Planting ideas for front garden - to compliment standard roses?

[OrangeSunset]

We've got a bed in our front garden to replant.
Rectangular, about 4m x 1m running along the path to the front door.

It's south west facing I think. My dad has suggested standard roses, as roses do well in the front garden already.

I like this idea, but need some suggestions of what to plant underneath to create a cohesive look. Also aiming to cover as much ground as possible to avoid wedding! Any suggestions?

Would also like some kind of spring blossoming tree to brighten it up at this time of year, possiy a dwarf cherry. Would this look a bit off with a line of formal roses though?!

Would love se suggestions from more creative gardeners than I!

If it's a line of standard roses, I wouldn't break it up with a flowering cherry because I like lines and order. Do you have anywhere else to put it? Another bed? A large pot by the front door? A malus (crab apple) might also work. They are lovely in all seasons.

For ground cover, hardy (perennial) geraniums would be good. Something else that spreads and fills gaps is vinca (periwinkle) but it can get carried away with itself. You could also try herbs (alpine strawberry, thyme and prostrate rosemary), bergenia (I don't like them but many people do), dianthus (pinks), low-growing euphorbias.

I would tend to go for perennial planting rather than lots of annuals, but you could put bulbs in (tulips if you have free-draining soil, otherwise narcissus). They would look good with forget-me-nots or wallflowers in the spring but that would need replanting later.

Whereabouts in the country are you? If you are down south Erigeron karvinskianus looks great as under planting for roses and is excellent ground cover. It can't cope with very harsh frosts though so if you are up north might not survive. It looks great teamed with Mediterranean type planting like lavender and Nepeta.

Oh yes, lavender under roses looks lovely. If you add alliums, they are supposed to keep bugs away from the roses.

Lavender always works well with Rosemary - but catmint is lovely too.

Yes, nepeta is lovely too but it can get a bit straggly/sprawly and might flop onto the garden path in a way that lavender won't.

It does depend upon the house and style of garden you're aiming at of course - because some sprawl can be good in certain circumstances, but not in others. If you want formal, you could even go for box edging with lavender within....

Brilliant, thank you. I hadn't thought of lavender but that would be lovely leading up to the house.

I would really like a cherry, but I'm sure there's somewhere else in the garden i can put it. The style is the issue though - I'm not really sure about an overall style, I just end up putting in plants that i like! Need to learn to look at it with more of an overall design.

We're down south, so i will look up that plant you mention rhubarbgarden.

I did think about box edging, but i think that would make it too formal when compared with the other beds in the front. Plus i'd worry about box blight.

Aliums and verbena mixed through the roses. They add height and colour.

You are right to worry about box blight. It devastated the last garden I designed. It was heartbreaking.

Alchemilla mollis goes really well with roses and lavender, lovely lime green flowers and you can divide it really easily. A great space filler. Also looks good with the purple flowering geranium plant that somebody else mentioned.

and plant lots of bulbs for the spring in clumps. As LindaMcartney said, aliums are lovely as they are tall.

Ok, so do we think that lavender and verbena would go together? Or too much? Alchemilla sounds good for ground cover.
Having trouble deciding on colours - taking into account the lavender. We're possibly going to have an orange front door soon though, which might through the whole purple thing out the window!

I love orange and purple - they're at the opposite sides of the colourwheel so that the contrast is particularly good. What colour roses were you planning though? I can imagine verbena could work more behind the lavender though - but you'd really need something else with it. The Alchemilla does die down over the winter although it is perenial, so you would have bare earth for some of the year - very good with early bulbs though.

Hi, we have lavendar, alliums, dianthus and a few iris (for early colour) in our front garden, with roses. Smells lovely when blooming.

Not sure of the rose colour - was thinking maybe a few white/cream and a few orangey maybe? I've only looked on David Austin so far though, and they seem to have sold out of cream/white. What else would you suggest putting with it mistlethrush, if it's roses + lavender and poss verbena? Might put verbena in the other bed instead.

I'm not sure of how you're imagining it with the verbena and the lavender - because when I'm thinking lavender and standard roses I have the image of almost hedges of lavender on the edges of the beds with the roses in the middle. I don't know the width you're talking - whether there's much room in the middle. If there isn't - perhaps... because the way they are open would be fine in a narrow bit between two strong lots of lavender. If its wider - would they fill it enough?

Which verbena do you mean? Bonariensis? Or one of the lower-growing types? Bonariensis would blend well with lavender - two shades of purple - but its height may make a bit of a jumble with the standard roses. I also think the informality of VB may jar against the formality and precision of standard roses.

The width is about 1m I think. The 'jumble' look is what I'm worried about. I'm keen to make sure as much earth is covered as possible, but how to do that without shoving to much in and it looking a mess, I'm not sure!

Would just the roses + lavender be too sparse? I'm totally clueless about garden design..I like the idea of lavender running along the path to the house, though. Is there where I could use the fleabane suggested up thread, to blend the two?

I don't think roses and lavender would be too sparse, if you plant quite densely.

Another thing I've been looking at recently, which would look charming on either side of a row of standard roses, is clipped box balls.

That does sound lovely, but may be too formal a look overall - there are other beds in the front garden which aren't formal at all. So maybe a semi-formal rose bed would fit in nicely.

Well, why not choose a variety of different lavenders, catmint and alchimilla all mixed up, with some bulbs coming up where the alchilmilla and catmint are... that wouldn't be too formal, would have a nice variety....

What is your soil like op?

Standard roses over lavender sounds lovely but roses love heavy clay and lavender prefers a light free draining soil.

If your soil is too heavy herbs like lavender might struggle unless you dig in some grit.

I love clipped box balls. We have acquired clipped box hedging (low rectangular lines), but I hanker after the balls.

Make sure they're all spherical then Pheasant... don't want a long one creeping in amongst the rest .

I've got heavy clay with roses and lavender... the lavender is not particularly exuberant though.

That sounds good mistlethrush, think the achimilla would lend more green which would compliment the orange door. Does catmint attract or repel cats, though, or neither? We have 2, don't want them squashing it!