Hi Marlorena,

I have the common penstemon 'Dark Towers', but don't love it. It's so healthy and easy though, that I've moved my clump several times rather than shovel pruning. I'm sure there are other, better varieties. Agastache are great with nonstop bloom, attracting lots of pollinators and even the random hummingbird. Many are not hardy by me, but I've had good luck with 'Black Adder'. My only complaint is that they get fairly large. I'm going to experiment with pruning to keep them smaller this year. In the meantime, I bought a smaller version called "Little Adder" to try. I also like "Golden Jubilee". It doesn't return reliably, but does reseed mildly to keep it going.

I really love iris and have many varieties, although keeping on top of the dividing can be a chore. While I love the look of hollyhocks, too much rust for me. I've tried the rust resistant varieties, but even they were a mess in my garden.

Otherwise I grow many types of hydrangeas, phlox, dianthus, echinacea, campanula, foxglove, clematis, buddleia, etc. with my roses. I'm always looking to learn about new plants, so will have to look into some of the other species you mention.

-Chris

Chris, your garden sounds quite beautiful and would be very much after my own taste... except for the Irises perhaps... it's that most seem to have such a short season...

I've not tried 'Dark Towers' penstemon, but it's readily available here... I like the look of the pinky blooms on that one but I have to say I prefer greener foliage with these. The similar 'Huskers Red' never did much for me... tastewise or performance...

This year I'm trying 'Stapleford Gem'.. 'Raven'.. 'Sour Grapes'.. and 'Snowstorm'... and I intend to add 'Bilberry Ice'..'Woodpecker' and 'Westminster Belle'... of which I know nothing about...

I tried Agastache 'Golden Jubilee' from seed - things didn't work out - I've heard about 'Blackadder' so that might be one for me to consider as you can grow it well in zone 7... it should go well with later blooming roses of lighter colours.... like the 'Julia Child' rose...

I'm also growing Astrantia 'Roma'...'Warren Hills'.. and 'Rosensinfonie'... all together...

I hope I enjoy this effect... thanks for your input, I do hope we see some photos from your garden this summer...

Just the usual list of suspects, I'm afraid. Reblooming irises, some of which are blooming now, sea lavender, pelargoniums in white and lavender, white alyssum that come back every year so they might as well be perennials and a very few daylilies. I have one penstemon with lavender blooms, one phlomis fruticosa, large marjoram bushes and rosemary for the bees, the latter around the perimeter, not mixed with roses since they're gigantic. It's basically, keep it simple, stupid, to make upkeep as easy as possible, although nothing is really easy in the garden. Oh, some columnar junipers and lavender crape myrtles also.

Salvia Leucantha, which is called "Mexican salvia" here, is a warm weather type and it loves loves our climate. It blooms from May through Oct, and sometimes into Nov. Large bushes - there is an all purple variety, and a purple and white one. It is all over our neighborhood and town - I think it persists without any care. I planted two 15 years ago - we had to take one out because they got so large.

My favorite iris is an old old one from the 19th century called Crimson Glory - it is a medium tall bearded one. Here it blooms (started 2 weeks ago) from Feb through July. I like it because it is short enough that it does not normally fall over in the rain, and is a dark dark purple towards crimson which goes with the roses. They came with the garden - they spread and multiply nicely, so I just move them around and thin them out - my FIL told me that his mother originally planted them (she lived in our house from 1913 to the 1960s).

My two other favorite companion plants are volunteers - literally. Valerian (Jupiter's Beard) pops up in most of the beds every year. I take it out where it is annoying, but it makes a nice short bushy plant in other places. I never have planted any - it just shows up. I have the 2 colors of medium and dark pink/red, as well as some white. The other one is Forget Me Nots - they also just show up uninvited. I love them in the Spring - they come in some of my beds which have very low ground cover roses. Easy to pull out when they are done.

Of course, we have hellebores in all of the really shady places, but they are not near the roses for obvious reasons.

I have tried to plant more modern plants and flowers over the years, but they do not stay or repeat, and I cannot be bothered with what actually turned out to be annuals.

Bulbs - I have discovered that the bulbs which really do repeat for years in our climate all come from South Africa - ixias and sparaxis are my favorite ones. We also have some crocosmias which were planted by my DH's ancestors - they bloom every year - I have moved some of them out of what is now deep shade, and they persist.

Of course we have ground covers out by the street - I use some type of creeping South Afraican daisy and vinca minor together. They fight each other for space, so the weeds never have a chance. In out sunny Summers the daisies cover more ground, and in the more shady months or areas the vinca prevails.

Jackie

My favourite with pink roses is nepeta fasseni, I also added some pink Japanese Anemones last fall, hope it works. I also grow lots of chives, campanula( love it in all its forms),angelica, verbena, foxgloves, delphiniums, geum, erigeron, hardy geraniums & lots of lamium for edging. Alstromera(sp?), peonies, scabiosa & many I can't recall. I keep trying dianthus with no success, there's always a hole in the middle. My favourite annual that acts like a perennial is nicotiana alata, I never know where it will pop up but it's always welcome.

