Best Way to Mix Roses with Other Plants in Your Garden

For many years, roses have been grown on their own, in beds or trained along walls, but to make better use of space, as well as to create more interesting displays, they can be mixed superbly well with other plants.

Mix and matching shrub roses

Plant the species rose Rosa banksiae ‘Lutea’ (Lady Banks’s rose), which bears clusters of double, yellow flowers in late spring and early summer, where they contrast with the fragrant, mauve flowers of the deciduous climber Wisteria sinensis (Chinese wisteria).

Position the Modern Shrub Rose ‘Nevada’, with semi-double, creamy-white flowers, where blue-flowered delphiniums and campanulas can be mingled with it.

The Hybrid Musk ‘Buff Beauty’, with warm, apricot-yellow flowers borne in large trusses, looks superb when surrounded by light-blue, white and light-orange flowers. These can be provided by the lavender-blue flowered Nepetaxfaassenii (catmint) and Papaverorientate ‘Perry’s White’, a form of the Oriental poppy.

Cohabiting bush roses

Plant the pale yellow Hybrid Tea ‘Grandpa Dickson’ against a background ofthe deciduous Berberis thunbergii ‘Atropurpurea’, which has dark purple leaves. For added color, plant a collar of the half-hardy annual Nicotiana alata ‘Lime Green’, which has yellow-green flowers.

The buttercup-yellow Floribunda ‘Allgold’ creates an exciting feature when planted with the large-flowered Clematis ‘Countess of Lovelace’. It has deep lavender flowers from early summer to autumn; double flowers appear in summer, while single types show in late summer and into autumn.

Plant the vigorous Floribunda ‘Queen Elizabeth’, with cyclamen-pink flowers, against a background of a hedge formed of Taxus baccata (yew). The yew’s dark green leaves highlight the rose’s flowers.

Companions for ramblers and climbers

Plant the modern climber ‘New Dawn’, with silvery blush-pink flowers, so that the vigorous Clematis ‘Perle d’Azure’ can climb through it. This clematis has blue flowers.

Position the rambler ‘Bobbie James’, with semi-double, creamy-white flowers, to clamber over a pergola or into a tree. Plant the hardy herbaceous perennial Nepetax faassenii (catmint) around its base. It produces whorls of lavender-blue flowers from early summer to early autumn.

Ground-covering roses

Beds positioned alongside patios especially benefit from ground-covering roses, but do not expect them to prevent the growth of weeds. Rather, they create a magnificent blanket of color.