There ARE people, though, who are interested in Heirloom Irises, I've met some of them. This may be the same Iris which has long grown at the Adolfo Camarillo Ranch House, here in Camarillo. And it looks to be perfect for Old Roses. If you ever have some spare corms of it, I'd love one or two. One to keep, and one for the Stagecoach Inn Historic Rose Garden near here. Things like that are worth preserving and sharing. (And I love the color!) Jeri

thanks, Peachiekean. I am a little bit confused with the blueberries? Can they be companions of roses? Won't their roots interfere with those of the roses? How about forget-me-nots? They seem so beautiful. Does anybody grow them with roses. Dear Gary, I grow Old roses like Damasks: Ispahan, Mme Hardy and Kazanlak, Portland Jacque Cartier, Bourbons: Louise Odier and Mme Pierre Oger (sorry for wrong spelling), Austins Pat Austin, Graham Thomas; Lavender Dream, Alba Meilland (?), Jeanne d'Arc (from Netherlands), Magic Miracle and some Japanese HTs (Momoka, Yuka, Yumeka) and floribundas, also Blue Boy (I think), Niagara Falls which is a climber and climbing America. My plans are to see all of them bloomÂ@together with the other plants, especially the tree called Summer Camelia (Natsutsubaki) which is not a rose. I want to see my garden with many flowers. I have planted for the first time chrysanthemums, daisies, lilies, irises, safran, gladiols, so I hope they bloom. Yesterday I planted marigolds. I planted hyssop, geraniums and other herbs like salvia, thyme, camomile, lavender, lemon balm and mint. thanks for the ideas and advice. Hopefully I won't kill my plants. They are my medicine from depression.

Mulching and "ground cover" are rather conflicting propositions. Ground covers may keep the soil moister during hot weather...IF they aren't so massively rooted they rob all the nutrients and water from the soil. I use the petty spurge weed here as a "ground cover" because it self seeds all over; grows extremely vigorously; pulls easily when and where it isn't wanted; is toxic and gets tall enough to shade new, tender growth from too hot sun and hides it from the blamed "bunnies" who LOVE to eat the basals. The seeds exist in the soil naturally; they blow in on the wind and hitch hike on animals (and people) wandering through. It grows readily in any kind of mulch I put down and knocks itself off in late summer, when it's usually time to renew the mulch, by rusting. Then, I either bury it under new shredded stuff or pull it up and toss it on the weed piles in the paths to break down and keep me from stepping in mud after I water. It isn't "pretty" some of the time but it survives and does the trick. And, it costs me NOTHING. If you have a nice, dense, thick ground cover and you want to mulch, not only to conserve moisture but to add more organics to the soil as they digest, break down, you either have to pull up the ground cover or bury it. Something annual, like the alyssum, you can simply shake the removed plants over the areas you wish to inoculate with the seeds and it takes care of itself for you. Thyme would either be buried or you would have to replant it. Don't mess with the more invasive herbs such as oregano. That stuff is like a smelly Bermuda Grass. It escaped from one of my raised terraces where I had planted it for cooking and is as much a pest as the Matilija Poppy which escaped from a container I didn't get planted soon enough. Now, that monster is running all over and is due for some herbicide very shortly.. You also have to keep in mind that if you plant anything around or in your rose beds you may want to eat, any and everything you use on your roses will also be in or on what you intend to eat. I had a customer once who grew strawberries as the ground cover under her roses. She complained how oddly they tasted, never thinking the Bayer Systemic and other things she sprayed the roses with were in and on the berries. Some people just don't have a clue about these things. Another, years ago, complained how the Chrysler Imperial rose we sold here in the US wasn't the same she had grown in Israel where she previously lived. There, the petals added the rose water taste and scent to her cooking she enjoyed. Here, they were bitter tasting. I asked her if she was using systemics on the rose. Yup. Whatever you use for the roses will be in the rest of the plants, too. Kim This post was edited by roseseek on Sun, Mar 9, 14 at 16:40

Kay- It's good to know cleome can reseed. That was one thing I meant to ask. It sounds like a great plant with the roses! Woodyoak- Clematis is always beautiful with roses. I have two metal arches in the fairy garden. Purple clematis would be perfect :) Aimeekitty- Again, your garden is beautiful! I have lavender, but it's Hidcote lavender, which is much hardier here. Catmint and salvia do well here...maybe the penstemon, but I'm not sure about the others. I do envy you your star jasmine. I just love that stuff, so I buy two small bushes at Lowe's every spring (only about $5 each) and put them in big pots, surrounded by white petunias. If I ever get enough money for a sunporch....it will be for star jasmine and an orange tree!!! LOL