Garden phlox David and Blue Paradise, Stoke's aster, pinks, creeping phlox, veronica, salvia, and hardy plumbago (leadwort).

I have quite a lot of perennials. My garden is winter wet one side and summer dry the other - perks of being on a slope - the garden is flat to the eye, but there's a one side of the fence there's foot step up, and a foot and a half drop off on the other side. Effectively, the gardens and houses are terraced.

That means while I have vague dreams of repeating perennials, in practice I have to look for things visually similar that fit the colour schemes on the specific side of the garden that will also tolerate or like the soil/light conditions.

So. This will be a long list, will expand on cultivars if you want, just rolling through a to z of companion plants, as I think of them.

Aquilegias, astrantias, astilbes, achillea, apaganthus, agastasche, anemones, asters, ajuga

Campanula, carex, chrysanthemum, clematis, corydalis, cytisus,

Daphne, dicentra, dianthus, digitalis, daylily

Euphorbia, epimedium, erigerion, erysimum, echincea

Ferns, fuchsia

Geraniums, geums, grasses,

Hostas, heucheras, heleniums, hellebores, hydrangea, honeysuckle

Iris, ivy,

Knautia

Leucanthemum, lamium, lirope, lavendar, lemonbalm

Nepeta,

Potentillas, peonies, pulmonarias, papaver, penstemon, persicaria, phlox, primula, pansies

Rudbeckia, rosemary

Salvia, sedum, stachys, solidago - got rooted out last year,

Trolius, thyme

Verbascum, veronica, veronicastrum

This does not include bulbs or shrubs, and is probably not an exhaustive list. Also does not include things that died or otherwise failed to establish!

This is a delight for me to read, thank you all for your comments so far.... what I like here is that it seems we take as much interest in non-rose plants as the roses, and I hope we can highlight some of these more individually, as the season progresses for all of us..

I don't see why we can't do that...

Marlorena, reading people's lists reminds me of how many I've tried and lost.

Hollyhocks, verbascum, campanula, lavender, aqueligias, agastache, monkshood, Stokes' aster, foxgloves, even ajuga - killed them all. And many, many more I've forgotten (I know because of the stacks of pots!).

Salvias I have mostly removed as they are too successful here. Valerian was a thug, and seeded more than any weed, so it went.

One of my best 'doers' are perennial wallflowers, and I do like the look of them scrambling under the roses. Only one does really well, and that was a cutting from a friend, and is the one that opens peachy and turns mauve.

I also have daylilies, sea lavender (thanks to Ingrid), dianthus, which I bought very cheaply, and go on and on, but not sure I like them as a companion plant.

I've killed a lot of penstemon too, including Sour Grapes, which grew for 3 years and never flowered. The one I have left is Blackbird, which has been quite successful. Not a mass of flowers, but enough to warrant keeping it, and the green is pretty flopping over things.

Gaura did well till it was shaded out.

Heliotrope has been a stalwart, and one even survived being bounced on repeatedly by the dogs, as they tried to kill the dog next door.

I have a number of hydrangeas, but feel they look rather stiff next to roses, though where to move them?

Yes, it wouldl be nice to see people's photos. Trish

My favorite is Hardy Ageratum--some call it Blue Mist Flower--and the the latin name keeps changing. It spreads everywhere but is easy to pull out. It thrives in sun to part shade and moist to dry areas. It blooms in the fall when the Monarchs are coming through.

I also have creeping erigeron, blue asters, white Japanese asters, black eyed susans and mountain mint. Stokesia, one crinum and some daylilies. I have an almond shrub that is finishing its bloom just as the Old Blush started. I also have five Abelia 'Hopley' interspersed along the front of my main bed--they keep their green/white/yellow variegated leaves all year so the bed looks fresh and lovely no matter what the rest of the plants are doing. They have stayed very short with very little pruning.

That's a lovely photo junco, thank you. I've only grown the annual Ageratum. I like Abelias too..

Titian, I'm puzzled how you managed to kill all those plants. Was it the heat? failed to water? I can't imagine otherwise.... I mean how can you kill 'Monkshood', it normally wants to kill us...

I'm growing Heliotrope from seed this year, they've germinated already... I hope my 'Sour Grapes' blooms a little more generously for me, quite a lot more... thanks for your input here...

Marlorena, I'm puzzled too! Heat would account for a number, lack of water maybe for others. Perhaps I just have a gift!

I left out achilleas, which do well, fuchsias, a couple of which have survived. And cistus: even I can't kill them.

I've gardened from zone 6 to zone 10 and I think Perennial gardening is harder than rose gardening.
A talk at the Gardening Symposium in Colonial Williamsburg several years ago featured some plants that I had always wanted to grow. There were pictures of the 'wild' version and then of the desirable perennial that emerged from it...in a single step.
That told me that (at least) some perennials are one short step away from weeds, and weeds are picky about soils, moisture, sun exposure, etc. not to mention temperatures.

