Good neighbours for garden roses
Roses combine beautifully with other roses, but they also look great in combination with other plants. Whether your garden is sleek in design or a touch on the wild side, you will enjoy these combinations for years to come.
Similar requirements
To make sure you pick a good neighbour for your rose, choose plants that require similar growing conditions: a sunny location and well-drained soil. Roses need at least 4 hours of daily sun; the sunnier the weather, the better the growth and flowering will be. Also important: they don’t like getting their feet too wet. There are so many options, we have listed some of them below to get you started.
Easy plants
Roses and lavender (Lavandula) are a classic combination. Roses come in a variety of colours; from white to purple and from pastel-yellow to bright-red and everything in between. All these colours work really well with lavender blue. If you have the space, you could put a lavender hedge around your stem roses. The beauty of lavender is that the grey-green leaves remain on the plant in winter. You could also opt for an English cottage garden look, with foxglove (Digitalis), sage (Salvia) or lady’s mantle (Alchemilla), a lower ground cover.
Golden duo
Ornamental grasses and catnips (Nepeta) are also easy plants that combine nicely with roses. Alternatively, you could go for a romantic effect with fluffy plants such as gypsophila, field scabious (Knautia) or common verbena (Verbena). Climbing roses and clematis make a golden duo. The branches will intermingle, and with their different flower shapes they complement each other to look as pretty as a picture.
Tips
- Make sure that your neighbouring plants are not too close to the roses, especially in the first few years. Roses like a little privacy so that enough air can circulate around them and keep the roses healthy.
- Try combining a rose with lavender, for example, in a pot that is at least 40 centimetres deep.
- Don’t forget to fertilise your roses.
