Shrub Roses: Surprisingly Good Partners for Potted Plants

Container designers hunt for new flower combinations but usually pass on roses, which can grow too large for pots and suffer from disease. Now, newer, tougher, smaller roses—often sold as landscaping or ground cover roses—are changing that. They come in nearly every color, bloom nonstop, and many have excellent disease resistance.

We asked landscape designer Karen Steeb of Woodinville, Washington, to combine roses with perennials, annuals, herbs, and landscape shrubs. After a season, Steeb pronounced the experiment a success; almost all roses thrived.

Plant Combinations

Steeb used roses in the Palace series—Danish-bred types easy to find in nurseries and by mail from Arena Rose Company (free catalog; 888/544-9943 or www.arenaroses.com). Bred for container culture, they mature at about 2 ft tall, produce fragrant double flowers from June through frost and beyond. Red 'Prince Palace', pink 'Romantic Palace', and yellow 'Sundance Palace' were among Steeb's picks.

Planted alone, any would fill a container, but mixed with other plants they stretched and twined together. Because yellow 'Sundance Palace' was plagued with black spot, more disease-resistant yellow roses might be better choices.

Besides Steeb's companions (geraniums, lavender, nandina, petunias), other excellent partners include catmint, diascia, fleabane, forget-me-nots, hardy geraniums, Heuchera 'Palace Purple', hostas, lady's-mantle, Shirley poppies, sweet alyssum, and violas.

How to Keep Plants Looking Good

Container plants need more care: they're planted densely, dry faster, and exhaust soil nutrients quickly. Apply granular organic fertilizer (4-6-2) every six weeks; water when top couple inches of soil dry. Groom frequently by pinching, pruning, and deadheading.

Black Spot

The black spot that plagued 'Sundance Palace' is a fungal disease causing black spots and yellowing leaves. Ubiquitous among roses, especially yellow-flowered types. Some yellow roses have good resistance: 'Aspen' (compact spreading/trailing yellow), 'Lexington' (soft yellow 2-ft upright), and 'Atlantis Palace'.