I don't have an answer for you, just a suggestion. There's not a lot of traffic, but there is an organic rose forum and you might also want to try the herb forum (which is busier). There are a lot of people over there who use roses with herbs and other edibles.

I also love roses, but only grow organically, so I'm looking for plants to put with the roses. I was thinking of trying garlic and chives with some herbs. The herb forum has been very helpful and patient with my many questions :)

i don't really know what the white powdery stuff might be but sometimes people put phosphorus or bonemeal down when they plant bulbs. Seems like a long time for it to persist in the garden, tho.

Do not send me to the rose forum, people there are disgusted with folks like me who try to plant edibles close to their roses.

LOL Cabrita! May be true for some but not a few rose growers use herbs to provide cover for the 'bare legs' of their roses. i have heard of rose growers using society garlic as a companion plant in an effort to deter bugs but i have also heard them complain that it smells terrible and reproduces too aggressively (!). i do not recognize the plant you are describing tho'.

Hi Cabrita

I had a rose garden in Phoenix, and had plain garlic cloves growing around them, it is advised for some bug control, it did look fine, you could also grow some chives.

Silvia

My first guess on the white powdery stuff is it's organic matter decomposed in a de-oxygenated state (like you'll sometime see in an unturned compost pile). Could also be mold spores.

Are you sure those aren't a different allium bulb, Cabrita? See the current discussion on A. triquetrum (wild onion) in the CA forum. Pretty invasive, so it could be them, but they (and all alliums) are edible.

I'm not a big fan of roses, so I'd never spend my time on that many. Just think of all the citrus you could be growing instead! Or borage, which is a great edible flower and pollinator attractor. Same for the CA wild radish, fennel, and wild celery (Apium graveolens).

You might also try some cilantro too around the alliums and roses and let if flower, that's a nice mix I've seen before. Instead of alliums, nasturtiums can also grow at the bottom of a rosebed for edible companion planting.

Here is a link that might be useful: Allium triquetrum

Thanks for the responses!

dicot, I googled allium triquetrum and it is not what I have. My silly allium looking ornamental has absolutely no scent. Something in the lily family. I will take a picture when and if it blooms, I doubt I will eradicate the whole thing this year. I do not mind the roses, but will like them better if i am able to inter-crop with edibles. I already have too many citrus! I would like more room for more beans and more tomatoes though.

Silvia, i have garlic around some, onions around some others, and this year I am also trying shallots. It is all sprouting and looking good.

Mauirose, is society garlic a special type of garlic? I do have some regular garlic growing there. Garlic and onions smell nice to me, but different than roses for sure....LOL. As far as other herbs, oregano and marjoram do very well around roses too.

i think of society garlic as an ornamental plant- variegated strap like leaves, pretty purple flowers. Supposedly edible tho'. i have tossed the flowers into salads occasionally.

Nasturtiums are real land grabbers in my rose beds but they do make a good trap crop for cabbage moths.

i am growing shallots this year for the first time but not with my roses! i have read that they are day neutral but Johnny's lists latitudes. We'll see.

cabrita - those little Allium look alikes might be Ornithogalum or Muscari. Both are a menace at spreading by bulbils.

Mauirose, I have lots of nasturtiums growing too. I planted them with the squash and cucumber last year and they self seed enthusiastically around here, so they are all around. Nice under fruit trees too!

Flora, I also have the Ornithogalum (did not know the name, used goggle image) but it is more controlled and not the one that has become rampant/invasive. The one that is more 'weed' like is smaller, has a v as a leave cross section (like garlic), the bulbs are the size of small scallion and a lighter green than the onions. The Muscari I do not have. There are also lots of calendula and larkspur growing semi-wild between the roses. I leave a few of those as long as they still give me space for the onions, shallots, garlic, parsley, oregano....

Ditto on Nasturtiums.[my ANGEL FACE has a carpet of 'nasties' with a few bearded iris.] You might try sweet potato vines. [I had two in front yard and they spread under the roses -- but not the tubers, which were separated from roses by edging. Anyway, made for a very pretty scene .... tree roses rising above a bed of greenery. I like a wild-woodsy look in the yard.[tho I did hear a passer-by growl to his wife who was cooing over the yard.."looks like a d** jungle to me" ... made my day!]

I've thought that swiss chard and bell peppers are pretty enough for perennial borders.... but haven't tried yet.