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Potted Rose companion suggestions

Jason-3Jason-3 Posts: 391
in Plants
Hi all, I have recently purchased two fairly large pots and filled them with two DA harlow carr roses. As the roses are quite small ( second year I think) I was looking for some ideas on what to accompany them. I was originally thinking English lavender but then realised the pot wouldn't be big enough. Any suggestions would be appreciated.






Posts

  • Bright starBright star Posts: 1,153
    You could place the lavender in pots beside your roses. Roses are very hungry and thirsty feeders, I would just leave the roses on their own in the pot. Lavenders prefer much drier and very well drained soil to thrive and plenty of sun. 
    Life's tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.

  • MarlorenaMarlorena Posts: 8,705
    edited April 2018
    'Harlow Carr' is a very thorny rose that you don't want to mess about with too much.  In my garden I grow it with Geranium varieties 'Biokovo' and 'Cambridge' but in a pot such as yours, I would keep things very simple and just grow annuals.  My favourite choice would be Nemesia 'Easter Bonnet', which is highly scented, wafting, available to plant now.. I buy them as small pot plants...and I've already planted about a dozen in the garden border...   they will bloom all season and you can then discard next Spring and start again.   Very cheap, very simple, very effective..  just 2 in each pot would be enough I think... still a wide choice out there, I'm sure you'll find something to your satisfaction if this won't do...

    p.s. perhaps throw in a bit of Lobelia while you're at it..
    East Anglia, England
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    You shouldn't plant anything in with the rose for the reasons above, but what you could do is plant an annual trailer in a smallish terracotta pot and rest it on the surface of your container.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    I usually plant a few annuals in the first year with roses in pots, such as Lobelia as Marlorena suggested. Then in future years when the roses are bigger they fill the posts more so I don't plant anything else.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • Daisy33Daisy33 Posts: 1,031
    My pot roses are underplanted with mints and very small hostas.
  • MarlorenaMarlorena Posts: 8,705
    Trailing Petunias also look nice I think.  I always grow some with my roses in pots, like this one below which is 'Ballerina' flowering with purple Petunias..   it's perfectly fine to grow annuals like these with roses in containers, as Busy Lizzie says, at least in the early years..



    East Anglia, England
  • Blue OnionBlue Onion Posts: 2,995
    I would think some white lobelia near the edge would be fine this year.  The rose roots won't fill the pot this summer.  Just keep an eye on watering.  
    Utah, USA.
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    The Harlow Carr/Lavender combination is visually a good match, I have to agree, because I had it - until the adjacent lavender sulked and died - I suspect because the amount of water I needed to give the young rose drowned it, rather than competition because both are/were in the ground. Now my HC is next to nepeta which seems to be working better, so far. Adjacent pots of lavender, salvias or nepeta would look lovely. Anything lilac/soft purple seems to really lift the colour of HC.

    If it’s the bare soil thats the issue, perhaps some decorative chippings might make it look less stark until your roses fill their pots out a bit more?
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • Jason-3Jason-3 Posts: 391
    Thanks for all your suggestions folks, I'm still undecided re which way to go. I was thinking some more wall flowers possiby sugar rush as I would imagine the rose would of been cut back by the time they are in flower .Although I am partial to lobelia too !!
  • PageZPageZ Posts: 87
    At the moment, I am having violas in the same pot with a DA rose.
    I think later when violas are off the season, I will put some bedding plants in.
    Last year, I had some grass 'bunny's tail' with the rose. They looked lovely.


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