Companion Plants for Roses

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. I will now be busy researching them to see which varieties will work best in my area. I especially like the idea of bulbs and alliums sound great! We can't grow the big alliums in southern California except as annuals, but sphaerocephalum and moly and of course chives (garlic chives A. tuberosum with its pretty white flowers and regular chives A. schoenoprasum) are good ideas. I also like the idea of dahlias - water lovers to be sure, but so gorgeous growing up against and being supported by climbing roses.

Joe, your liist is wonderful! I'm going to spend lots of time perusing it and considering your candidates.

However, I'd like to debate with you whether "good rosarians frown on planting anything around roses" whether for cultural or purist reasons. I know this is the way roses have often been grown in the past - some large public rose gardens still attest to this practice - but I always thought this was mostly because it was the style to grow hybrid teas (those roses that had been very popular since the 50's) enmasse in color blocks. And the fact that in the past it was felt that to grow roses well you needed to fertilize, fertilize, fertilize and spray, spray, spray with chemicals. In short, that they were high maintenance plants and because of this maintenance need, it was better not to plant anything around them.

I would like to think that styles and sentiments have changed and that "good rosarians" and good gardeners who love roses have learned that many roses do just fine with twice yearly applications of fertilizer, or even better, we've learned that it's best to feed the soil, not the plant and have worked on improving our soils with homemade compost, etc. Hopefully we've also learned that unless we are growing roses to "show", an organic approach to disease and pest problems is au courant and best for the environment, wherein I would think that growing companions with roses woud obviate the problems caused by growing roses as a monoculture.

I would not be in my right mind if I tried to tell anyone that roses are drought tolerant plants, but you must agree that they are grown and loved in all mediterranean climates. Shrub roses, old roses, species, teas, Chinas, Noisettes, and even some newer floribunda roses are really pretty easy care shrubs that are surprisingly tolerant of lapses in watering when well established. Look at Bill Grant's collection of species for instance, or all the roses found flourishing without any care or supplemental water at old homestead or cemetery sites in California and Texas.

I welcome all your opinions and further suggestions.

Gratefully,

Robin Corwin
Studio City, California
Zone 9/10, Sunset Zone 21

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