I do! I think the reason I can get away with it successfully here is my dry climate. Even though I have clay soil, I make sure the drainage is good. The bulbs are kind of avoided during watering during their dormant period if possible. It’s not always possible, but it seems to be enough that most bulbs that are suitable for my climate return. I just plant them in groups between or in front of the roses. Lisa

Spring flowering bulbs that go dormant in summer - daffs, tulips, hyacinths, etc. - do not like a lot of water while dormant, just when roses want the most. So they may not be the best companions. But summer flowering bulbs should work pretty well.

I have some lilies and tons of irises. The lilies aren't so invasive, but the irises tend to take over if you don't thin them out every other yr or so. I also planted a dracuncus vulgaris (Voodoo lily) in one of my beds, and I can't seem to get rid of it. It travels a few inches every yr, even tho I try to yank it out. It makes a better potted specimen than a companion plant. The darn thing smells horrible when it blooms and flies breed down inside the base of the bloom, making it smell even worse. If I could've had foresight, I never would've purposely planted any companion plants around my roses. Too much trouble now.

That's my feeling, Beth. If I want bulbs, perennials and annuals, let them be separate where they can battle it out with each other and not force me to expose myself to the blood loss required to yank them out of thorny bushes. Combined, they certainly can be pretty, but the balance of the desired look with the effort and time required to maintain the look and the plants is up to the person doing the work. Been there, not doing it again.

I think Narcissus work well with roses, they seem less fussy than most the Dutch bulbs when it comes to drainage. Most the spring bulbs have foliage that starts to decline just as the roses are looking their best, so you have to be personally OK with that look.

Lisa makes a good point that good drainage is important, since the roses want a ton of water, but the bulbs don’t want to sit in it.

Somehow I’m getting away with planting heat tolerant daffodils amongst my roses. I’m not quite sure why I’m getting away with it. I began by experimenting with just a few from the package. I’d order a bag of 25, and plant most in containers or up on my slope, where they received mostly winter and early spring rain. I’d plant a group of about 5 in the flower beds with the roses and perennials. Some disappeared after the first spring, but most are still returning every year. I also tend to “zone push”, so some of the ones that didn’t return may have been Zone 8 bulbs, although some Zone 8 daffodils have been fine. I’d say start with a few to try them out. Planting things like daffodils with some extra drainage and creating a little “Hill” of soil over them to prevent water from collecting there, will help keep them dryer over the summer, as well.

I plant lots of Dahlias, and they do fine with the roses. I leave them in the ground year round. I don’t know if you have gophers, but Dahlias must be a real favorite of theirs. I’ve learned never to plant Dahlia tubers unless inside of a gopher cage. They’re the first thing a new gopher will eat, when it finds my garden. I don’t know what zone you’re in, but I grow freesias, dahlias, lilies, Peruvian daffodils, Gloriosa lilies, star flowers,(Ipheion uniflorum), Dutch Iris, Anenome, Ranunculus, Alstroemeria, Iaxia, and probably a host of others that I’m forgetting. One option is to plant some of the more persnickety ones in black nursery containers and sink the containers into a hole in your flower bed. Once they’re finished blooming, pull out the container, feed it some bulb fertilizer, and continue to water it and give it sunlight until the foliage dies back. Then store the container somewhere dry until November or December,( in my zone) top it with some compost or good potting soil, another handful of bulb fertilizer or bone meal, and put it back in its former spot. While the bulb container is resting somewhere else, plant a nice annual in that hole, or switch it out with a container of bulbs that requires an opposite schedule.

I’d just try it with a few inexpensive bulbs, and see what happens. You might be pleasantly surprised! Have fun! Lisa

Here’s a few blooming today:

Ismeme (Peruvian daffodil)

Ipheion Uniflorum

Below, Anenomes and white Freesias with a potted mini rose.

The rose below has been pruned, but you can see that it’s not far from the clump of daffodils in front of it. The daffodils are planted in the ground, and have not only returned for 4-5 years now, they’ve multiplied!

The rose below is in a half barrel, but as you can see the Freesias and Jonquils are just fine with it. When I water, I sometimes try to avoid the edges where the dormant bulbs are, but not often.

Adrian,

I got the bright idea to plant my entire rose bed, in between all the roses, with miniature daffodils some years ago, a Herculean task. After every bulb planting session in the fall I looked like I had a wrestling match with a wildcat from the rose thorn battle. It's a miracle I didn't get an infection from all the cuts and stabs.

My assumption was that the daffodils would look beautiful and be done blooming before the roses. I was right, but what a mistake otherwise!

