Fern, my big front flowerbed is also my salad patch. The only reliably hardy herbs I have are chives and winter onions. Thyme makes it through sometimes. I also grow sorrel there for salads - it has interesting flower/seed heads. I usually seed lettuce, spinach, parsley, dill, and peppercress in little patches among the flowers (make sure you can get at them without stepping on other stuff. Garlic gets tucked under the roses. My favorite edible "salad" flowers are chive blossoms and nasturiums. Leaf lettuce and dwarf marigolds look great together. In the garden I also grow dill, parsley, oregano, sage, basil, and whatever else takes my fancy - marjoram, chervil, and summer savory have all done well. Borage is really nice - bees love it. Borage, dill, and chervil all self-seed like crazy, though, so be prepared to weed. I also have some mints that do well, and big clumps of lemon balm that I shovel-prune every year so they don't take over the roses. Last year the oregano and sage were real winners in my first effort at wintersowing.
I think I'm rambling - hope this gives you some ideas.
Connie

Like Connie says, there's not too much that is perennial, and some of what is perennial can get out of hand! Watch it with mint family members and actually chives can really spread after a couple of years too. They will always be a clump, but the clump will get bigger and bigger.

My favourite herbs to grow are rosemary, thyme, oregano, cilantro and chives. A couple of years ago I found an oregano called 'Kent Beauty', which certainly was beautiful but not too tasty. I think it was supposed to be ornamental. Cilantro also self-seeds like crazy. Cilantro seeds are Coriander, used as a separate spice.

I too am rambling, let us know what you decide on!

Thymus pseudolanuginosus Wooly Thyme & Lavandula angustifolia 'Munstead' would be good companions with roses.