I visited a test patch out near North Platte Nebraska and another near Cheyenne Wyoming and in both saw Perennials thriving that I had tried to grow....and their's were shrub sized and vigorous. In my growing conditions, which I would have thought were kinder to growth....nothing like. North Platte's garden was in valley fill going through an area with alkaline soils ; Cheyenne's was so cold that I think winds could come straight south from the Arctic Circle.

So, I started looking for what plants survived near me.

Pamela Harper's book, Thirty Years in a Perennial Garden is excellent for me, but she's zone 7 and I'm only occassionally zone 7 for all 12 months. But she is southeastern and our soils are more alike than not.
And then there's Tracy Disabato Aust and her well tended perennial garden...from northern Ohio. There's good stuff there as well, but her summers are kinder. (How much kinder? folks up there grow annuals in their cemeteries; down here, annuals in a semi abandoned area get fried by the summer sun. And some of her perennials here seem to estivate.)

And Gardening mentors are fewer and farther between than they used to be.

stillann..... It might surprise you to know that I've been to North Platte and Cheyenne.... we drove up from Denver...Somewhere along N Platte, I forget where exactly, I saw a Flax plant in a public garden, maybe a museum, I wanted so much to grow. I managed to obtain the same variety here but it soon fizzled away to nothing... it's a specialised environment out there isn't it? short boiling hot summers, freezing winters... nothing like mine...

I've decided to order some perennials with relevance to this thread...

Agastache 'Kudos Coral'.... Salvia 'Dysons Maroon'... Osteospermum 'Lady Leitrim' [supposed to be hardy here]... Iris siberica 'Dance Ballerina Dance'...

maybe one or two more.. I'll let you know what they look like...

I'm sure it's the heat, titian, killing the monkshood. It was great in Alaska and I haven't tried it here yet. The cool loving perennials like delphinium and Lady's Mantle would have a harder time here now in the heat. I've only been here two summers but I haven't seen the Lady's Mantle spread yet from reseeding like I was used to. Forget me nots struggle here with heat. OTOH bachelor buttons are perennial here as are the alyssum. I grow all sorts of perennials here, since they add so much. So far my Sea Lavender looks winter killed, but I scattered more seed. A wallflower overheated and died next to a wall. The Rozanne geranium is great looking here, if irrigated, but I lost an occasional one to winter. Agastache do really well here.

So many!

In what are predominantly rose themed areas I have planted:

Narcissus

Species Tulips that naturalize in zone 10

Bearded, Dutch, and Siberian Iris

Freesia

Jupiter's Beard - White, Red, and the lavender species C. lecoqii

Limonium - Pastel blends and traditional purple Statice

Pelargonium - St. Elmo's Fire

Echium - E. gentianoides 'Tajinaste'

Globularia 'Blue Eyes'

Achillea - 'Apricot Delight,' 'Moonshine,' 'Terra Cotta.'

Papaver and Eschscholzia: various somniferum varieties and California poppies.

Verbena bonariensis

Lavendula multifida and Lavendula canariensis

Thalictrum rochebrunianum

Salvia: S. lanceolata, S. microphylla hybrids, S. guranitica 'Black and Blue,' and hybrids 'Pozo Blue' and 'Winnifred Gilman.'

Muhlenbergia capillaris

Pennisetum rubrum 'Compacta'

and others that skip my mind.

In some areas I grow roses essentially as filler/accents to other more prominent shrubs/perennials. 'Lady Hillingdon' is surrounded by Ozothamnus, Salvia 'Winnifred Gilman', Eriogonum grande var. rubescens, Aristea major, Hesperaloe 'Yellow Form' and Correa 'Pink Eyre.'

Ive also planted a Felicia, Marie Pavie, recently acquired The Poet's Wife and Reine des Violettes in slightly shadier conditions amidst Lomandra 'Breeze,' a Ribes speciosum, Salvia lanceolata, Dierama pulcherrimum, Leonotis 'Savannah Sunset,' a few varieties of lily, Gomphrena 'Fireworks,' and a backdrop of Camellias.

I love too many types of plants to not pack them in as reasonably as possible near roses. Jaune Desprez has spread its arms wide enough that it may provide a backdrop for an Isopogon formosus later this year. That will be a lovely sight in bloom.

Lady Hillingdon is hardly more than band, but this is the general view of where she's situated. I'll be removing the pots, Jupiter's Beard, and some grasses over time to make way for her in the front of the border. The planting gets drier/more drought tolerant towards the sidewalk. Those are smaller Aloe speciosa specimens of the left side of the picture.

I love to grow other perennials with my roses. I like things that help to make a bouquet to compliment the roses. I love the tall phlox, Echinacea and anything with a fancy leaf, even hostas. I also enjoy growing clematis around the roses. Hardy geraniums and day lilies always seem to go nicely with any number of roses. My garden is a bit of a jungle right now. I was away for two years and it was sorely neglected. when I came back I had a new job and an arthritic knee to complicate matters. I vow this summer to get things back into shape. Oh, peonies. I adore late June here when the peonies and roses are blooming together.

