When only one species of plant exists in a garden or other location, all of the plants could be affected if a disease occurs with nothing to buffer them or prevent its spread.
So prudent flower gardening might dictate that you don't restrict the garden to just roses, but plant other flowers as well.
When you think of planting roses along with other flowers, though, you have to take new factors into consideration. One of those will be height. For example, floribunda roses generally don't grow much higher than two or three feet.
You likely wouldn't want to choose petunias as their companions, unless you pick a variety that grows along the ground, because you're likely to get nothing but a big mash-up of flowers. You might prefer to put something like alyssum below the floribundas instead.
When setting annuals between and among your roses, you might create a rose garden design that's different from what you've been prone to do in the past.
You could place more shade tolerant roses along walls where you've never had them before, and show off the colors of your roses by creating a contrasting background color with your annuals.
Planting roses and other types of flowers together can be a great experiment in creativity, and will not only help to protect your garden from disease, but it can revive your own enthusiasm as well.
To read more Planting Roses In Your Garden