To spring prune the roses I had to walk through the bed just before and during daffodil blooming time. I couldn't help but smash most of them. Those that survived had ripening foliage in the bed until early July, very unsightly just when the roses were in their blooming glory. You have to leave the foliage uncut to feed the bulb.

Over the next couple years the daffodils died out mostly because I had to walk on them at every spring pruning. Also, when a rose bush was moved or a section of the bed redesigned, clumps of daffodil bulbs were disturbed/destroyed.

Not all bright ideas turn out good.

Moses

I’ve only had luck with dahlias, gladiolus and amaryllis and only the amaryllis survives year after year. Most bulbs only bloom once and for me it’s not enough interest for our year round gardens. With the exception of dahlias which I do grow. However it’s still fun to plant annual bulbs if they are cheap, just for a nice spring garden. :)

I have hundreds of lilies in my rose gardens. The really tall hybrids go well with the taller roses as their heads show above the rose. The medium lilies are fine closer to the outside of the beds and the smaller lilies are planted right on the edge with the roses.. They die down and leave a dead stalk which I clean up in the fall . Also lilys want water at the same time as the rises do. Then I plant blue campanulas all around the edges of the rose beds You're right! I am a lazy gardener.

Goodness! I guess I should just shut my mouth and be grateful that I’m not having any problems! (Joke:) One thing I definitely DON’T do, is interplant entire beds with bulbs. I just use a few in strategic clumps that are easily avoided and not in the way. Dahlias have always worked out best for me. I’m not sure why they don’t rot over the winter, except that they are mostly in raised beds, planted just forward and between the roses. When I first plant them, I mix perlite, gravel, moisture control crystals, bone meal, and compost into the planting hole. Maybe the gopher cages also help keep my dahlia tubers from getting too water logged? Also, I live in a climate where water is scarce and precious. Unless I have a big “Oops” situation, NOTHING is in danger of getting too much water around here. That goes for by what falls from the Heavens and what I provide. Maybe that’s ONE blessing in our never ending drought:) Lisa

Lilies and roses are a classic combination - they both love the same growing conditions :-) And dahlias could work too but are such massive plants they often crowd or shade the roses, which could lead to disease issues.

FWIW, dahlia tubers are fully hardy in the ground in zone 8 and above. But they do require good drainage, as all bulbs do. Even in my wet winters, dahlias survive just fine in the ground if they are planted in well drained soil.

Yes. The daffodils are in front of the porch behind most of the roses, but as they naturalized, some show up between the roses closest to the porch. There are a couple of Casa Blanca lilies in there too.

I found some dahlia tubers called Pacific Ocean at Walmart that are supposed to stay relatively short. The are pink and yellow. I put them in the front border so hopefully they will stay smallish lol. I have gladiolas, daylily, and some other summer bulbs like crinium, tuberose etc in there.

I grow both regulars Daffs and the smaller species Daffs in my roses. I do love having the Daffs blooming when I'm pruning roses, but I have a more nefarious reason. My humongous vole and mole population do not eat Daff bulbs, In the yard where the ages old Daffs are, the moles will take cartoonish efforts to avoid them. So where I've had mole runs, I now have planted Daffs and they have reduced the root damage to my roses' roots.

I also have peonies at the front of beds built on the side of our hill. That way they get some water through summer, but the very fronts of the beds are the driest places I have.

Lily bulbs are squirrel bait. They maybe last a year, then I find the bulbs are gone. The Jack Russell terrier that lives next door somehow was born without the dig and kill gene, darn it.

I grow daffs, crinums, tuberose, tulipa clusiana, irises, and occasionally dahlias. My beds are all "mixed borders" with roses, perennials, annuals, and bulbs all growing together. I just try to make sure the roses have plenty of breathing space.

I grow irises and lilies amongst the roses. Never have had a problem with these. Irises do have to be thinned, but I love having more to replant, or to give away. I often stick dinner plate dahlias at the back of borders along the porch, but they have to be started inside early and dug up in the fall. I'm doing that this year, and potting up tubers today. My season doesn't start until late May.

I'm speechless! You could charge admission. Cynthia, you certainly set the standard high for us.

For spring I have dwarf narcissus and muscara planted with my roses. the narcissus have started to naturalise and fill in throughout the bed. This season the muscara didn’t seem to return well like it has in the past. I do have some windflowers, wood hyacinth, and frittileria that have come up this season. For late spring and summer I have a mix of asiatic lilies, I’m trying casaBlanca lilies this year. I also have some yellow beared iris from my great grandparents growing next to my roses, I prefer keep my irises adjacent to my roses and not mixed in between the roses. The nice part with irises is that after a few years you can divide them and have more. I did find a bare root iris named cherubs smile on clearance that seems to be growing well, as well as some unknown irises that had been thinned out of a relatives bed and were going to get tossed.

