S. iris that are borderline nuisances because they grow so much bigger every year and need division constantly. But I started adding s. iris to my garden and bought some very nice named cultivars, and these don't seem to spread as fast. The 3rd year with the new irises I divided them to spread them around. They skipped blooming the next year, I was so disappointed. They are in bloom now.

Iris and roses grow well together. The photos demonstrate how visually stunning this duo can be. When the iris are finished for the season, carefully chosen daylilies will carry the torch into summer.

Are we not blessed to have so many beautiful companion plants for the rose?

Ann

". . If it is to be a rose-garden, do not choose those stunted, unnatural earth-loving strains, which have nothing of vigour and wildness in them, nor banish other flowers which may do homage to the beauty of a rose as courtiers to a queen. . . . " (Sir Geo. Sitwell)

*** I ran across this the other day, and Ann's comment called it back to my mind.

Jeri

I wonder what he had in mind as to other flowers. I see people posting with something pretty bluish purplish in the bg. I think if my perennial gypsophilia blooms, it will complement my roses nicely, but the front beds are pretty crammed. I've got a jumble of things, stargazer, aubaude, another red asian, unknown asian, coreopsis (not keen on it but practical), foxglove, canterbury bells (nice), that siberian wallflower that got too pushy, cut way back now, C Rooguchi (2), some Chinese forget-me-nots, two varieties of phlox mixed together, and what had better be the pink/lavender/blue-tipped form of lycoris squagimera, stuck in some white alyssum, one yellow freebie echinacea, what a jumble, eh?

If any iris go in, they will be the long strip at the back which is filling up and near my unknown once-bloomer out in the open I posted awhile back.

So far, I'm not having any luck with iris anyway, have gotten some pointers on the iris forum, wish I had room for a separate bed of just those.

Probably sage wisdom from the writer you quoted, his name isn't on this posting screen.

I think daisies would be perfect but just have one w/roses; others are in a bed where I don't want roses except Harison.

I wonder what he had in mind as to other flowers.

*** Judging from my recent ramblings through Graham Thomas, nothing whatsoever that I could grow in MY garden.
About the third: "EVERY garden must have . . . "
which I knew would go tennies up here in an instant, I darned near pitched the book across the room.

Jeri

Well, that is an ENGLISH garden I think, we are not in England, and spring is will nigh gone, so I guess we can darn well grow what we please and be prepared to face the consequences.

I don't necessarily recommend Asian or Longiforum lilies with roses, just wanted some so badly and have them in a spot by themselves toward the back. I liked the daylilies idea, but am weary of yellow Stella, and their bloom time is short but the foliage stays pretty neat and tidy. In one picture I saved of Jon's friend who also had a Mottisfont-inspired garden in ENGLAND, it was charming, brick wall in the bg, lots of pink fairy-like roses that almost twinkled, and the only other plant I recall was eremus which was marvelous. Maybe he didn't read the book? Another thing I liked about that garden was that there were areas of room between the plants, not all crammed together. It had a light, airy, pleasing look and your eyes drifted from one attraction to another and not have the whole thing jump in your face.

That guy on the island off the coast of Italy really has a handle on landscape design. Whether you get the formal training or not, it seems like somewhat of a gift to me, how he worked things in with the roses the main attraction.

I like iris with roses if I could get some to grow like in the pics people posted.

You should have pitched the book across the room, that is funny!

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Roses and Bearded Irises, in the Sacramento City Cemetery Historic Rose Garden

Jeri

I love your quote from Sir Geo. Sitwell, Jeri. And your photos are as gorgeous as always.

Let's not forget the daffodils which bloom while we are waiting for our iris ;-)

Kathy

Here is a link that might be useful: some of my daffodils