Until the roses get big, try to keep the other plants from crowding them out. I have a cottage garden border, but the roses were large before the perennials went in. Now it is beautiful because the hibiscus, salvia, verbena, gladiolas, russian sage, and some other things are all crowded together around the roses.
Those roses WILL get big, they just need some sun and lots of elbow room until they get there.
One more thing, if the roses are at least 4 months old or so, you could probably throw some fertilizer in there to make them grow faster.

Thanks for the tip. I did feel that I should have let the roses grow and develop more before allowing so much growth around them. I am removing a lot of the plants in that bed, particularly the really tall ones like celosia spicata, crocosmia, south african foxglove, etc. These plants are very easy for me to replant next spring and that will allow my roses to "breath" easier. I do fertilize my roses 3 or 4 times a year and apply alfalfa tea as well, but I do have some problems with black spot and living in close quarters with other plants may be aggravating that. Thinning the beds out will also make it easier to apply some fresh mulch.

The advice is exactly right: be a bit more restrained while the roses are reaching maturity. And yes, clear the spent perennials away when they look tired.

Also, look carefully at the bloom time and reblooming potential of the companions. After the first great flush of roses and the companions that flower with them we cut and clear quite ruthlessly those 'early perennials' including many of the foxgloves, sissirinchiums, campanulas, geraniums, columbines, polemoniums etc. Many of these will quickly form fresh clumps of foliage and flower again before the Summer is finished. But also, make sure you have many later flowerers like asters, salvias, nicotiana, penstemons, lilies, late alliums etc which have been growing quietly in the background but can now take their place. You should be able to arrange for successions of plants to be coming to the fore through the whole season.

I know I'm mentioning plants that grow well here, and you may need to substitute your own favourites.

Best wishes
Jon

When we planted the Stagecoach Inn Heritage Rose Garden, in 1994, the roses were quite small --
and they sat out there surrounded by empty space.
We filled in the emptiness with salvias and thyme, lambs ears and artemisia, and particularly with irises.
Those plants filled in nicely, and the garden looked colorful, even tho it didn't much look like a ROSE garden.
In 2007, the roses are big, mature plants.
They now dominate the garden, and the things surrounding them compliment them.
It was a slow process, but it worked.

Here is what you need to do. Pull out any extra perennials and send them to me!

IMO you can't have a cottage garden without roses. I have the opposite problem, I have my roses and now I need to add companion plants.

I think your roses will do just fine, maybe better. I had to search in the tall grass for my new wichuranas I just planted in April. Actually one was partially covered but the one that was totally covered was in better shape and growth than the uncovered.

Meanwhile, I took some of my foxglove stalks, and shook the seeds out into one of those window box type planters. I now have possibly hundreds of seedlings. We will see what happens.

This is really pretty humorous. It's sorta like getting my coffee just right every morning. I pour the cream in...whoops, too much...add more coffee...darn, need more cream, etc., etc., etc. I will eventually get the right balance of roses and other plants. What really popped out at me from your responses: 1) remove plants when they are SPENT, and not wait till they are DEAD 2) be ruthless in clearing out plants and 3) be patient for roses to mature so they become the stars of the garden. It doesn't help that I keep going to plant swaps, bringing home more plants than I have room for. I must be, as advised above "restrained". Buford, of course, I'll be happy to send you some of my excesses.

It doesn't help that I keep going to plant swaps, bringing home more plants than I have room for.

*** AH! Simple solution!
Open up another area!

Jeri

After breathing in Jon's advice (yes, we grow all of them here: I just don't do it as well as you do)...Am I the only one who mixes small shrubs in my mixed borders to anchor and calm them down a bit? Judicious is the operative word because small and shrub are oxymorons. I mean in addition to perennials with lots of nice green to them in certain seasons to simplify. I use a small leafed euphorbia, Euphorbia seguieriana ssp. Niciciana, a couple of tiny hebes, a dwarf Polygala, Teucrium chamaedrys and Teucrium cossonii majoricum (smells like mothballs, actually), Agapanthus 'Peter Pan,' Rhaphiolepis indica 'Ballerina', Euonymus japonicus "Microphyllus' and my new favorite, Crowea 'Parry's Hybrid.'

I try to plant only clumping perennials adjacent to my roses, and since roses are everywhere, no spreaders allowed. It's enough to prune roses and cut back perennials, much less separate iris and lily bulbs. Besides, with drip irrigation, spreaders look disreputable after mid-June.

Oh yes, do use lots of small shrubs and "clumping perennials" in your cottage garden. Save the self-seeding annuals as accents. My grandmother's generation grew a lot of lillies and bulbs in their gardens-- much more easy to maintain.