Good rose companions are those that hide their bare legs. Traditionally, lavender (Lavandula), catmint (Nepeta), and tall growing pinks (Dianthus) all make good partners. 3 Good companions also act as living mulches—suppressing weeds and lightly shading the soil, keeping rose roots nice and cool.
Companion plants that grow well with roses:
Mini agapanthus, Lamb's Ears, Erysimum, Woodworm, Dianthus, Chamomile cultivars, Pansies, Petunias, Violets, Daisy, Strawberries, Gerbera, Daylilies, Bearded Iris, Statice, Baby's Breath and Delphinium.
Herbs and other aromatic plants make wonderful rose companions. Scented geraniums (Pelargonium), rue (Ruta), feverfew (Tanacetum), parsley (Petroselinum), and thyme (Thymus) all may help ward off Japanese beetles and aphids. Marigolds (Tagetes) may also repel pests and encourage growth.
Recommended rose ground cover plants include Calamintha nepeta, Artemisia stelleriana 'Boughton Silver' and Erigeron karvinskianus. Valuable evergreen detail is found in Teucrium x lucidrys and Euphorbia myrsinites, while the grasses Stipa calamagrostis and Stipa lessingiana add movement and vertical interest.
Deadheading Shrub Roses
Because shrubs only produce flowers from new growth, trimming them back will make more branching and new growth, which increases the potential quantity of blooms.
Roses can be pruned during late winter when growth is just resuming, usually mid-February in the south, but in northern and colder areas wait until March. Deadheading is carried out in summer after flowering.
One of the best places to grow a climber is on a wall, particularly the walls of a house. Roses always look best when closest to where we live. The formality of architecture contrasts beautifully with the natural growth of the roses.
Materials such as wood chips, straw, or dry grass clippings make good mulches. More decorative materials such as shredded hardwood bark or cocoa bean hulls could also be used. Mulches should be applied about 2-3 inches deep and replaced as needed.
Paired with roses, the cool purple coloring of the Lavender flower heads becomes a perfect foil for the pink or golden rose blossoms. Lavender and roses make great couples: Roses tend to attract aphids, while ladybugs love lavender. When Lavender attracts these aphid-eating pests, you have instant natural pest control!
Roses are excellent plants for growing in pots. English Roses, with their shrubby, bushy habit are ideal for growing in large pots and containers. Unlike many other potted plants, English Roses will flower in fragrant flushes throughout the summer and into the fall.
That means planting somewhere where trees will block the wind, but not so close that they will shade or crowd them. Or you could plant near your home or a wall, so long as they aren't placed so close that there isn't good air circulation and sun exposure available.
A classic colour combination for rose planting is pink and blue. Blue Geranium varieties, Lavender, Nepeta or Salvias all complement bright pink rose varieties beautifully. Softer blue plants, like Campanula, also create a lovely softening effect when planted with vibrant yellow roses, like Rosa 'Golden Celebration'.
You'll want to prune them to a leaflet with 5 leaves as these shoots produce the blossoms. If you cut to a leaflet with 3 leaves, the rose will continue to grow, but won't produce any flowers. As long as you consistently remove the faded blossoms, your rose will continue to bloom throughout the summer.
Feeding Roses
We recommend a good feed of a nitrogen high feed like “Top Rose Gold” after the late-winter prune in February, then feeding every two weeks throughout the flowering period with a high potash feed like “Tomorite” or "Uncle Tom's Rose Tonic".
Remove the bloom and stem tip. Cut at a 45-degree angle, right above the first set of leaves at the top and again above the last set of leaves at the stem's bottom. Put cut stems in water immediately. Cut each stem into 6- to 8-inch lengths, so that each cutting has four “nodes" — that's where leaves emerge on stems.
Failing to prune your roses may lead to decreased blooms and a sick or even dead plant. Roses are notorious for being susceptible to a wide number of diseases. When you prune, you are helping the plant by cutting away dead and diseased canes.
Pruning is vital to the health of the rose bush, it helps prevent disease by removing areas that may harbor infestations and also encourages flowering. Your roses may look stark after a good pruning, but roses grow very prolifically and will fill in quickly. It's almost impossible to kill a rose bush by over-pruning.
It's possible to stick a rose cutting directly into your soil and come back to find it rooted months later.
Add a two to four inch layer of organic mulch (wood chips, grass clippings, compost, straw, pine needles, or leaves) around the base of each rose bush. Its benefits include: weed deterrence, improved garden appearance and reduced moisture loss (see Mulching for a Healthy Landscape).
Sugar cane mulch is also good for roses, as is pea straw, but not tan bark or any mulch that takes ages to break down, as earwigs will love it and then climb up and eat your rose buds. Stick to mulches that break down fairly fast and stay moist, and replace them when they look thin.
Using native pine bark, tea tree, bush, and cypress mulch on top of organic compost greatly helps in keeping your roses healthy by preventing diseases that can kill the plants.