I used to grow, with my roses until I forgot to dig them up and they froze. For me it would be more the color and what roses you plan to plant. I also have a hill in which I am planting hardy hibiscus. I will let them have a more natural form and we'll be planting hybrid musk's and some once Bloomers there so I think that will suit their form. I think the Conners look great with roses and one used to see that a lot in older Gardens. They were extremely popular and were grown together with lilies and peonies and lilacs. All of the old fashioned plants. I just don't know how the red would work out with what you have in mind.

Thank you vapor very much for your post. I guess I am concerned about the color as well. My plan is to only bring roses that do well without spray around here. Here is my current list:

olivia

queen of sweden

earth angel

the ancient mariner (hoping it does well with black spot)

James Galway (hopping it does well with black spot)

spirit of freedom

teasing Georgia

lady of shallot

bathsheva

Mel’s heritage

quick silver

anything on this list that would look around that canna lily? I have debated quick silver because maybe the lavender would look good? Or one of the yellows?

I would personally not do yellow, but try to incorporate the colours of the hibiscus and canna perhaps even introducing a purple coneflower if it does well there. I think lavenders and purple can look stunning together with deep reds depending on the undertones. The other reason not to worry too much about the canna, at least in my neck of the woods, is that they have a limited period of bloom much like peonies or iris, and of course, all the roses aren't always in bloom! : ))

Thank you for all your advice Vapor.

In Southern California, where I live, I grew cannas next to my bird-of-paradise plants. We started with four “dwarf” cannas - they grew to be over six feet and multiplied like crazy. Tubers everywhere. Profuse blooms June to November. I was dividing them every five minutes. Now that was In 10a,not 7b, so YMMV, but I would make sure there was plenty of room for the roses first.

I love the idea of roses with tropicals, however. Good luck!

I do not have hibiscus in my rose garden, but I do have hibiscus.... Not overly fond of it, but the hubby likes it... so it stays..... it is a chili thrip magnet, but so are roses if I am being fare ... I do have cannas, the orange ones.... I got them for my butterflies... it is a host for the skippers..... it could be considered invasive.... it rapidly creates new plants.... I am constantly giving babies away.... however, I am zone 10 not sure how fast they would grow there.... even though I consider them kind of invasive I still like them and it gives me more to share..... but the thing I don't like about them in the rose garden (even though I have mine there) is since I spray my roses I have to be EXTRA careful not to spray the cannas because of the skippers, and when I pull out the extra babies I think it disturbs the roses roots.... not sure if they do, but I am conscious of it....

I think if you are aware of the pitfalls but still want to do it.... go for it.... it is your garden and you should pick what you like.

You hibiscus are pretty.... I have a red one..... which has (suppose to have) varigated leaves but it seems to be reverting to just green leaves... so it annoys me.... then I bought 3 three in one hibiscus that were pink, yellow and red that were braided together... only the red lived.... and then I have this orange/purple rimmed one... but the leaves are TERRIBLE from chili thrips.... I can't keep it clean at all... flowers are lovely but the leaves..... GRRRRR.

What a great space for so many roses !

Heres a couple ideas :

post on next door or letgo , free for the taking red cannas , you dig

of course that’s if you dont want it!! No sense in building a huge bed around one plant you don’t seem in love with

divide the canna and plant it on the other end too so it looks more purposeful but stop there

I love the hibiscus idea mixed in ! Had no idea about the chili thrips though ! Yikes and no thanks !!

Wnen I had red roses I always softened them with pale pink like Olivia or a white rose . It just worked for me but wasn’t artistic.. personally I struggle with incorporating red into my garden . It’s such a hang up for me !!

Are you interested in going the tropical look route ? I ask bc your roses to me ( and they are all favorites of mine !!) are more cottagey style colors . Tropical to me would be bright bold colors roses and then the red would blend right in . And please don’t take it wrong , but if those are rose of Sharon and not the giant dinner plate hibiscus, then to my eye I would dig up the canna and embrace a beautiful cottage border with your chosen roses and purple white blue companion plants . And make it a cottage fence ! :). But that is totally my style and may not be yours ..

something I noticed recently was living with a plant I didn’t love , constantly made a road block in my mind when I would look at the area . Most recently I had to cut back this hideous shrub of o don’t know what but my dog kept getting behind it and dug a hole to the neighbors yard so to repair the hole o had to cut back this thing . It kinda looked like a giant thyme plant on steroids! But as soon as I cut it down , I saw so much potential and stopped glaring at it in disdain! Now I see 3 Rose vacancies and a spot for my beloved bird house from Tennessee I can’t wait to put up in its place . All this rambling to say , maybe just get rid of the canna :)

My canna still haven’t bloomed in my zone 6b New York garden. We certainly had ample water but I suppose at the price of adequate sun. In any case I’ve accepted them after several years like this as an autumn plant...and not sure they are the look I want in autumn. I may not bother going to the effort of digging and storing overvthe winter but let nature work her will. I mention this because are you sure your roses and canna bloom simultaneously?

I think it would be a beautiful combination. I like vapors suggestions on color. I personally have hardy hibiscus with my roses but I don't have great photos, I feel it works well, the rose area kind of tapers off to the edge where it meets these tropical looking hibiscus poking out from behind :)

I have heirloom rose between a Canna and a hibiscus the cana is taking over and I'm gonna have to really trim that back this year. dig a lot of bulbs up. that's always a problem because the canna really spreads but the rose next to the hibiscus looks really nice. Heirloom is a purply color and my hibiscus is pink so it goes together very nicely the

Canna on the other hand is Orange so it looks kind of out of place to begin with.

I think the look is OK the only problem I have is that the tropicals also seemed to get really big and take over so and will have to really rethink having my hibiscus next to my rose because it's getting pretty big

Thank you Kristine I think the rose of Sharon will need very heavy pruning to stay at a decent size here as well.

I think they would be pretty together, but the tubers get pretty big... I’m thinking you could same yourself some work in the future if you dig some lawn edging in around the cannas, I don’t remember them sending runners deep or anything, then you wouldn’t have to worry about them squashing the roses. I don’t have cannas at my current house but I’ve had them before and was able to make a 40 foot long 3 foot deep 8 foot high wall with them pretty quickly out of one box of tubers. I have tropicals mixed in a bit with the roses here, I am letting my pink hibiscus turn into a tree with climbing roses and jasmine along the same fence. I think bright roses go better :)

The edging might work to keep them contained... but it needs to be pretty deep.... I have the 6 inch black edging around my garden to show the gardens who mow where they should NOT have there mower... doesn't work but I try.... Anyway my orange cannas have escaped and now grow on the other side of the edging..... I just dig it up and give it to friends..... maybe I should just let it grow up to keep the lawn mowers out :)

Thank you Amanda and Sharon. It seems if I keep these cannas I’ll have to be very aggressive in keeping them contained.