Color in the Garden - Part I

Flowers in the garden make me happy, and I love perennials almost as much as roses. Perennials provide a variety of shapes and textures, bursts of color when the roses are resting, and food for birds and insects. They make a garden much more interesting than it would be if it were just a rose garden.

Geranium x cantabrigiense "Karmina"

It took me a while to figure out what works in my garden. I needed plants that thrive in the same conditions as roses, provide some contrast to the rose blooms but also blend well color-wise.

Argyranthemum frutescens "Sunlight"

Both daisies and pelargoniums are winners in my climate. They are very low maintenance perennials, and sometimes grow quite big. I like the smaller kinds because their flowers do not compete with big blobby rose blooms.

Most pelargoniums are evergreen here and provide a nice year-round groundcover. The mounding types are useful to conceal the lower naked canes of rose bushes.

A dwarf regal pelargonium and a geranium x cantabrigiense "Karmina" making a pretty "skirt" around a rose's naked legs

Erodiums are relatives of geraniums and do equally well for me.

Erodium "Sweetheart" with a Snowball viburnum looking down

Mine have been blooming since February and are now setting seed. I love the funny-looking seed pods.



Their soft colors work well with saturated colors of the roses.

Ebb Tide

And finally, not really rose companions but pretty nevertheless, some blooms on my climbing hydrangea next to a rhododendron. Rhododendrons are a struggle to grow here because it is too hot and dry, but hydrangeas of all kinds do quite well.

H. petiolaris

These two plants grow well next to each other and provide a beautiful display of color in a very shady spot.  The more color, the better!