Valerie

My rose gardening intentionally started out being mixed with perennials. But in this climate, the plants don't come together into a nice mixed planting, blooming together, since it is so dry each plant needs its space. I have to admit, too, that the perennials when on display as such, have long periods of unattractiveness. The Nepeta 'Walker's Low' looks fabulous in the spring, then a mess the rest of the year. The Salvia 'Caradonna' and 'May Night' similarly turns into a mass of brown flower stems, or stubble where trimmed and the summer heat and dryness makes them go semi-dormant. The lavender succumbs in random patches, to root rot despite this dryness. Penstemons are too short lived for the way I garden. On and on with so many perennials. So the roses are expanding and the perennials are shrinking, to a few that do well, but don't combine well with roses: Penstemon linarioides, Salvia daghestanica, Salvia greggii, Acantholimon. Maybe I'll start collecting dianthus.

Interesting comments: I'm enjoying reading. In most of the garden I don't have the conditions even to think about perennials. I'm talking about the big garden, which was a dense clay field of meager grass when we got started. We basically have been getting shrubs and sub-shrubs to grow there in the last decade, with trees following once the shrubs are established. Once the trees are going well, say in another decade or two, I'll be able to think about shrubs...(edited)...oops, herbaceous perennials. (Ha.) Fall before last I ventured to plant some herbaceous peonies, which are puny but which mostly survived. Here and there are achillea, fennel, and other herbaceous perennials, many of them natives that can handle the conditions. Some of the effect of garden perennials--varied foliage, small but attractive flowers--is achieved by allowing native herbaceous plants that are there anyway to grow in the beds and paths. Nature imitating nature.

The more mature garden area around the house and down in the woods, where there were trees to start, are more promising ground, though close to the house along with the roses shrubs, and subshrubs like phlomis and a gigantic Salvia guaranitica, tend to rule. Also lemon verbena, which dies back to the ground except in exceptionally mild winters, like the S. guaranitica, is intertwined with my huge Tea "Miss Mystery". Close to the ground and under the roses are common thyme, pepper thyme, wild sweet violets, nepeta, sage 'Icterina', golden oregano, a kniphofia with soft orange flowers which is at risk of being run over, the bulbs winter aconite and snow crocus. Under the shade of the persimmon and wisteria trellis grow garden hellebores, money plant, variegated aspidistra, a superb colony of Cyclamen hederifolium, an accidental peony from seed, Scilla bifolia that came from I don't know where. In the sun, lavender, common sage, tall bearded irises, and a spreading colony of Hermodactylus tuberosus (snake's head iris) with invasive tendencies, some wild Arum italicum, various friendly weeds--we're not exclusive here. Under the climbers in an east-facing bed in half sun, a clump of Agapanthus 'Headbourne Hybrids', a colony of Persicaria 'Painter's Palette' or similar, and another of variegated Japanese iris; also a handful of spring bulbs have held out here. The Persicaria self seeds, without taking over the world, and the seedlings are also variegated. On summer afternoons the shady cream-splashed Persicaria and green-and-white iris, with the roses trellised overhead, are pleasantly cool to the eyes. Nearby is a hedge of evergreen Danae racemosa, and among the roses and other shrubs a colony of Parma violets has held out for years, along with herbaceous peonies and a scattering of bulbs. There are clumps of Iris foetidissima here and there. This is handsome and distinctive in winter, with its sheaves of sharp-pointed varnished leaves, but it clumps up rapidly and self-seeds, so requires maintenance. Native Ficaria vernus, Lesser Celandine, is getting ready to bloom, and is invasive (my garden can take it) and a striking little plant in bloom, with good foliage.

I think I've written enough and so will leave out the shade garden. The moral of all this, many of you will have noticed, is that in my garden, I'm less the Creator and more an umpire. Some of my plants are natives, many self-sow, almost all are tough and adapted, otherwise they wouldn't be where they are. This is how I have what I have. My job is mainly to pull up plants that are getting too aggressive, and occasionally shift starts to a place where I want them to establish. I have too much garden and too many other garden chores to protect plants that can't protect themselves, and said plants need either to be long-lived, or self-seeding, otherwise they'll soon disappear.

In areas with roses:

Alliums 'Globemaster" and Ambassador

Alstroemeria 'Casa Blanca' and 'Inca Ice' I was pleasantly surprised by the former (the latter is too young to comment). CB bloomed all summer for the last two summers. There are great strides being made in this genus increasing cold hardiness. There is a wide variety of colors in Alstroemerias requiring a warmer climate than I have, many of which are long blooming. Googling, I found a specialty nursery whose selection was amazing. I will say that I bought one whose coloration I detested. It was given away as fast as possible.