At my local mom and pop seed and pet store, there are bins of offerings from local garden clubs. Iris rhizomes are $2 for labeled ones down to 25 cents for the unidentified. The dahlia club offers tubers and enthusiastic club members are there to answer questions. It's gratifying to add to the garden this way rather than buying the same bulbs offered every year at the big box stores. I've found irises with names like Comic Opera, Miah Jane, Eternal Bliss, Magic Number and Whatta Dream that I've never seen anywhere else.

Cynthia, omg. Your garden is beyond words to describe . It is Beautiful, mouth dropping jaw, Gorgeous and WOW.

You are amazing. A fairy. I can imagine you doing all the prunning, protecting roses during fall/ winter. Like every season you are outside working long, long hours to have such a beautiful effect. That is pure love. I totally respect you and other Rosarians who work so hard to have effects such as yours.

As a matter of fact...I am also speechless. What Beauty!

I know it is cold and I hope your roses will bloom again and being in that zone has it's own challenges. I love tulips but I can never grow here. Too hot

Such Beauties :)

Jin

Cynthia wow! Just wow. I think you’ve given us all a bit of bulb lust now. Lol

we can’t grow tulips here in sofl, but boy I wish I could. Like I stated before, I’ve never had much luck with bulbs. I’ve tried various types and only amaryllis and gladiolus have thrived. Dahlias are another story, however not all dahlias do well for me either.

Flowers...I love that idea of garden clubs selling garden bulbs, etc that do well for them. I just adore the idea that everyone can share the plants they love and of course the all do well in the local area. I wish we had tha down here.

I think I’ll bring that up in our next rose society meeting.

I have planted gladiolas with roses at my office. I have a very small garden there. At my house I have a plot of gladiolas, not with the roses. The glads at my office did well mixed among the roses. I did not notice any decline in health of either the rose or the glads. As for the weeding people have mentioned above, I have to weed the roses anyway.... I do not mind having the glads there. In fact I think it is easier to weed the roses, as well as the roses with the glads, than just the glad bed. In the glad bed the glads are way closer together making it harder to get to the weeds. But when they are mixed with the roses they are further apart and I have only a few. I think if you like them you should try them. There might be a few bulbs that would not do well., kind of like tomatoes and dill where something would not be a good companion, but I am not aware of any. Also beware of size. For instance I have a huge banyan tree that has tons of elephant ears under it. I use the banyan leaves for mulch in the rose garden. I get a few elephant ears to emerge, but I pull them right up. However, I think they are a rhizome, not a bulb. But they would certainly be to shady and to vigorous to be in the rose bed. You could always start with a few bulbs around one or two roses.... I say plant what you like. One day I would love to see your garden.

Cynthia, I love all of your bulbs. Your tulips are just fabulous!!!! I have to admit, it is a weakness for me. I always pick up a pot of them at the grocery store. They have them blooming in little pots. I use them as a center piece, I would love to have them outdoors in a nice garden plot like you have. However, besides our heat and sand, I think the nematodes would get them. But your garden is certainly beautiful! Thank you for sharing the pictures.

Flowers, you're very kind but far from charging admission I admit to being a spring bulb pusher. The neighborhood kids often admire my bulbs with a purpose because they know I'm going to cut them handfuls of flowers to bring home with them (I just ask that they ask me rather than picking them on their own, as I have some favorites I'd rather not cut). Jin, your comments are gracious and very sweet - this is indeed a lot of work but it's all a labor of love for all of us in our gardens, and bulbs are something we can grow in our zones that Sharon and Jin and SoFl really can't in theirs, except in the pots you mention Sharon.

SoFl if you want to have your garden club sell bulbs beyond what you grow yourselves, there are plenty of wholesale bulb merchants that will sell to individuals without any expectations that you have a commercial business. Many of the places that sell bulbs online have wholesale branches and many of them also sell the gladioli or lilies or other bulbs that are more tolerant of the warmer zones.

Just remember that for much of the year we in cold zones have rose envy of those of you in warmer climates when you have blooms and we have snow. It evens out across the seasons I expect!

Cynthia

I have amaryllis, agapanthus, some other type of small bulb I bought but can't remember the name of and some lilies mixed with my roses. I expect the lilies to be annuals but who knows.

The amaryllis are young, seedlings of my mom's and grandmother's plants do they haven't bloomed but have healthy foliage. They should bloom in a year or so.