Cultivating companion plants with roses: Ideas for a flourishing garden
Roses, with their captivating shapes, vivid colors, and enchanting scents, are a cherished addition to many gardens. However, their blooming season can be brief. Combining roses with other plants can not only showcase their beauty but also extend the season of interest in your borders.
Cultivating a variety of plants alongside roses not only offers a stunning display but promotes a healthy ecosystem. These companion plants attract beneficial insects that prey upon pests, and some are even said to assist in preventing diseases such as rose black spot and rose powdery mildew.
Today, numerous rose gardens, traditionally overflowing with roses in dedicated beds, now incorporate spring bulbs, biennials, perennials, grasses, and even shrubs for added vibrancy. This diverse combination provides color before the roses bloom, accentuates their beauty during midsummer, and offers further color and structure once the roses have faded.
Spring Bulbs
Roses, pruned in winter and often appearing rather barren, can be under-planted with a succession of spring bulbs such as snowdrops, crocus, grape hyacinths, early-flowering tulips, and late-flowering tulips. This ensures a continuous display of color before the roses begin to bloom.
Alliums
The allium, a perennial member of the onion family, offers year-round resilience and violet, globe-like flowers that pair beautifully with early roses. Alliums are said to deter aphids and even strengthen the scent of roses.
Erysimum 'Bowles's Mauve'
The perennial wallflower, Erysimum 'Bowles's Mauve', blooms in spring and continues through summer, making an excellent foil for white, pink, crimson, or red roses. It continues to flower for the rest of the year, offering additional interest after the roses have faded. Regular deadheading ensures the best results.
Lilies
Most lilies come into flower just as the first flush of roses is beginning to wane. Tall, blowsy Lilium regale boasts beautiful, white, pink-flushed flowers with a delightful fragrance. It also makes a stunning cut flower.
Foxgloves
White, pink, and purple foxgloves peak in midsummer, coinciding with rose blooming times, and their spire shapes contrast beautifully with roses. The peachy foxglove 'Sutton's Apricot' looks particularly lovely with creamy, pink, or crimson roses.
Hardy Geraniums
Roses look lovely under-planted with hardy geraniums. Purple-blue geraniums like 'Rozanne' complement many rose colors, while pale-pink Geranium x oxonianum 'Wargrave Pink' appears especially pretty with crimson roses such as 'Darcey Bussell'.
Salvias
Salvias, with their array of colors, make excellent partners for roses, offering long-flowering periods and striking spire shapes that contrast beautifully with roses. They also attract a multitude of beneficial insects and are said to help keep mildew and blackspot at bay.
Verbascums
Verbascums commence flowering in May and continue well after roses have finished blooming. They come in a range of colors, including yellow, white, and peachy orange (such as 'Clementine'). Their tall spires offer a striking contrast to roses.
Nepeta
Nepetas form a blue carpet and look particularly effective with pink, crimson, red, and even yellow roses. Nepeta 'Six Hills Giant' can be quite vigorous, so if space is limited, consider Nepeta racemosa 'Walker's Low'. They attract numerous pollinators, particularly bees and hoverflies.
Penstemons
Penstemons not only complement roses - they also extend the display well into autumn. In shades of purple, pink, crimson, or white, they look lovely with apricot, cream, and pink roses.
English Lavender
English lavender, especially the dark purple-blue 'Hidcote', looks gorgeous with apricot, pink, crimson, or red roses. When not in bloom, it offers neat mounds of fragrant, evergreen foliage.
Clematis
Late-flowering clovers make ideal planting partners for climbing roses, particularly rambling roses, which flower only once in summer. Depending on the varieties you grow, you could have your rose and clematis blooming together or the clematis blooming after the rose has finished, extending the season of color to your pergola or arch.
Other plants to grow with roses include alchemilla mollis, campanulas, grasses such as Stipa tenuissima, Gaura lindheimerei, asters, and more.
By carefully selecting the right companion plants, you can create a visually stunning, healthier, and more resilient rose garden.
A home-and-garden enthusiast may cultivate English lavender and penstemons alongside roses, as they complement rose colors and extend the display deep into autumn. Furthermore, the diverse addition of plants such as Erysimum 'Bowles's Mauve', alliums, and hardy geraniums can provide a continuous floral display, promoting a healthy ecosystem by attracting beneficial insects and deterring pests.