Anemone japonica, A. sylvestris and the Swans. Wild Swan is one. It should make a good ground cover but did not thrive and so was transplanted. Time will tell. A. japonica is a brute eventually but so pretty and easy for the Fall that it is in the rose garden but be forewarned. A. sylvestris flowers nicely in Spring and has attractive ground cover foliage the rest of the season. It spreads but not obnoxiously.

Astrantia 'Hadspen's Blood at the park against the north wall of a building. It survived many years but succumbed to our two hard winters. I would grow it here if I could find it again.

Boltonia 'Snowbank'. An aster alternative which will not grow here. Boltonia thrives on the dry hillside and comes in pink as well as lavender.

Bronze fennel. An experiment. At the park it self seeded and I am hoping for the same here. Too soon to tell.

Clematis. I have been hitting these hard lately. They grow well here.

Colchicum cilicia. I also recommend C. byzantina alba 'Innocence' although it is not (yet) growing with the roses.

Dianthus

Dicentra spectabilis and D. s. alba. I particularly love the white.

Geranium 'Roseanne'.

Gypsophila 'Bristol Fairy'. Not thriving here on the hill but did well at the park.

Hesperis matronalis. Grows wild here and seeds. Mostly kept out of the rose garden but a few sneak in and are lovely in Spring then it's time to leave.

Iris sibirica. Short bloom season. I just like their grace. Also sorely tempted by the louisiana iris 'Red Velvet Elvis' if only for the name and color. So far I am holding out.

Lilies. The orientals succumb to virus here after a few years. Most asiatics last a little longer but I have had one that came in a mix that has lasted for decades. Best of all are the orienpets, hybrids of the orientals and trumpets, free of disease and glorious. My favorite is 'Silk Road' but at 6 to 7 feet may be difficult to place. This year I am trying an asiatic trumpet hybrid.

Matricaria. A double pass-a-long that self seeds and booms on and off all summer.

Narcissus. I am especially fond of 'Palmares' and some of the tall white short cups, 'Princess Zaid' was one, and also N. poeticus.

Peonies. Herbaceous, tree and a hybrid. Only the herbaceous grow with the roses. I am especially seduced by the old fragrant double varieties even if they do need tomato caging. The new tree peony 'Renkaku' was stomped on by a deer this winter. Hope it lives. The hybrid, 'Bartzella', was difficult to start even the second try, requiring religious attention to monitoring for wilting in addition to a generous watering schedule the first year. Last year I could relax a little. This year I am hoping for first bloom.

Perovskia. I am trying to grow it with lavender roses and light lavender Clematis but it has tough competition with the Vinca which will not die.

Phlox.

Pulmonaria. 'Excaliber' and possibly 'Silver Streamers' both for the leaves though these may be transplanted to the woods.

Saponaria ocymoides. A trailing ground cover with pink flowers. Saponaria are native here.

Verbascum. '(Something) Purple'. Small, about 1 foot, and appeared to be an annual that seeded readily. I hope to try taller ones in white. They grow wild here.

Vernonia. A thug that may have to be removed because of space limitations but it does hold down that part of the garden.

That should be it for the rose garden perennials but I always think of more once I post.

Cath

It's fun to read what others plant with their roses. I enjoy garden designs that encourage the gaze to wave back and forth like in a horizontal figure eight pattern. It's soothing. Like rocking a baby to sleep. For me, perennials (and some annuals) with roses creates this effect.

Like most in warmer climates, I'm so jealous of those who can plant peonies and hope you all post photos of them in your rose gardens later this year!

I am a bit boring compared to most of you, as I have favorites that I stick with. Thyme and nepeta are my favorite perennials with roses. I tend to just propagate more from what I have.

I don't find them boring though, and I love the fragrance combination, as well as the combination with the little thyme leaves with the larger nepeta leaves. To me, they both have similar shapes to their growth, just on different scales. And there are so many variations of thyme. These aren't great photos, but for instance there's variegated lemon thyme:

And there's the bright green lime thyme, lower darker pink chintz thyme and taller ethereal silver thyme. These are very small as I recently divided them to make more...

The nepeta is also very small as I cut them all back about six weeks ago, but maybe you can imagine them bigger with the thyme and roses nearby. I will have to post more photos of them all together with the roses later in the spring.

I have agastache and some salvia too... but not with the roses. The agastache smells like minty, fruity candy. I love the fragrance. I'm not sure how they like it here though. My soil is very rich. Too rich for most lavenders to survive. The agastache may also need poor soil to be happy.

Some additions that will also be nearby roses this spring are breath of heaven with compact myrtle and CA native white sage. I really like this fragrance combination too! As well as the texture combination.

And Marlorena I may have figured out the breath of heaven fragrance variation mystery... I think it smells different based on moisture. For me, it only had a wonderful light and herbal scent earlier in the year, before all the rain we have had. Since the rain it has gotten a bit of that funky smell we both noted. I think when it's dry here, like usual, it doesn't have that. I will have to test that a little more and see.

I also put some freesia in the raised rose beds next to a stone wall. I think the stone will keep them dry when they need to be so they will return next year. We will see.

