Companion Plants for Roses

Hey again it's Jason from Fraser Valley Rose Farm. Well someone asked me recently for some recommendations for companion plants for roses and I'm happy to talk about that this time of year. While there's lots of time for you to order your seeds, lots of time to get your shopping lists together and get your plans together for your beds for the spring. So I have some recommendations of some of my favorites. I want to put up some pictures. Let's look at those now. We have Echinacea with its characteristic drooping petals. Hydrangea to class up the joint a bit. Trollius, because it looks like a giant buttercup. Orlaya, for that silvery blue. Hemerocallis, because dailies go with anything. Molucella, because its common name is bastard balm. Amsonia, because it's tough, beautiful, and not everyone has it in their garden. Salvia, for repeat bloom and so many varieties. Flowering Allium, because Graham Thomas said not to. Astrantia, to help attract beneficial insects. Lamium, for something bright to grow down low. Iris sibirica, as a vertical accent. Limnanthes, because they attract hoverflies, and hoverflies eat aphids. Physostegia, which is not nearly as obedient to the claims. Heuchera, for fancy, fancy foliage. Physocarpus, because it's a stunning backdrop. Digitalis, and digitalis, and digitalis. Iberis, to come in with the earliest of roses. And asters to accompany the final flushes. Agastache are so easy and go with any. Achillea, like this, or like this. Coreopsis to brighten any planting scheme. Geranium, because it's a classic combination. Dictamnus, for something a little out of the box. Kniphofia, if you're not afraid to be a little bold. Crambe, for airy sprays of white flowers. Angelonia, because they look like floating butterflies. Campanula, with many, many forms. Hypericum, for both flowers and fruit. Leonotis, just because it looks cool. Nepeta, because anything blue looks good with roses. Penstemon, for another full-season performer. Viburnum, because it adds class anywhere it goes. Nigella, an annual, but it'll probably self-seed. Acanthus, for those amazing flower spikes. Lysimachia, but maybe not every Lysimachia. Lavandula, because what could be more romantic than roses and lavender? Alchemilla, for a fine textured foliage and flower. Delphinium, duh. Verbena, squeeze it in wherever you want. And finally, Pennisetum, because it deserves to be an ornamental grass on this list. Well, there are so many good reasons to have companion plants in your rose garden, not the least of which is that everything that was on that list will do a good job of complementing your roses as they bloom, both in bloom form and color and bloom timing. So you fill in those gaps throughout your season. But the other thing is that the more diversity you have in your rose garden, the generally the better the healthier your roses will be. It comes down to that issue of monoculture. So if you have one full bed that's fully dedicated to roses, when one gets Those pests have an easy time spreading amongst the same species, whereas if you have a whole bunch of different species in your gardens, it actually tends to be more resilient in those pest levels. They tend to support those beneficial insects much, much better, and so your outbreaks are less frequent and less severe. There are some families of plants that are really, really good for this, and I included some in the list above. For instance, the mustard family is a great cool season. crops or has a whole bunch of cool season plants in it. So it covers that front end of the Beneficial insects supporting the beneficial insects just as your roses are starting to bloom I had things on the list like Iberis and Crambe, but there's all sorts of other small Annuals and perennials like Erigeron or Aubrieta that also will fill in those gaps Another really useful family is the carrot family because they are characterized by having these little small but numerous flowers that do a great job of supporting beneficial parasitic wasps. And on the list I had Orlanda and Astrantia, but you could also look at something big and flowering like Angelica or all sorts of little herbs like dill and fennel. Another one that's a great one is the daisy family, which does a fantastic job of supporting pollinators. And on the list I have the I had echinacea, I had aster, but you could look at something more finely textured in flower like Eupatorium as well. and finally let me put in a word for the mint family because those aromatic leaves will deter pests from your garden and i had on the list things like agastache and salvia but a lot of herbs things like rosemary oregano or even the silver leaved stackies that i'm putting up on screen right now are in the mint family so the point of this would not just be to stick to one or two families but go wild add a whole bunch of diversity to your garden because it will stabilize those pest populations. Experiment a little, or experiment a lot. and if you have some successes i'd love to hear about it i'm sure other rose growers would as well so leave those in the comments below all right thank you so much for watching and again if you have any questions leave those below and i'll do what i can