Did you know that our heirloom roses thrive on having companions? We plant lots of perennials, biennials and herbs at the feet of our roses. This suppresses weeds and shades the roots of the roses in our hot summers, keeping their roots nice and cool.
Some of our favourite perennials and herbs to use are Feverfew with little daisy flowers and button noses. The flowers of Feverfew make a lovely herbal tea too!
And who can go past the lovely, lemon-scented thyme. Stepping on this herb releases the freshest, sweetest aroma. We have two varieties of lemon thyme, dark green and variegated. Right now both varieties are covered in tiny pink flowers and the bees are in heaven!
Some of the larger shrubs we grow with our roses need to be pruned now and then. Right now we're allowing the gorgeous purple plumes of colour on our Buddleja davidii to dominate. And the fragrance perfumes the garden for many metres!
One of the surprises in our garden is the lovely white Evening Primrose (Oenothera sp. 'Alba'). Despite it's delicate appearance, it is very hardy and provides a ground hugging cover constantly in flower. A real treasure.
And one of our very favourites that we can't live without is the furry leaved lamb's ears (Stachys byzantina). We need to replace this from our stock plants from time to time during seasons of continuous rain, but it quickly bounces back and provides a lovely edge to the garden bed.
Best of all, each of the perennials and shrubs we grow with our roses also look lovely in posies!
Which is why we constantly propagate our favourite perennials so that we always have spares, just in case! And from time to time we offer some of our favourite perennials at our Farm Gate specials for those lucky enough to live in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland in Queensland, Australia!
So perennials are companions that the heirloom roses (and we) can't live without, really!
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