I have some annuals with the new roses this year too... but I won't list them since you just asked about perennials.

Excited to post pics later in the season and see all of your combinations later this year too. :)

Cath, perhaps we could found the "Friends of Palmares Society": it's a favorite of mine too, who in general am not fond of split-trumpet narcissus. I'm not sure it's truly perennial in my garden, but has displayed more durability than most. It seems not to be as widely available now as in former years, as I found when I went looking for it this winter. You list a number of plants I'm dreaming of, in particular the bleeding heart, which I'm trying to get established.

Cori Ann, there are definitely peonies you can grow here in the Bay Area. I have tried a number and several succeeded. The stalwart old herbaceous 'Festiva Maxima' is happy. Some of the others, 'Sarah Bernhardt' and 'Bowl of Beauty' also do well, though the foliage withers unattractively. I really like some of the intersectional peonies, crosses between tree and herbaceous types, 'Border Charm' being established enough to have become reasonable in price. And tree peonies are great. There is even a peony nursery up in the east hills somewhere called Chateau Charmarron. The road up there is narrow and winding with blind curves, and I probably won't go back again for that reason alone. But they do mail order.

(There used to be another, smaller one as well, in Palo Alto? Los Altos? but I think they closed down a few years ago. I forget their name but I bought something from them once.)

Thanks Rosefolly. I believe peonies will do well in certain parts of the Bay Area... like San Jose, San Francisco, Hayward, etc...but not where I am. I'm in a pretty hot microclimate, inland. I learned of one type that may grow here, I forgot the name, but it's not the full, fluffy type I like. I will admire them in other yards instead of subjecting them to my heat or using the water on them here. Thank you though. :)

Cori Ann, could you grow Mediterranean peonies? Given their place of origin, they're likely to be adapted to mild winters with chill hours, and hot dry summers. A popular variety everywhere is P. officinalis 'Rubra Plena', which is extremely double and extremely red, on the purple side of the spectrum. I like 'Mollis', a form or close relative of P. officinalis. It's single, but has beautiful large flowers, and in my garden it seeds.

I hope eventually to find time to read this thread; very interesting! I also hope some day to be able to add a HECK of a lot more perennials to my garden,but for now, I'm still basically at the stage of creating the back-bones: roses, shrubs and trees.

Maybe Melissa if I can find a cold spot in my yard that gets sun but not fried. It might just be setting me up for heartbreak though. If I was just higher in the foot hills or at the base of My Diablo it would probabaly work better. I'm in a valley and it is HOT here.

Although I do want to go to Chateau Charmarron now that Rosefolly mentioned it! Maybe I will ask them about some there that could work for me. Especially "Do Tell" and "Festiva Maxima." http://4peonies.com/LightPink_WhitePeonies.html

If I go this spring I will make sure to take lots of photos to share. :)

Thank you for all your informative comments once again, it's been a pleasure to read, and just to let you know I have today received some perennials mentioned earlier, and I've just planted them out..

Thalictrum rochbrunianum... Arbutus omnedo mentioned this plant and it's one I've been thinking about for some time...

Iris 'Dance Ballerina Dance'... I got 3 of these. It'll be the only Iris I grow for now. I've read that it's not so good in colder climates, like zone 5 or worse... but should be alright here.. I rather like the look of it..

Aquilegia 'Snow Queen' and another called flabellata var. Pumila 'Atlantis', which is a small little columbine..

I have still on order for delivery April, some Penstemons I mentioned earlier and an Agastache, 3 of each variety. I'm looking forward to those...

I now need some Osteospermums for later on, and I already have Hesperis matronalis, I think somewhere..along with Foxgloves... can't be without those...

Cori Ann.... I used to have Thymus citriodora, I loved the fragrant foliage, but it didn't survive long [probably ate it to death]. I'd like to get some more... yours looks really good..

Let's have some photos from last summer.... please post any of your own, if you wish...

late Spring with Geum 'Blazing Sunset',..'Lavender 'Hidcote'..

Helianthemum 'Wisley Primrose' poking through....

the same bed in September now taken by Sedum 'Autumn Joy'

Gaura 'Passionate series'.. Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola' in pot,

Pennisetum 'Karley Rose'... Festuca 'Elijah Blue' in foreground..

beyond the Pennisetum, Rudbeckia x deamii'.. Aster frikartii 'Monch'

a closer look at the Rudbeckia with Helenium 'Rubinzwerg, in between

the Aster.... white Gaura beyond..

Gaura 'Whirling Butterflies' with rosa 'Gruss an Teplitz'.. blue Plumbago..

Festuca 'Golden Taupe'...

that'll do for now... . anyone else?....

Cori Ann - I'm sure you're familiar with Annie's Annuals in Richmond. They grow a species Peony that would likely do well in your location, but it hasn't been available since I discovered it on their site. I have it marked to alert me when it's next available.

http://www.anniesannuals.com/plants/view/?id=4085

I normally can't grow Peonies so I'm hopeful this one may stand the test of time.

