I'm prepared to acknowledge that my little patio garden is really a rose garden with other plants growing to make the roses look good. Admitting that (& forgiving myself the necessary sin of growing roses in pots!), I ask you: what do you love growing under (in, amongst) your roses?

(I tried this in the containers forum & got the wonderful babysbreath suggestion -- but I want more! What's your best spillers & fillers?)

Thanks, as always!

I used to grow irises between my roses, but they didn't really appreciate all of the watering the roses needed.

Perennials didn't work for me because they got so big that they'd obscure or overwhelm the roses.

I prefer to grow annuals and some very small and slow-growing perennials in my rose beds, such as Anagallis, Catananche, Salpiglossis, Schizanthus, Nemophila, Verbena, Nigella, Malcolmia, Clarkia, Cosmos, Allysum, poppies, forget-me-nots, and small pelargoniums.

Oooh! You knew I wanted a list of flowers to look up, check out, find out everything I can about, compare, & contemplate! Am I obsessed? Oh yes! Happily so!

What do I grow amongst my roses?? Hmmm....lets see. Daylilies, ornamental grasses, veronicas, lamb's ears, foxglove (when I can get it to grow), bunny tail grass, lilies, clematis....sometimes some annuals like Ammi majus, didiscus, snapdragons etc.

I, alas, grow mostly weeds.

Welcome @Gilli!
@Porkpal Funny!

I sat in the back of a meeting the other day looking up Zuzu's plants - nope, schzithanus doesn't love my hot dry summers; ooh forget-me-nots...

Yesterday I bought marigolds in the Desert! I'm happy to garden the cliche & stick 'em in w roses & herbs!

Your favorite trailing flowering plant? Extra points if it smells pretty!

Most of my roses are in mixed beds, but the main bed with my hybrid teas has Homestead Purple verbena as a ground cover. One part has 'Kit Kat' nepeta.
I've tried annual alyssum and petunias, portulaca and purslane. One hot dry years, the petunias die. On wet years, the purslane and portulacas die. I never know which kind of year we'll have, so that's why I've gone to using verbena. It's hardy to zone 6, even though some of the literature still insists zone 8.
The verbena works because the dark purple blooms blend well with any color rose, in my opinion.
The bed is edged with iris, so I have color early in the season while roses are still bare. There's a few lilium in there too. It's a trick to water the roses and not the iris and lilium, and to keep the mulch from getting on the iris.
Hope that helps you!

Most of my roses are planted so closely together that I could never grow anything between them. But in the Southside Rose Garden they are not planted as closely. I have spring bulbs planted there and lilies.

Thank you JulieB.

I grow a lot of stuff under roses. It all depends on the location, as far as what I choose. To put it in perspective, I asked my husband what he thought my garden theme was. His answer was a rose garden....since he always buy at least 6 hybrid teas for my B-Day in May. Most are not hardy here and I treat them as annuals. The kid says "Did he not see the petunias!" and the neighbor, who loves to cook says I have a wonderful herb & veggie garden

I've done containers with Hybrid Teas on their own, with an assortment of herbs, with Creeping Jenny (green is better than lime with a rose) draped over and also some...you guessed it petunias for an exciting color combo

I have a couple of container beds that are typically color themed and usually have at least 6 roses in the group (including mini's). One container bed is dedicated to roses each year with smaller pots of coleus, wax begonias, mimulas and other "shade lovers since the roses will shade the smaller pots/plants for the front NW facing direction of the bed.

In the flower beds, the Roses get the best sunny spot and share the area with many perennials, lilies, irises, shrubs etc.

If your question is truly under and not beside, then consider how much your rose will shade the companions at different seasons and choose something that suits in height, direct sun exposure and as Zuzu mentioned, moisture requirements.
I have some spectacular early spring full sun perennials that disappear once the roses leaf out and fill the area. Most of my border plants in the beds are annuals

Hope this helps.

Stay tuned with the gardening ideas: I have an article about using annuals with a color theme and as mentioned, every direction has a rose in the mix. Also doing an article on roses in containers for Rose week and will share my experiences

Here's some pictures of my garden
The thread "July 23 @ Joannabanana's" in Garden Photos forum

JulieB said:

Your favorite trailing flowering plant? Extra points if it smells pretty!

I got some of this last year and it worked really well for me in hanging baskets. I'm not ready to call it my favorite but it smelled good
http://www.mischelsgreenhouses...

I thoroughly enjoyed your article on color themes & annuals @joannabanana! It, like this, gave me plants to look up, ideas to contemplate.

My little container garden here on the patio is most definitely a rose garden -- with herbs & some veggies & pretty flowers that smell nice. I was simply curious what others grow in, with, under, and around their roses.

You guys are swell & so helpful!

Oh yumm, tomatoes fresh from the garden.

I only have one tomato plant (I added a cherry tomato seedling to the pot anticipating the end of my one plant's growing season which seems now nowhere in sight! It's flowering again!) and two or three little tomatoes ripen every day. So now I'm the crazy old lady giving away vegetables! And loving it! Do you like peas, little boy?

Those look great! What is the variety? I grew a variety last year T&M seeds called Hundreds & Thousands. It had tiny current size tomatoes and great taste. The plant was small and did well in and hanging basket.

All the cherry tomato plants I have ever grown have been HUGE, but they keep producing throughout the summer when all the other tomato plants have fried. I would love to have some small enough to share space with the roses.

I now take care of my mother's roses. Here they are on 5-30-12



In the Fall of 2012 we had the basement walls waterproofed. Here are Mom's roses then !






Here they are after that mess was over with. I removed the lawn area and added three yards of yummy compost & garden soil.






Here they are 4-30-13









5-28-13 Tulips out, Begonias Cannas in, one new red Knock Out Rose bush in the front corner and 5 tomato plants next to the red picnic table.






On 6-25-13 added about a dozen Red Zinnias from seed. Little did I know what the Cannas would do !
























06-27-13

Potted Giant Mandevilla against the house, Cannas getting bigger by the day and Zinnias look like their growing now too. Maybe I did to much...... Nah



07-16-13

Zinnias blooming, Cannas still taller, Mandevilla almost at gutter......Oh no !


9-30-13

The are roses in there ..somewhere . Tomato plants, Morning Glory, & Mandevilla have grown up fishing line to the gutters . Mandevilla at eleven feet. I can still get to any spot in this bed, but you'd never find me !








10-24-13

Snow storm !










This year Tulips, Tomatos, Red Zinnas and Begonias again while the Cannas will live elsewhere.

Fabulous job you did there Allan!

Thanks Rita

BTW I have 3 large Rubbermaid storage bins full of Canna tuburs in my basement and I have no idea where I'll put them. Last Spring all of them would fit in a shoebox. I might be out a 3am planting them randomly about the neighborhood !