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Home > In the Garden > Late Summer Roses

Perennial Companions

A rose garden is a beautiful sight when everything is in bloom. Right now, roses reign supreme in our gardens. They command full attention when they are in full bloom. However, most roses aren't "everblooming." They take a break between blooms, or they may bloom just once in early summer. Perennials are great at filling voids between blooms.

Perennials also add more variety to your gardens. A garden full of roseseven lots of different typescan become more interesting when perennials are intermingled with the roses. Perennials come in many different shapes, sizes and colors that can help add more textural interest to your rose gardens. So, while focusing on roses in a garden, your eyes may suddenly be drawn to a different leaf, color or flower form offered by perennials. This adds the elements of surprise and delight to your garden.

Where to Start

So you want to start adding perennials to your garden, but you're feeling unsure about what will match with what. And you want to go by the book. Well, first it helps to understand the basics of design, then just dive in and plant anything that pleases you and does well in your garden.

You can also get lots of ideas and inspiration from other gardeners and public display gardens. If you see a combination of color and form that you like, examine the planting closely so you can recreate it or something like it in your own garden.

A great way to get started with adding perennials into your gardens is to visit plant sales held by garden clubs. The quality of the plants is usually really great and the prices are very reasonable. And, you're sure to get lots of opinions and advice about the plants from the garden club members.

What to Plant

I haven't found a sun-loving perennial yet that didn't go well with roses. I'm sure there are some really nasty, invasive perennials out there, but so far I've avoided most of those. And, if you have a shady corner in your rose garden, your plant pallet increases to include all the shade-loving perennials.

We all have favorite perennials, so include those in with your roses and see how they look. If the combination doesn't quite work, don't hesitate to rearrange the plants. It's sort of like rearranging furnitureit takes a little sweat, but it's usually fun and the results can be very gratifying.

Color

Remember the color wheel that shows complimentary and contrasting colors? If you want a guide to help you arrange color combinations, follow the color wheel concept. You can learn more about this on our rose garden design page.

If you're intimidated by trying to figure out how to get perennial color from spring to fall, here's a quick trick. Visit your favorite, local garden center every two weeks and buy what's in bloom that they are promoting. Be a little cautious with that trick in the spring, though. Sometimes garden centers will force early bloom from plants so that anxious gardeners can get their blossom fix as soon as the snow melts. Otherwise, this trick works pretty well for ensuring that there's always something in bloom in your garden from spring to fall.

Plant Selections

Here's a list of some of the perennials we've been happy to have in our rose gardens:

Achillea	comes in different colors and likes to spread.
Astilbe	prefers slight shade and/or moist soil.
Campanula	tall or short, blue or white, these are great additions.
Cimicifuga	late blooming.
Coreopsis	reliable everbloomer.
Daylilies	lots of colors and sizes, but some can spread a bit too much.
Delphinium	a must in a rose garden, but be sure to give them support.
Dianthus	lots of size and colors. True cottage garden plants.
Echinacea	reliable plant that self seeds.
Foxglove	another traditional rose companion. Likes to self seed.
Gypsophilia	white and airy. A good filler plant.
Helichrysum	reliable bloomer.
Herbs	lots of colors, fragrance and textures.
Lilies	roses are queens, but lilies are garden orchids.
Lupine	old fashioned, early bloomers that like to self seed.
Monarda	way cool, but way invasive. Put in a spot where it can spread.
Nepeta (catmints)	blues are a must with pink roses.
Perovskia	late blooming, tall, interesting plant.
Platycodon	fun source of tall blues and whites.
Scabiosa	good edging plant.
Stachys (Lamb's Ears)	another good edging plant, but can be invasive.
Veronica	more blues and whites on spiky flowers. Reliable.

If you have the room, give extra space between your roses and fill it up with perennials. Don't be afraid to try new things. Have fun! And, if you don't like the plants you put in, your gardening friends might like them and you can have your own plant swap every spring.