I grow lots of perennials but with roses some species dominate, first of all delphiniums in all shades of blue, no other colour, astrantias like 'Roma', lavender, nepeta, Salvia nemorosa (I started with 10 varieties but 'Caradonna' seems to be the most vigorous here), Thalictrum rochebrunianum and T. delavayi ('Splendide White' is a new favourite), tall blue and low pink geraniums, campanulas of every kind, white and blue violas, alliums, echinaceas, Baptisia australis, heucheras like old rose 'Berry Smoothie', Erigeron 'Dunkelste Aller', pale yellow anthemis 'Sauce Hollandaise' and 'Wargrave' (with a new ugly botancal name that I keep forgetting). I also have lamb's ears and lady's mantle everywhere.

'Caradonna' is my best Salvia nemorosa, too. It doesn't get floppy the way some of the others do and the color is so wonderfully saturated. I grow a heuchera I love called 'Old La Rochette' that is bred from the drought tolerant western US species. I've tried baptista a couple of times but it just disappeared. Odd - it's supposed to be easy, but not for me. Delphiniums fade away after a short stay, and I don't think astrantia likes the heat. Some geraniums are happy here, others decline and fade away. The happy ones remain more or less forever. For late summer I like asters, but am careful to avoid the weedier ones. I've removed any number of plants for being too weedy. What else? White foxgloves (idea from Jon when he worked at Mottifont) and gaura, which is as happy as a weed. I mostly don't like day lilies, but have several plants of 'Bela Lugosi' and a couple of 'Enchantment'. I may remove 'Enchantment' - haven't made up my mind yet. I love the Lemon Lily, Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus, but can't give it the conditions is wants. Oh, and Regal lilies - I have them dotted here and there, and they actually reseed for me. I've planted other lilies from time to time, but these ones do best for me,

I have planted a number of California natives, too, but not in the same beds as roses. They prefer far drier conditions in summer than roses do.

I think gophers or moles are eating my baptista, Rosefolly. I saw the Spring growth buds nibbled and the roots eaten off.

I have very strong memories of some California natives blooming at this time of the year. I spent a month in Palo Alto in February-March in 2001 and walked a lot by myself. I remember the California poppies and the Texas bluebonnets. Not a native but I used to stand and stare at the agapanthuses that looked almost wild and thought of my own poor plants that have to be brought inside in winter. Weekends when my husband was free we used to walk in the foothills, bright with escholtzias.

I need to take more perennial picture this year. Going through my storage and it's almost all roses.

Peony and alchemilla mollis

Polemonium Heaven Scent with hosta and nameless orange azalea in background

Geranium Johnson's Blue, Rhapsody in Blue and Golden Showers and you can just see Ajuga in the bottom right being grown over by the geranium.

Aquilegia Granny's Bonnets, rose Mme Antoine Mari, salvia Rose Queen

Geum Prince of Orange, polemonium, water forget-me-not, ferns, yellow azalea in background

Papver orietale Harvest Moon, Leonie Lamesch rose, euphorbia Dixter, background Ghislaine de Feligonde and Souvenir De Maxime Cornu tree peony

Marianne, I wish I had known you were here at the time! My garden was much newer then, but we could have met and talked about roses.

Marlorena and fduk, those are wonderful photos. I love the seemingly effortless perfection you achieve in your borders, Marlorena (and I know that look didn't come without effort). The plants work together so beautifully. Nothing is messy, either, like so much of my flower beds. I shall learn from you.

I'll concentrate on a few of the perennials and annuals I grow that haven't been mentioned much so far. I adore snapdragons. Most of mine are grown from seed (from Swallowtail Gardens seed) by my friend who manages to turn out hundreds of plants every spring which she shares with me. I encourage my snaps to reseed and produce natural hybrids in interesting colors. When I snap off a spent stalk, I leave it on the ground in the flower bed. All season long new plants appear in such interesting color combinations. My snaps often winter over for two or three years, by which time they grow woody, and not very pretty, so I remove them. It's not true at all that snapdragons like the cool spring and shut when the summer heat comes. My snaps begin to bloom by early May and continue to really hard frost. They bloom for months, but the spent stalks need to be removed for good rebloom. Diane

Ballerina Rose and Snapdragons

Poppies for a change

Heliopsis at the edge of the desert

Paula, I also wish I'd known you then! The only rose friend from the internet I met was Mel Hulse who showed my husband and me around the SJHRG. What a lovely person he was. But I had other garden experiences, too. I had contacted an administrator colleague at Stanford before leaving home because we've had a lot to do with each other for years. Meeting Naomi was like meeting a long lost friend. She was retired and had time to drive me around and take me wherever I wanted to go. Very sweet of her as she wasn't really interested in gardens and had a gardener. We went to Filoli, Regan's, the Sunset display gardens in Menlo Park and the Hakone Gardens in Saratoga.

Diane, what a sparkling Heliopsis [Summer Sun?], I've never grown it, but that one is certainly an eyeful... I find it blends with the background quite well, as if it's just seeded there...

