Josh, if that bed is the size it appears to be in the photo, 'Golden Celebration can fill the whole thing, all on its own. Maybe, with some low-growing companion plants in the front ... say, DWARF lavender.

My Golden Celebrations are over my head -- admittedly, I'm a hair under 5-ft., but I really can't reach the top. And they are easily 5-ft. in diameter. They are planted on 4-ft. centers, and form a continuous hedge.

How far apart are your four existing roses?

Heritage, when we grew it, was only perhaps 4-ft. tall, and perhaps 4-ft in diameter (tho I imagine it could be bigger) but I think Golden Celebration will hide it. I would say the same about Eglantyne.

See Golden Celebration, below.

What you DON'T want to do is what we did -- plant roses that turned out to be huge, on 3-ft. centers barely adequate for Hybrid Tea Roses.

Jeri

I'm zone 8 here too. All those roses get pretty big, including Golden Celebration. Eglantine is the smallest of the group. At least you could move it to the front center. A ground cover that can take the shading of the roses would be great. I'm not sure companion plants will have room. It's always such a suprise how big roses can get.

I agree with Jeri, that spot would be nicely filled by a single 'Golden Celebration'.

Geranium 'Rozanne' as the companion would be very pretty. Easy plant.

I should also mention that I worry a little about 'Golden Celebration' in TX.

In our conditions, GC is one of a small handful of roses that are ever touched by blackspot.

Here, that's not a problem. We get only brief periods when it is both humid and warm. A few plants lose low foliage, and then the air dries out, or chills down, and the problem disappears.

But -- Texas? I think it could have issues, and require spraying. And that is a big rose to have to spray.

Jeri

Jude, Eglantyne, and Golden Celebration all get huge here--like 10-12 feet tall and 7-8 feet wide for Jude, 7 feet tall and 4 feet wide for Eglantyne, and 7 feet tall and at least 4 feet wide for Golden Celebration. Even if they are smaller in your location, you will have trouble fitting them into your chosen spot. GC and Eglantyne shrivel and melt easily in the heat, and Jude only does a little better for me. Diane

Thanks for your input everyone! I have absolutely decided not to put Golden Celebration in that bed. In fact, I'm wondering if I will have space for it at all. As to Blackspot, yes GC seems to attract it naturally. Mine is starting to clean itself up however, and is looking better. Where I am from, we seem to benefit from a climate that is halfway between the Great Plains and the humid south. During the summer, the blistering sun offsets a lot of the humidity. While we see a lot of blackspot between our winters and summers, when the humidity is in full swing, once the sun comes out to stay the black spot dies down a lot. I will see how it performs. I may give it away to a local, public garden if it becomes problematic. I have hope, however, as my Hybrid Teas and Floribundas are squeaky clean right now as well as all of my other Austins. And that is without spraying.

As for space, the picture is a little misleading. The bed itself is rather large. It is easily fifteen feet on each side, and sixteen feet along the back side. The roses are also offset, so Jude sits forward of Heritage and Eglantyne so they are not competing as much for linear space. I agree, however, that this may have been poor planning. The first 3 years may not be an issue, but past that Jude may decide to shoulder out the other two. I am hoping that they will, in fact, grow into each other in some aspect so that bed has a "jungley" look. However, If Jude stats eating the other plants, I may have to move them. Heritage and Eglantyne I chose because they have very upright growth. I am even pondering staking them in order to make them grow vertically....

Josh

Keep in mind that I'm a shoehorn gardener who inevitably prunes hard when necessary, but given your bed dimensions, I think I'd try three Austins: 'Heritage,' 'Jude,' and 'Eglantyne.' See if they'll "jungle" as desired. Geranium 'Rozanne' would make a pretty combo with these three, too. 'Rozanne' is a later bloomer, so you could put a 'Johnson's Blue' in there, too, for longer bloom.

Carol

MY Golden Celebration in Dallas area is disaster, covered with blackspot even while it keeps pumping out the gorgeous blooms; I'll probably cut way back and move it to another less conspicuous space, as do love those roses!

Anything spikey and purple or blue would look nice...as would some smaller 'round' flowers...something like a woodland phlox, but good for your area.

I don't know what will do well for you, since we have such drastic temperature changes. But, when it's 100 degrees in the summer, the Hidcote lavender does very well. It doesn't mind more water (since it's by the roses) and also stands up well to the cold, snowy winters.

Something like daisies or coneflowers would look nice, too. I like a combination of pinks, blues, lavender, white, soft yellow and maybe even a little dark red (like Jacob Kline bee balm) with roses :)

Hi Josh ... I'm not sure if you have GC already or not. My neighbor planted it two years ago and BS stunted its growth. This year I ordered Grahan Thomas instead. It's not supposed to get as much BS.
Hi Lavender..good to see you again. Hope all is well.
Jeannie