I do grow snapdragons too these days, as annuals, I find the slugs don't touch them and they look quite nice with roses. You are so lucky to have a friend share with you. I can grow these from seed in my greenhouse, I used to, but now I buy them in from a local nursery quite cheaply.. Sometimes a few over winter too.. I certainly want a lot more this season, and thank you for your charitable comments about my garden, it changes every year in some way, and not always for the better...

Your photos are stunning...

fduk, thank you for your photos too, I especially enjoy the Polemonium with the bee, a classic shot..

What gorgeous photos! Diane I never tire of seeing photos from your garden. You must be so hungry for spring so you can enjoy that again!

I guess fruit trees count as perennials don't they? I am espalier-ing (I am sure that's not really a word... but you know what I mean) a Cara Cara orange tree along a fence surrounded by climbing roses on either side. Its coming along nicely so far, but so new. Hopefully I will have some good photos later this year. I think it will look and smell gorgeous!

I also just put in a Red Baron dwarf peach tree where it is in the line of sight to a row of red and dark pink roses (Tess of the D'Ubervilles, Munstead Wood, Heathcliff, Young Lycidas, Falstaff, Don Juan and a couple others). It's in the line of sight, but shouldn't shade them with where I put it. We will see. Has anyone ever had the pleasure of seeing a Red Baron peach tree in blossom? They are spectacular. I should have some photos in a couple of weeks. :) Here's a photo sheet from online for now...

My husband almost talked me into getting some grapes to grow among the roses too. But I changed my mind and put them back. I just don't really like grapes that much. He loves them, but just too much work for something I'm not going to eat, and he doesn't garden. Maybe in a few years the idea will grow on me. It would be gorgeous to have a grape vine espaliered, then a rose, then a grapevine, etc. Maybe one of you will do it instead.... so I can enjoy the beautiful view without the work and you can enjoy the grapes. ;)

Thank you so much Marlorena. I love my heliopsis which reseeds just enough so I have several of these wonderful, no care plants. They bloom 4-5 months long, outdoing everything but Rudbeckia hirta, Indian Summer, which is really an annual that reseeds so much, it becomes a pseudo-perennial around here. This winter has been terrible with record setting snow and cooold that will not loosen its grip. Yesterday, it snowed, and it's still on the ground, covering the hills in back, as well as the glowing white mountains. This is not normal for our area, and meanwhile, the Northeast and Southeast of the US are enjoying early spring and record warmth. I hope your spring is going better than mine.

Cori Ann, you are so lucky to grow Cara Cara oranges. The first ones I tasted were ambrosia, but the ones I've tried since then have been awful, right up there with store navels. I want more of those first ones, and I'll bet yours will be wonderful. That peach tree photo looks stunning. Oh, I can almost taste the peaches now. Sigh. I'll go out and eat a little yummy snow. My friend, the superb gardener who starts seeds I get to share, isn't too thrilled with her grapes, either. She's grown them for years. Maybe you should go slow on the grapes, and hint to your husband the he might become a hobbyist grape grower himself.

Here is a favorite peony, I grow, Coral Charm. I love my old favorites, too, which sport the "bombs" in spring. A few come from plants, that come from plants, that....who knows their ages, but I would guess the original plants are at least 100 years old. The man that passed the starts along to me is turning 100 years old this April. He is the father of my gardening friend, and was a gardener himself. The Coral Charm, though, is a modern peony and a gift from my friend. Diane

Hollyhocks are a favorite, too....

Here's a new one for me! I am very excited about these two new Genie Magnolia (dwarf) trees that will be in the same area as Souvenir du Docteur Jamain. I thought others on here might like to see! They're a similar color. Fragrant. Rebloom in the summer. Supposedly 10-15 feet tall and 6 feet wide. I am in love with them!

Here is a photo that shows their true color...

The sunlight in this next photo made them look lighter and more red than they actually are, but you can see more of their structure. Souv du Docteur Jamain is growing up the side of one of the arches near the fence in the background to the right. I hope it ends up looking as fabulous as it does in my imagination.

I have sweet William and everlasting pink dianthus, candy pendstemon, unknown white carnation , allysym , margherite daisy, trailing daisy, wall flower, verbena, geraniums. Dwarf radicans gardenia, rosamery, ostpherniums, bellis daisy,hawianette day Lily, asiatic Lily, dwarf narcissus, grape and standard hyacinth, alpine rocress , ghalardia, mums, agapanthus, falls wisteria grown as standard and a yellow historic bearded iris and a apricot bearded iris. I'm trying to get lupine, delphiniums, black eyed susans, and Canterbury bells to start from seed this year to complete the historic cottage garden look I want

Cori Ann, that's a beautiful Magnolia... I've seen it for sale over here but at a price...

When I had a Magnolia, similar to yours but pale pink, I grew a climbing rose through it.. not everyone likes that idea, but I felt it worked for me...

Apparently, those petals are edible and recommended for pickling... if you like that kind of thing...